Oppressive Gender Roles

Sex Symbol or Housewife?

Marilyn Monroe was the most desired sex symbol of all time. She primarily was given roles that portrayed her as a dumb blonde, which did nothing more than promote her sexuality and contributed to making her one of the most unintelligent characters on stage.

The Seven Year Itch gave her that most memorable white dress scene, which has become a world phenomenon and does nothing more than show her underwear. Could you imagine how different life might have been if actresses such as Marilyn Monroe fought for non-sexist scenes?

June Cleaver was the exact opposite of Marilyn Monroe but both characters were wildly popular. June lived for her family, a clean home, and having a meal on the table for when her husband came home from work. I can imagine the confusion this may have caused for the younger generation during this time. When they were looking at leading ladies in mainstream media as role models, they had limited options with either a sex symbol or housewife.

 
Mainstream media couldn't seem to make up their minds if they wanted their women to be feisty or frigid. Either way, sexism was alive and booming in the 1950's with male characters dominating over female characters. We have come far from the Marilyn Monroe and June Cleaver days but we still have a long way to go. Many shows in those days and even some today are written with the female character being portrayed as nothing more than sex objects, dominated by the male character. However, some male writers have a great deal of respect for women and have created shows that explore the female potential as a whole and showcase those qualities. I applaud these writers and hope that others take notice.