One of my favorite shows is Archer. Archer is a show about a spy who does everything right by doing everything wrong. He works for a spy agency that is owned and ran by his mother. He works in an environment where he has pretty much slept with everyone in the office and can do whatever he wants. Archer is also a drunk who can’t get over his Ex. Archer’s mom is a control freak of her sons life. Basically Archer is hers and only hers and can’t have a relationship of any kind. So as you can imagine nothing in this show goes right.

In an episode called “Honeypot”. Archer has to seduce a target that is blackmailing his mom. His target is a male spy from Cuba whom his mom thinks is gay and can be seduced by her son. The whole episode is stereotypes on gender, and homosexuals. Archer goes to Miami, where his target is located, and dresses how he thinks a homosexual dresses. To his surprise he is shut down and made fun of by the people around him. The large Ego that Archer has cant handle being shut down. So he calls the two guys that called him out that later help him complete his mission. The two men, are stereotypically a hairdresser and an interior designer.

The stereotypes just keep on pouring out too. The cuban being at a rooster fight club and playing a sport name Jai’alai. All being stereotypes of a latino. Archer goes to each location and ends up getting drug into some sort of misadventure. At the fight club he tries to but his target a drink and somehow fails at doing that. Instead, he has to help another guy burry his dead roster. When he shows up to play Jai’alai he gets hit in the head by the ball they throw at 185mph.

When Archer wakes up he is in the home of his target. This is where he finds out that they both have the same problems…their mothers. They both receive a phone call from their moms and hang up. Then they celebrate like a kid who first defies his parents. However, the two men that helped Archer get to his target storm into the building to kill them and take the sex tape that archers mom had made with the KGB leader. Everything works out for archerand the episode ends with him laughing at the thought of his butler being tied up and alone.

Gender Roles in Jessica Jones

            In the Netflix Original show “Jessica Jones” you see a superhero who beats almost all of the female stereotypes. I’ll start by explaining this show a bit, this show is about a woman named Jessica Jones who is a Private Investigator that happens to have super powers. Jessica’s powers consist of super strength and the ability to jump high enough that people think she’s flying. She has spent many years of her life hiding form a man named Kilgrave who has the powers to control your mind with just one command. I won’t go into any more detail because I don’t want to give any spoilers to this show. Jessica Jones is not your typical superhero; she drinks way too much, dresses in jeans and a tee shirt, and doesn’t try to save the world at all. Jessica Jones may not be the typical female, but the males in this show ooze manly stereotypes.

Let’s start with Luke Cage, Jessica’s friend that also happens to have super powers. Luke’s super power is that he is indestructible, he even puts a chain saw to his abs and there was not even a scratch. Luke is the typical badass guy, he’s tall, extremely fit, and tries his hardest to protect the people he loves. Oh, I also forgot to mention that he owns a bar, how manly is that? Throughout the show Luke doesn’t want to open up to anyone, if he’s hurting or angry he will run away and just stop talking to that person. One thing about Luke that isn’t a typical male stereotype is that when asked about his family he never truly opens up, in most other television show the males are extremely close to their family and will talk about them all the time. Luke is not the only male in this show with the typical male stereotypes, now we get to talk about my personal favorite, Kilgrave.

Kilgrave is a man obsessed with control and power, we see these kind of men on almost any television show we watch today. As I mentioned earlier Kilgrave is the person Jessica is hiding from, he is obsessed with Jessica and will do absolutely anything to get her back. Most men in the movies and television are so in love with the girl that they try anything and everything to win her back over, and Kilgrave is no exception. The only problem with Kilgrave according to the stereotypical male is that he is tall and skinny, throughout the entire show you never see him lay and hand on anyone to fight with. The producers gave him control powers because he was not the typical male and really had no control over anyone at all without his powers.

Overall, the show Jessica Jones has both stereotypical gender roles but there are a few characters that challenge that. Making the lead to the show a woman that is not feminine and not necessarily “beautiful” according to today’s standard, was a smart move. This show proves that no matter your gender, you can do and be what ever you want to be. These characters don’t let gender stereotypes rule them, they break free and become something entirely new in television.

How my favorite series of movies became a banner ad for feminism I’ll never know. The mad max series for the uninitiated is a series of movies that follows a father and his journey through post apocalyptic lands which is assumed to be Australia. Multiple drastic events ensue and many badass actions are taken by Mel Gibson to save himself and his family. When I heard about the newest Mad Max movie I was quite excited to see it, it followed the weird post apocalyptic setting that the others did and it had one of my favorite actors Tom Hardy as the lead.

