Gender and the Body Language of Power. We’re celebrating the end of the year with our most popular posts from 2013, plus a few of our favorites tossed in.
Enjoy! Philosopher Sandra Lee Bartky once observed that being feminine often means using one’s body to portray powerlessness. Consider: A feminine person keeps her body small and contained; she makes sure that it doesn’t take up to much space or impose itself. She walks and sits in tightly packaged ways. She doesn’t cover the breadth of the sidewalk or expand herself beyond the chair she occupies. Likewise, burping and farting, raising one’s voice in an argument, and even laughing loudly are considered distinctly unfeminine.
Stunningly, when you think about it, these features of feminine body comportment are, in fact, not uniquely feminine, but associated with deference more generally. Acting feminine, then, overlaps with performances of submissiveness. New evidence suggests that this is not pure theory. Study: Boyfriends Insecure, Wish to Hoard Success for Themselves - Julie Beck. Men felt worse about themselves and the future of their relationships in the face of a female partner’s success.
Problem: It’s hard to remember that other peoples’ successes do not diminish your own, to choke down the bile of jealousy that rises in your throat whenever anyone in your peripheral vision is doing a better job of being a person than you are. But you’d think you could swallow the evil green demon that lives inside your unhappy heart long enough to muster up a little genuine pleasure when the person succeeding is your partner, whom you claim to love.
Or, at least not let it make you think worse of yourself. A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology tested that ability in men and women. Methodology: Researchers studied a total of 896 people in heterosexual relationships over the course of five experiments, testing the theory that men’s implicit self-esteem would be affected more by the success of their partners than women’s would. Seth MacFarlane's Sexist Jokes, Transcribed. How A Wound Heals. Last night’s Oscar ceremony and some of the commentary around the ceremony make the best possible case for why diversity matters.
Why Seth MacFarlane and The Onion's Jokes About Quvenzhané Wallis Are So Gross. By Alyssa Rosenberg "Why Seth MacFarlane and The Onion’s Jokes About Quvenzhané Wallis Are So Gross" Beasts of the Southern Wild star and youngest-ever Best Actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis is a lovely little girl who shows plenty of signs of turning into a reliable talent and a charming presence on the awards-season publicity circuit.
Why Seth MacFarlane Bombed The Oscars—And What It Says About Hollywood. By Alyssa Rosenberg "Why Seth MacFarlane Bombed The Oscars—And What It Says About Hollywood" Seth MacFarlane’s performance as an Oscar host last night was a perfect advertisement for MacFarlane’s brand of humor.
He opened with a number about the fact that he—and we as audiences—have seen female Academy Award nominees’ breasts. It was a bit that could have been a perceptive riff about the fact that women are asked to get naked, and to get naked in different ways, than their male counterparts, and could have tweaked the 77 percent of Academy voters who are men for voting for those roles, rather than recognizing female actors for performances that are non-sexual. Instead, he went in an entirely different direction that made for a faster, but not nearly as deep joke, bringing in the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. Seth MacFarlane, you’re a loser. After Tina Fey and Amy Poehler rocked the Golden Globes last month, I hoped Hollywood producers would catch on: putting women in power positions means a high quality show with good ratings.
But then, Seth MacFarlane. Last night’s Academy Awards featured the the most sexist, worst Oscars hosting I’ve ever seen. I get that MacFarlane tried to pre-empt this blog, and many like it, with his boring, stupid, Captain Kirk snore-fest-skit. But, Seth, your fake headlines last night don’t get close to describing what a pig you are. Best Actress nominee Quevenzhane Wallis is nine years old. Jessica Chastain had the rare opportunity to play a heroic, female protagonist and you trivialized her character, transforming her lifetime accomplishment into nagging, saying she possessed the innate female ability to never let anything go.
Sorry, Seth MacFarlane, but not everybody loved you. Seth MacFarlane received mixed reviews for his role as Oscars host.
NEW: Anti-Defamation League slams MacFarlane for Jews in Hollywood jokeThe world had lots to say about MacFarlane as Oscar hostSome of his bits were viewed as sexistOne reviewer said Academy took a chance -- and won (CNN) -- Funny. Sexist. Sassy. Awkward. Seth MacFarlane was referred to with all these adjectives and more after his gig as host of the 85th Academy Awards on Sunday night. The "Family Guy" and "American Dad" creator received mixed reviews for his singing, dancing and jokes, with Time TV critic James Poniewozik dubbing MacFarlane "American Dud. " "In the run up to Sunday's Oscars, ABC promoted the broadcast as: 'Finally!
The Banality of Seth MacFarlane's Sexism and Racism at the Oscars - Spencer Kornhaber. The host's feeble wisecracking may have been meant to provoke, but provoke what?
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP The best moment of Seth MacFarlane's Oscars hosting gig may have come late in the night when, in announcing Meryl Streep, he said "our next presenter needs no introduction" ... and then just walked away. If only he'd kept his mouth shut more frequently. That's not to say the Family Guy and Ted creator made for an out-and-out terrible host.
His lack of nervousness, his throwbacky radio-broadcaster voice, and his clean looks added up to a charisma score greater than zero, which is more than could have been said for James Franco. But then William Shatner was beamed in for a Family Guy-esque experiment in the meta. From there, the jokes just got more and more... well, what's the word?
MacFarlane's fake edginess didn't totally derail the night, but it did irritate, given that the ceremony was already too long. It shouldn't be hard to come up with a sensible position on this.