I watched Star Wars a million times as a kid (ask my parents if you don’t believe me), and my brothers and I were constantly reenacting the opening battle scene where the Imperial Forces capture Princess Leia’s ship. We would grab flashlight-weapons (sorry about using all your batteries, dad!) and hone them on the shutter doors in our living room—pretending that Storm Troopers were coming through them. In that battle, I always played the rebel forces, never the princess sending droids to bring her help.
I took the viral Star Wars character quiz on Facebook today, and I was initially surprised that it told me I was Princess Leia. My initial reaction? I can’t share this… I’m no princess! Who wants to be a Princess?
But, then, I thought about it. We all know that Star Wars is one of the best representations of sexism in film in terms of the numbers, and if you don’t, just read about it. Or, you could try to remember all of the female characters in Star Wars… Good luck on that one.
When I started comparing myself to Leia, I quickly realized that the quiz was poignantly accurate: She is a badass, I am a badass; she is brave, I am brave; she is loyal, I am loyal; she sees and brings out the good in the scum that is Hans Solo, I see and bring out the good in others; she fights injustices, I fight injustices. She is a senator, I want to be a senator. The list goes on and on.
That last one resonated with me. Why not choose to call her Senator Leia Organa? That was her main role in the film. Or, the quiz could have called her General Leia Organa. Both of which are far more fitting than Princess Leia.
It’s ironic that Disney bought LukasArts. They are the single worst perpetrator of destroying hope for strong women. Sure, they’ve attempted to clean up their image by making movies with strong female leads, but these stories suck (When they choose to write good scripts, I’ll describe them more intelligently and with stronger adjectives). The stories they are pushing on us now will never be as timeless and well liked as the drivel they’ve pushed on us for the past century.
I’m not perfect. I am still what many feminists would call a male pig and have dreams about Leia’s bronze-bikini scene (I can’t help but find that outfit sexy), but I’m also a proponent of equal opportunity for the sexes and for a dismantling of many of the gender-role stereotypes. I don’t even think about it except when analyzing sexism, but 75% of my bosses at work are female, and their sex has never been an influencing factor of why I respect and admire them as superiors. I’ve even been labeled as a feminist. I’m okay with that. I have nieces that I want to grow up to be senators—not princesses. If I have a daughter, I don’t want her to date Hans Solo, but I do want her to be a boss like General Leia and to emulate her many heroic attributes.
I’m not waiting on Disney or the powers that be to reverse the stereotypes they’ve perpetuated. I, as a true man in every sense of the definition, am taking my own stand and encouraging every other guy who takes this quiz and gets a female character, especially Senator and General Leia Organa, to post their results proudly. Be aware that what we do or don’t do enables sexism. Be the change. –End Rant-
I took the viral Star Wars character quiz on Facebook today, and I was initially surprised that it told me I was Princess Leia. My initial reaction? I can’t share this… I’m no princess! Who wants to be a Princess?
But, then, I thought about it. We all know that Star Wars is one of the best representations of sexism in film in terms of the numbers, and if you don’t, just read about it. Or, you could try to remember all of the female characters in Star Wars… Good luck on that one.
When I started comparing myself to Leia, I quickly realized that the quiz was poignantly accurate: She is a badass, I am a badass; she is brave, I am brave; she is loyal, I am loyal; she sees and brings out the good in the scum that is Hans Solo, I see and bring out the good in others; she fights injustices, I fight injustices. She is a senator, I want to be a senator. The list goes on and on.
That last one resonated with me. Why not choose to call her Senator Leia Organa? That was her main role in the film. Or, the quiz could have called her General Leia Organa. Both of which are far more fitting than Princess Leia.
It’s ironic that Disney bought LukasArts. They are the single worst perpetrator of destroying hope for strong women. Sure, they’ve attempted to clean up their image by making movies with strong female leads, but these stories suck (When they choose to write good scripts, I’ll describe them more intelligently and with stronger adjectives). The stories they are pushing on us now will never be as timeless and well liked as the drivel they’ve pushed on us for the past century.
I’m not perfect. I am still what many feminists would call a male pig and have dreams about Leia’s bronze-bikini scene (I can’t help but find that outfit sexy), but I’m also a proponent of equal opportunity for the sexes and for a dismantling of many of the gender-role stereotypes. I don’t even think about it except when analyzing sexism, but 75% of my bosses at work are female, and their sex has never been an influencing factor of why I respect and admire them as superiors. I’ve even been labeled as a feminist. I’m okay with that. I have nieces that I want to grow up to be senators—not princesses. If I have a daughter, I don’t want her to date Hans Solo, but I do want her to be a boss like General Leia and to emulate her many heroic attributes.
I’m not waiting on Disney or the powers that be to reverse the stereotypes they’ve perpetuated. I, as a true man in every sense of the definition, am taking my own stand and encouraging every other guy who takes this quiz and gets a female character, especially Senator and General Leia Organa, to post their results proudly. Be aware that what we do or don’t do enables sexism. Be the change. –End Rant-
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