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As you should know by now, if I'm writing this, it's because we have another problem. And unless you've been sleeping under a rock, I'm sure you're aware of this problem, and may have even talked about it around the water cooler. (Do those even still exist at this point? Haha)
But, it's time I say something because this particular issue has happened not once but twice now. Once is bad enough but the more people do this, the more my feminist hackles rise up and demand I say something.
Do the tag lines for Marvel's Agent Carter and State of Affairs not bother anyone as much as it bothers me? Does it just make you want to throw up or run down the street screaming at the top of your lungs? No? Is it just me?
The tagline for Marvel's Agent Carter is: "Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman."
Wait, WHAT???????????? Who thought that this was okay? Huh????
Now you know there has to be a male show runner behind this show and a male had to be ahead of marketing, because if a woman came up with this, shame on you, your cow, and your whole family. This is not acceptable. First of all, let's talk about the fact that this show is based off of a character that was in the first Captain America movie for all of ten seconds. We all know that superhero movies of late, whatever your bias to it, fails the Bechdel Test each and every single movie adaptation. Women are just severely underrated. Should it surprise me that she was in there for 10 minutes? No, it shouldn't. But everyone has latched on to her character through these Marvel One Shots and if you've been watching Marvel's Agents of Shield lately, they have been showing teasers in the show of what's to come. No one's denying that she's a badass, but do I need a whole show on someone who I barely even register? Nope.
Second of all, what kind of a tag line is that? Why mention a man at all? As if a woman tackling a job is such a new and novel idea that she has to be associated with a man in order to validate her cause? Huh? When did that become a thing? Let me tell you something, women have been doing men's jobs for centuries and without us, men would still be flailing around with their heads in their hands and we'd still be in the midst of a 100 year old war. Women rule the world, men just live in it. I'm not a man-hating feminist who marches around in combat boots sticking up my middle finger to the world. I think men have contributed greatly to society, but somewhere down the line, they got it in their little heads that they own the world and everyone should thank them for letting them live in it.
Third of all, what's with the "sometimes" bit? Like men should always get the job but in order to keep people like me satisfied, they have to throw in a woman every now and again just for kicks and giggles? I know what you're thinking, "wow, she's really overthinking this, it's just a tagline". Sure, I'm overthinking this, but the real question is why aren't you? The minute you become complacent and not notice this, is the minute that things like this escape and are considered normal. Knowing and explaining to others that this isn't okay is when change happens! You allow this to happen and pretty soon any show with a strong female lead is going to have horrible tag lines like this. As if women can't stand on their own two feet.
As if that isn't bad enough, State of Affairs has this as their tagline: "All the president's men are nothing compared to her."
Say WHAT now??????? Again, what does men have to do with the situation?
First of all, I'm sure we're all aware that women are underrepresented in politics. I'm guilty of this too, I couldn't care one lick about politics besides how it directly affects me like gas prices and such. But there are a lot of great women in politics and they're kicking butt right now. There should be more women in politics and shut up all those naysayers who believe that if women ran countries they all wouldn't talk to each other instead of waging wars. I mean, come on, we have a woman running for the presidency in 2016!!
Second of all, I fail to see why a woman has to directly correlate to a man. Why do men even have to be mentioned? Why couldn't they come up with a better tagline? I'm sure they could have, but because we're living in a he-man's construct of society that somehow keeps perpetuating itself time in and time out for centuries, people just keep letting this happen. Sure, it's implying that women are better than the men but why does one have to be greater than the other? Why is equality so difficult in this world? Men and women are both human beings, have two arms and legs, and one brain so why, why, why, does our entire human existence hinge on the belief that men are greater?
It's almost as if long ago in the time of the cavemen when they were developing language, an elder gathered all the men around and said, "hey, listen, we know we need women around, we know they're strong and capable, and make us better, but I'm going to need all of you to stomp on them as hard as you can. Simply because you're men, you're greater because we have more muscles and we hunt big game. Pass it on to your children and tell them to pass it on too. Let's make sure that millions of years from now when there are cars and big, bustling cities, that our descendants make sure women will always be second best to us because we know for sure that if given the chance, women can continue to function without us but we can't function without them."
Okay, I know they didn't actually say all of this, but it's the best way to illustrate how our society continues to make women the weaker sex.
Third of all, women are capable all by their lonesome. I firmly believe that women make the world go 'round. Just the sheer amount of will and strength women have to muster up to deal with men alone should be enough to give us some kind of equal status in the workforce but does that ever happen? Nope. Instead, they're compared to men on a daily basis as if that's the only way to justify their place. They're just as good as men and men would be preferred but because we have bloggers out there sitting in their coffee shops with their all important writer caps on, we're going to go with a woman to shut them up. Again, you people out there reading this, you're letting it happen. Daily. Both you men and women.
Let me tell you something, THIS IS NOT OKAY! It'll never be okay and as long as people like you and me sit on our couches and shrug as if it's no big deal is exactly how Hollywood continues to get away with crap like this. Again, I'm ranting, I know I'm ranting, I know I'm overthinking a simple tagline, but it's what those tag lines represent. Their gateway taglines, if you will. What's next? "We wanted a man, but we got this super A-list actress who usually does movies but because there aren't any great movie roles for women and they want to be home in time to actually see their kids to bed and we need women viewers to meet our target demo, so enjoy?" Or, "We wanted a man, but ehh, I guess she's good too." And don't even get me started on great women characters or lack thereof!
It's just a messed up situation all around. It's time to actually start doing something. We all contribute to what's put on their air or apart of our regular media consumption. We don't watch a show, it flops, and it gets cancelled. We rally behind a beloved character, the executive producers think twice before killing them off and if they do, it's only because the actor or actress didn't want to do it anymore or it "serves the story".
We have power people! It's time we use it!