The night the movie was released I went and saw the movie and it was everything I had expected, Max was smart and knew what he was doing and there were the crazy war boys that provided some laughs in their mannerisms. There was also Furiosa who was a very strong character trying to save the wives of Immortan Joe the local warlord who controlled all of the surrounding area’s water supply. Along with these components you had the incredible visuals and what is being touted as the greatest action scene ever. I left the movie insanely happy and wanting to watch it over and over again, which i have since done. Once I left the movie theater I did what any 20 something does when they see a movie, go online and find out what other’s thought of the movie. After reading plenty of articles on how good it was I read one on how this movie was the strongest movie in argument for feminism produced in the last 3 years. I was shocked when I read these articles and wondered if we had watched the same movie.

The articles cited a few examples. During the movie there was a scene when Max and Furiosa were fleeing from Immortan Joe and his crew attempting to re capture the wives that were with Max and Furiosa, in this scene Max had already shot two shots and missed so he handed it to furiosa. There was also a fight scene in the beginning between Max and Furiosa where she held her own which again apparently had a strong theme of feminism. To me, in the movie I payed that aspect no attention, it just didn’t seem to have a huge feminism theme to me if anything it had a large theme of equality along with some interesting style directions taken by the director.

The movie was a perfect example of how males and females need each other to do certain things and they must realize when they are not capable of doing certain things. So I’ll provide two examples throughout the movie in which like the furiosa examples preceding  show that without max they wouldn’t have survived. Near the end of the movie the group get’s where they are going, they find a group that recognizes Furiosa and they talk about going to a place that supposedly would be much better and would have clean water and endless supplies. Had they followed the plan of Furiosa it would have almost been certain death because of the desert just like how if Max had not given her the rifle. Another situation is when Max blew up one of the foes that was chasing them, without Max the group would have been history. This movie provides a great case for humans working together in general.

An interesting choice of styling on the director’s part was the dressing of the different women, the helpless wives had all white on with long hair and were very pretty. Furiosa was very butch, short hair, male clothing, combat boots, and a deeper voice. Max was styled “manly” with a leather jacket and boots. This is an interesting choice that almost reinforced that if you do things that men normally do you have to dress like a man to be taken seriously even though you are capable. This is something that hollywood constantly does, if a female does “manly things” they are dressed as a man.

In the end the movie was good and I will still watch it often, almost certainly not remembering the themes of feminism people grasped at straws at. I will remember how good the movie is and how well humans in general come together to overcome great challenges.

The whole purpose of the video was to visually see how the media affects the way women feels about themselves and also how they can avoid that. I started off my video talking about what the media considers as the ideal body image for women today. I asked questions and answered them throughout the video. It was kind of a combination of information and giving my opinion about the different ideas I brought up. I used different images and texts that were supposed to capture the audience’s attention and also prove the point I was making. The beginning of the video mostly showed images of what the media considered as the ideal body image for women. I included images of models walking down the run way, another one on the cover of a magazine and couple of celebrities on the red carpet. All of them looked really thin, which showed what is actually considered as the ideal body image for women according to the media. But this is not quite right because research has shown that “average” women in the U.S are size 12-14. The images the media portrays as the perfect body is not realistic and cannot be accomplished by those ordinary women.

The middle of the video talked about how those ordinary women are affected by the images they see in their daily lives. Which most likely lower their satisfaction with their own attractiveness and makes them insecure about their bodies. Those women will start to have this impossible goal in mind to accomplish and start hoping and wishing for that ideal body image.

They will start feeling like they have to lose weight in order for them to be attractive or feel good about themselves. Some of those women do not realize that they do not even need to lose weight, they are just too focus on one image and hope for that type of body on that image. They would want to lose weight in certain area of their bodies only in order to match whatever celebrity they admire or image they want to look like. Without even realizing that most those images they see every day are photo-shopped in a way. Yes many of them are. It is rare to see an image of a celebrity taken and posted directly online for everybody to see. They always have to be altered to make them look thin, fit, with no wrinkles, no pimples, just perfect.

