Men Feel The Pressure Too!

Disney has been under fire for years for their subliminal sexual messages and stereotypically damsel-like princesses  by mothers and feminists. It seems that men are getting in on the action these days as well. While mindlessly searching through YouTube, I came across a clip that seems to be a project for a sex and gender class, but brings light to a subject that I, myself have often overlooked. The project is titled, Sexism, Strength, and Dominance: Images of Masculinity in Disney Films, by Sanjay Newton but the YouTube clip itself is simply titled Disney & Sexism.The clip illustrates the stereotypes portrayed by male Disney characters and the messages they send to young, growin boys.

As the clip points out, many male figures in Disney films are overly masculine, strong leaders. Even the villainous men are powerful. Disney may have been trying to rectify it's previous damsel-like portrayal of women with their film Mulan, the story of a girl who enters a man-only military disguised as a boy, but the film fails to do so much for the male audience. In the film there is a musical number that attempts to empower the male characters in the movie to be strong, swift, and powerful. The message that is received however, is that men are already all of these things simply because they are men. Does that mean that if a man does not see himself in this way that he is any less a man? 




Just as Disney is taking a few steps to right their wrongs against women by creating more ethnic, opinionated, and independent female characters in films like Mulan, Brave, and The Princess and The Frog, the men are being left out! Do the underdogs ever get the girl? Only if they win right? Even in Beauty and the Beast, Disney tries to teach us that it is what on the inside that matters, but the beast turns back into a handsome prince, so what impact does the lesson have really? 

Many may not have realized that men could be effected by gender stereotypes just as much as women. Why is that? Is it because they are emotionally stronger? Is it because that men simply do not stress over the same insecurities that women face? Disney might have you think so. As we continue to highlight the gender stereotype placed upon the shoulders of women, let us not forget that our men, in all their strength and glory, feel it too. 



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc0qg7hzcnU&feature=youtube_gdata_player