I included some before and after images that were photo-shopped. One of the images showed a woman that looked like an ordinary size 14 female who had a lot of changes done to her body and face in order to fit that ideal body image. Another one showed a celebrity getting ready for her photo shoot where someone else took a candid un-photo-shopped picture of her. She looked like a normal person to me with not so much imperfection in the first picture. But the second picture showed her in a different skin color, looking thinner and representing what the media considers as the ideal body image. And women are tricked to believe that is how those celebrities really look like and that is how a perfect body should look also. This is not true.  Almost every day in Hollywood had some type of work done on their bodies to look “better” than they used to be or to reach that ideal body image in today’s society.

The end of the video focus much more on those ordinary women who see those altered image. I would say that my tone was more cheerful at this point. It mostly talked about women loving themselves and bodies the way it is. Even though some changes could be made, do not just let the media affect them in any type of way. The media and advertisements are something that are going to be around forever probably, women just to love themselves instead. Women also need to understand that we are all different and not everything will work for them. They all come in different shapes and sizes and they are all beautiful and perfect just the way they are. Don’t let the media affect you, embrace your shape.

After seeing the gendered objects article during class, I found it absurd that some normal, everyday items (Q-tips, tissues, sunscreen, lip balm, etc.) had masculine branding on them to differentiate a “man’s sunscreen” from regular sunscreen or, god forbid “girl sunscreen.” While I found it absurd, I also wondered if I too had any products that had masculine branding. When I got home, I found my Old Spice body wash was littered with masculine branding.

Old Spice’s Bearglove body wash is from Old Spice’s “Wild Collection” of body washes that show a graphic of two grizzly bears, one of which is in mid roar. While the name of the body wash, the collection it is in, and the graphic, fit the masculine stereotype that all men love outdoors and equate their own masculinity to one of a grizzly bear or other ferocious beast, the masculine branding does not stop there. Under the graphic of the two bears, the body wash says that it is for “The commanding man.” I guess Old Spice wants men to believe that usage of Bearglove body wash will assist them in commanding somebody because that’s what masculinity is and that’s what men do is command other people right? The back of the bottle screams masculine branding even more. On the back of Bearglove body wash it claims “Bearglove is the fresh, confident scent that demands respect and then eat it” is goes on to say, “Can you imagine a powerful, fearsome grizzly bear who can repair military helicopters and also speak confidently about important world affairs? Yes? Then this body wash is for you.” The instructions for usage includes the instruction to flex a muscle after washing your body in Bearglove.

What does the masculine branding by Old Spice on Bearglove body wash say about masculinity? I think Old Spice tried passing off Bearglove body-wash not as a body wash, (it does not even tell you what the scent is) but as a special liquid that guys need in order to maintain their masculinity. That makes masculinity seem pretty fragile as Old Spice makes it sound like masculinity is something men need to buy from a store and reapply every night while bathing in order to maintain how other people see them as a person. Old Spice’s usage of buzz words like “confident”, “demanding”, “commanding” “powerful”, “fearsome”, “military” are not words that need to be included for a man to buy body wash but are included to help maintain the image that Bearglove is a man’s body wash. The word choice Old Spice uses in trying to brand Bearglove as a man’s body wash also makes masculinity seem extremely cocky. If a man tried getting a girlfriend using the word choice and statements that Bearglove does, that man would be single for a long time. If another stereotype of men is that we do not spend much time shopping and that we get what we need and leave, why would Old Spice spend so much time trying to explain what Bearglove can do for us as men when most of the time we are going to buy it only because it says body wash on it. As a guy, when I see the graphic of a grizzly bear on body wash, I have to wonder how the image of a bear will let me know that the body wash makes me smell clean. Another question I have is why are bears, animals whose diets consist mainly of berries and fish, the stereotypical symbols for masculinity? If masculinity is also about the manliness of eating meat, why is masculinity’s mascot a vegetarian?

Out of all the things Bearglove body wash says it can do for you as a man, I have not found any proof that using Bearglove body wash helps you do any of these things. Even after using Bearglove body-wash in the shower, I still have no expertise in the field of repairing military helicopters. Also, Bearglove’s claim that I will be able to speak confidently about important world affairs, did not affect my persuasive speech on current world events for my public speaking class even though I showered using Bearglove the morning before my speech.

EXTRA CREDIT BLOG POST: Period Dramatization in New Girl

The rather popular show New Girl includes a cast of a main character woman Jessica Day and three male roommates, due to a breakup she moves in with. Two seasons into the show the guys and Jess have a very personal relationship, the “Menzies” episode parades a dramatization of women on their period. The episode shows exaggerations of attitudes of females and males as well as men trying to steal “her thing”. I chose this episode because more often than not women aren’t allowed to be outraged by anything, the immediate reasoning for males is that the woman is on her period. The media portrayal of this relationship between men and women during her period is that of a dominant women over her male victims. Though there is a hormonal shift during the women’s menstruation cycle, the cycle isn’t 365 days a year. Women shouldn’t be characterized by an uncontrollable shift in body chemicals, especially when the affect is not universal.

To begin the episode Jess is searching for another teaching position as she recently lost hers, the roommates are eating breakfast and going over bills. Nick, a roommate, calls her a “ninny” for not having a job yet, Jess responds “Don’t call me a ‘ninny’ I’m PMSing”. Jess’ response is a classic case of female media portrayal, showcasing the societal views of women on their periods. Women are thought of as having excuses for everything and their monthly biological function is the number one excuse to act however they please. Throughout the piece Jess become irrationally angered shouting and eliciting instances of violence with “If any of you cross me I’m going to kick your testicles clear off your body”. The excessive use of manipulation on Jess’ part with her “situation” is outrageous. Women who do act this way have no right to do so and women who continue to function unaltered are given a bad stigma.  The ridiculousness of the episode poses some humourous points as well as satirical analysis of our society. Why is it males become fearful of this “red demon” when any other day the woman is shown as the subordinate?  Ironically, women are being criticized they are also being empowered showing a dominance in the episode, Jess becomes the head of their “household”.

Jess rants until Nick addresses the sense of power Jess is taking over everyone with, “I don’t think it’s fair that women have an excuse to act irrationally angry once a month while the rest of us have to keep it together all the time”. Nick brings us back to reality presenting the audience with a contrasting view to Jess’ actions. Women don’t act the same, the biological process is different for everyone. According to popular and media views women can’t behave rationally when “affected” by their period. These views are supported manly by males who don’t understand the process to any extent.

Another situation brought up is the likelihood of females becoming overly emotional, responding to anything cute or sad with an overwhelming amount of sympathy. During Jess’ interview for a teaching position she is introduced to a picture of a teacup sized puppy and is then distracted by the size of the tiny cup and begins to cry uncontrollably after informed of the dog’s death. The women giving the interview responds as any normal being would with shock at the seemingly random overly sympathetic behavior of Jess. It’s not an assumed reaction of women that “Oh she must be on her period” which men use without thinking about it. Thanks to societal molds women are forced to have specific characteristics and responses to a very personal event for each woman.

Media found on Netflix, Amazon, or YouTube

New Girl: Season 2: Episode 7 “Menzies”

The television show Arrow, developed by Marc Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, is a show about the DC Comics character Green Arrow. The show follows billionaire playboy Oliver queen, who after being stranded for five years on an island has returned with one goal, to save his city. Oliver has become very proficient with a bow and arrow and decides to fight crime as a vigilante. He begins fighting on his own but soon realizes he needs help. Oliver decides to bring other people in for back up.

Oliver begins by bringing John Diggle into his crusade. John is a strong, muscular, black male that has a military background. Oliver knows that John can be trusted and will not give up his identity. He knows John can fight and stand his ground. The next person Oliver involves is Felicity Smoak. Felicity is a slim, white female with no fighting skills whatsoever. She is very intelligent and good with technology and computers. Oliver makes sure that she does not get involved with any fighting and she usually stays down by the computer guiding Oliver and John in the fight. Oliver does not feel safe having her involved in the action. This is the main squad who were the base of team Arrow.

Oliver later brings in Roy Harper. Roy is a fit, acrobatic white male. He is agile and has the ability to fight. Oliver trains him and Roy becomes a very great fighter, also known as the Arsenal. Roy, Oliver, and John are know the guys on the front lines. Felicity is in the background. Sara and Laurel Lance then try to join. Oliver has a hard time letting them because he has deep feelings for these two and he doesn’t feel safe having them fight. He also makes a point that they are not suited to fight. It takes him a while before he allows them to fight. Oliver also has this same argument with allowing his sister, Thea, into the crusade.

All of these roles that are being played show many gender roles. The most distinct is the fact that the key fighters in the show are the males. They are built and fit to fight. The females are kept in the safe background and not allowed to be out in combat. Another gender role is the idea that Oliver must be the one to protect the women and keep them safe. As the leader of the team, he feels that he needs to take care of the women he cares about because they cannot protect themselves. Oliver begins the show trying to keep only males in combat, but as the show progresses, he becomes more accepting of the women going into the fight. The women begin fighting in combat, and they stand their ground. They ultimately make a huge difference and help in ways Oliver never expected.

One of my favorite comedy shows is South Park. Most episodes of South Park take serious issues and add a comedic spin to them. One episode in particular relates to our class discussions on gender identity. The episode is titled “The Cissy” and begins with one of the main characters, Eric Cartman, entering the men’s restroom only to find both stalls in use. He realizes he won’t be able to use the men’s restroom so instead he puts a bow on his head and uses the women’s restroom. The girls are disgusted and Cartman has to meet with the principal to address the situation. Cartman lies and claims he’s “transginger”, meaning transgender, and for that reason he is allowed to use the women’s restroom. The school realizes they are unable to win this battle and solve the problem by creating a transgender restroom. Wendy, one of the girls upset with Cartman’s lie, then claims to also be transgender and starts to use the transgender restroom. An angry Cartman then tells Wendy’s boyfriend Stan he is a girl since Wendy claims to be a guy. Stan goes to his father Randy for answers unaware that Randy is going through a gender crisis of his own. Randy lives a double life as he is an average father, but is also secretly the pop star Lorde. A similar situation is going on at Lorde/Randy’s work as the women are uncomfortable with him using the women’s restroom. Inspired by his wife, Lorde/Randy produces a new hit song. The song moves the women at Randy’s work to allow him to use the women’s restroom and the school decides to remove the transgender restroom and allow the student’s to choose whichever restroom they are most comfortable with, except for those who are uncomfortable using a bathroom with transgender people who get a separate bathroom. In an ironic ending, the former transgender bathroom is now labelled the cissy bathroom for people who are uncomfortable with transgender people.

The episode intentionally exaggerates the misunderstandings and stereotypes associated with transgender people. When the principal asserts that Cartman doesn’t even know what transgender means, Cartman claims to have looked it up online and responds by saying, “It means I live a life of torture and confusion because society sees me as a boy, but I’m really a girl”. Cartman’s definition stereotypes transgender people to be living a life of pain where they are uncomfortable with who they are and the way society views them. The principal doesn’t even object to his definition, accepting it as the correct one, further showing how those who are not transgender view transgender people.

The episode presents another misconception when it comes to transgender people and sexuality. The principal claims Cartmen must be attracted to boys since he identifies as a girl. Cartman refutes this claim by saying this is untrue and citing the state bi-laws. Cartman, not really being transgender and needing to get back at Wendy, goes against this approach and claims Stan must be girl since Wendy identifies as a guy. The takeaway from these exchanges is that gender is often linked to sexuality, but this is not always necessarily true. Identifying with a certain gender and sexual attraction are not always related. Although people that identify as one gender are often attracted to the opposite gender, it is not an absolute relationship.

Most people who are not transgender likely don’t view transgender people in the exaggerated form the episode suggest, but some parts of the episode more realistically relate to what occurs in the real world. Some people who are not transgender do view transgender people as different and the episode highlights this perception. When one of the transgender teachers is advising the principal on how to handle Cartman’s situation, she uses the term “cisgender” and explains how it is anyone who doesn’t identify with the sex they were born with. Another teacher responds by saying isn’t that just normal, implying transgender people aren’t normal.

Towards the end of the episode, it’s clear that the episode is intended to refute the approach that transgender people are not normal. Cartman and Wendy change their names to Erica and Wendell and claim to be transgender, but still act the same as they did before they claimed to be transgender. The episode intends to show that transgender is just a label and perhaps influences wardrobe and appearance, but is not a reflection of personality or interests.

There are likely people who would be uncomfortable sharing a restroom, or a public location of any sort specified for one gender, with transgender people and there is no real solution to this because, as the episode indicates, the transgender person might be uncomfortable themselves being forced to use a specific bathroom. As the episode suggests, at this point in history not to many people care what gender uses the bathroom as long as there is some degree of privacy, but at some point the issue of where transgender people fit in a gender divided society will likely have to be decided legally.

Clips of the episode can be seen here under the clips tab: http://southpark.cc.com/search/the+cissy

If you haven’t seen the show House of Cards, I recommend you put it in the queue. It’s an incredibly well-done series that you can’t see on TV. The fourth episode of Season 2 of the hit Netflix series involves the events of one particular day in Washington where the now VP Frank Underwood (aka Kevin Spacey or the villain from that one Call of Duty) is scheduled to have an interview with his wife Claire (Robin Wright). However, Frank is quarantined at the Capitol due to a chemical threat and Claire has to go at the interview alone. Claire and Frank have a few skeletons in the closet and Claire is unnerved at whether or not one will pop up in the interview. The main subject of concern for Claire, Frank and the plot of the episode is around their stances on children—Frank not wanting one and Claire reluctantly agreeing to do as he wishes.

The interview starts off normally: Claire and the CNN reporter talk about Frank and the shared political aspirations that the couple have. Then, Claire starts being asked about why they do not have any children. Claire answers by saying that Frank was not a fan of kids and did not want one interfering with his political life. However, Claire cannot skate by with this answer as the reporter than grills abut medical records of the couple having an abortion recently come to the attention of the press. As a vice president, it would be hard for Frank to gain political influence if it was found that this report would be true due to the intense emotion and controversy surrounding abortions especially in politics. Well, turns out it’s true, just one of the many skeletons in the Underwood closet mentioned earlier. All Frank can do is sit in the small Capitol office and watch in horror as his wife can expose a part of their life they’ve spent decades hiding. Claire admits to the abortion which comes at a shock to the news crew in the room and to Frank but it is what comes afterwards that shocks more: she says the reason was because she was raped by a recently promoted Army general. This absolves herself and Claire from the public and political shame of the abortion and in fact makes her a hero in the eyes of women to have the courage to nationally admit her sexual assault and it leads to other allegations against the same man and he is eventually relieved.

Now, both the abortion and the assault are true. The problem: they have no coincidence. These events occurred separately and the abortion was Frank’s choice to avoid having a child of his own. A big moral conflict in the episode for Claire is if this is actually worth saying and going forward with? She is taking a horrible man out of power but is in fact lying about an abortion to bring it into the public eye. She doesn’t see herself as a hero when the public does. That allows the topic of gender roles to arise pertaining to not only Claire’s actions but the relationship with her and her husband.

Claire is seen to be a fairly independent and strong woman to the public—with her short, cropped haircut and suit to match. She is the head of a Clean Water Initiative in Washington and makes some ruthless business decisions as a boss. To her employees, she is like a monarch and her word is law in her office, very similar to her husband’s mindset. Speaking of her husband, throughout the House of Cards series, that strong role model for the nation’s women is subjected to a much more domesticated role as the submissive party in the couple instead of an equal force. The work of Frank as a strong-willed politician has influenced many of the couple’s and especially Claire’s actions throughout the series as Frank has risen himself up in the political circle through nefarious ways. While Claire is perceived as a tough, no-nonsense personality, to the viewer she shows weakness and sacrifices happiness for a chance at power and influence (such as staying with Frank despite being deeply in love with and having an affair with an independent photographer). Her actions in this episode further present this sacrifice and submission with the difference between her perception by the national viewers of her bold interview and the audience of her mental struggle with her lies and her life. Frank could not be more powerless in the situation he was in—a strange feeling for the Vice President. Quarantined in the Capitol, potentially full of anthrax or other terrorist disease that could kill him off within the day, not able to control his wife from the chair next to her, only watching. No power for him, no consequence for his wife. She could run away to her fantasies. Yet Frank still controls her.  With all that going for her, she lives the lie once more. She continues to appease her husband just as she did with the abortion which caused this whole debacle to present itself. Even when she is seen as a brave woman to the feminist and female equality groups as well as assault victims, she is no ground-breaking female. No matter how she is perceived her actions spoke louder in this episode than the words of lies she spewed to the national media. Her want for power and control subdue her independent self: in her hasty marriage, her withdrawal from her lover, her avoidance from children against her own desires. In the patriarchal nature of politics, her actions as the wife can grab headlines and cause attention but, in reality, the viewer sees who the true power was held by—and he wasn’t even in the spotlight.  Power is a main weapon and influence for Frank in the entire series and he uses it well to keep his wife in place: a heroic figurehead to the public, a pawn in his game.

The control and influence Claire experiences is relatable to the force of men, especially powerful ones, over the actions of many women in society. As a woman in society, power is not impossible but difficult to achieve so their solution is to be married to power. No matter how they are treated, power makes them subdued and controls their actions to be more favorable to the male’s wants. While the physical assault by the general is much more physically harmful to Claire, it is the mental assault on her by her husband that seems much more heartbreaking to you as the viewer.