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When researchers from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and the data analytics firm Movio explored the connection between who appears in a movie and who shows up for its theatrical run, they found a correlation between the representation of different demographic cohorts and their share of the audience. In other words, we want to see characters we can relate to. But sometimes, instead of giving people a voice, filmmakers reduce them to stereotypes.
Last week, a person who goes by the nickname Embarrassed-Toe-1920 online made a post on the subreddit r/TwoXChromosomes, asking everyone to list movies that made them feel as if the writers' room didn't have a single woman present during production.
"This weekend I watched Just Go With It with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, and I was DISGUSTED by the storyline," the Redditor said in their post. "Rich 50-something plastic surgeon with few redeemable qualities dates [a] 25-year-old and then realizes he's in love with his middle-aged assistant and leaves [the] 25-year-old for [the] assistant. That's literally the whole movie."
Embarrassed-Toe-1920 added that the movie felt like a man's fantasy and a woman's nightmare, inviting others to list titles that had a similar vibe.
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#1
Another Adam Sandler movie - Blended. Overall kind of a cute but dumb movie. But there's this one scene where leading lady is helping him pick out tampons for his daughter and basically explains he needs to get small ones because of her small v*gina. They extend it further by having the checkout lady make an awkward comment about the days when she could use those.
When cringe meets misinformation...
Feathered Dinosaur 1 week ago (edited)
Because sex makes your vag get loose. By that logic a woman sleeping with her husband regularly must have a huuuuuge vag, while the 'loose' woman who has a few one night stands should be tighter than the former one. But somehow it's different when it's not the same penis? And by that logic shouldn't penises get crushed or whittled down the more they penetrate??
RELATED:
#2
I love many movies that Ryan Gosling is in, but in The Notebook (2004), the character threatening s***ide (or at least a broken neck and bones) if Rachel McAdams won't date him has got to be one of the more disgusting coercive interactions in a mainstream movie that only a bunch of men in the writers room (and a male novelist) could think of as "romantic". Truly messed up stuff.
Menno Sieswerda 1 week ago
Honestly, how ignorant can you be to think that writing SUICIDE all censored with *** will stop suicidal people thinking of it????
When we got in touch with Embarrassed-Toe-1920 to learn more about her now-viral post, she reiterated that its roots lie within that Adam Sandler production.
"The question popped into my head when I was deciding what movie I should watch this week," she told Bored Panda.
"I remembered my disappointment with Just Go With It from the previous weekend, and as a woman who has cringed at many sexist films in my lifetime, I just knew my fellow Redditors would have fun with this topic. It's always refreshing when women have a safe space to vent!"
#3
It still baffles me how many women were involved in the making of What Women Want. It should be called What Men Think Women Want. It is so so so so stupid.
cerinamroth 1 week ago
I agree it is a ridiculous portrayal, but I still love Bette Midler's scene as the therapist!
#4
This reminds me of the woman who wrote about male only writing rooms, she cited an episode of a crime drama where the inspector declared that the k*ller must have redressed the female victim because her "bra and panties don't match". And her underwear was really expensive, at least $20 for her bra alone!
Despite the $1.4bn success of Barbie, last year's top 100 movies had just 30 female leads or co-leads, the worst result since 2014, a new study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found.
Dr. Stacy L Smith, the head of research, said in a statement that this is a catastrophic step backward for girls and women in film.
The study's authors said, “We cannot explain the collapse,” calling it "an industry failure."
#5
Basically every single James Bond movie ever.
zims 1 week ago
The one where a woman comes up to him in a bar, tells him she was a child sex slave and is still enslaved, then he breaks into her room and accosts her in the shower. SoOoOoOo sexy. Especially the part where he gets her killed a few hours later because he never went to therapy! And looks at her dead body and complains the glass she dropped was a waste of good whiskey! Do men really find this guy fun?
Ace 1 week ago
You're not supposed to _like_ him. If you read the books he's a thoroughly unpleasant character. Suave and sophisticated maybe, but he is a professional killer, after all.
Load More Replies...
MegDragon 1 week ago
Do you mean the glistening meat in bikinis Bond occasionally amuses himself with in between shooting people? Bummer when they get shot too (oopsie) and he has to find new bikini meat cause there’s 40 min left on the runtime.
Beak Hookage 1 week ago
Apparently per word of Ian Fleming Bond was always *supposed* to be a womanising sociopath. He tried to hammer it in by publishing "The Spy Who Loved Me" but it didn't work.
Julie S 1 week ago
There's a scene in Goldfinger with Pussy Galore (Honour Blackman) where I think they are in a barn and she is fighting him and trying to get away and James Bond picks her up throws her down on some hay and they end up having séx. They have now said that this scene is basically rape.
Júlia Fortes 6 days ago
its fun cause James Bond is supposed to be a a*****e, and you shoudn't like him. The fact that a bunch of guys made him the "alpha male" and a role model show exactly what the author wanted to criticize. Is just like in American Psycho and The Boys
KatSaidWhat 1 week ago
This post from someone who never read the Fleming books. Dude is a killer by trade. Of course he drinks and womanises. he's a spy, not a tailor.
Nimitz 1 week ago (edited)
The last one was actually great! Ana De Armas literally twirls in, bats her eyes at 007, talks about how it's only her 3rd week and seems like a huge foil. Then she dances around being the most useful sidekick in Bond history, flirts with him more, then flounces off set to live safely ever after. For the first time ever they didn't quietly kill her in the background as a plot point, she was just there, super awesome, didn't sleep with, and left.
Sue 1 week ago
My favorite Bond was Roger Moore. It was still sexist, but tongue-in-cheek & almost making fun of Sean Connery, who btw told Barbara Walters that some women need to be slapped, although he definitely said no when she asked if he slapped his wife. Cute Scottish accent but took himself way to serious - dude you PLAYED James Bond, you were NOT James Bond.
Poediddy 1 week ago
Oh, absolutely lets boycott! Because clearly, James Bond movies—known for their deep philosophical insights and nuanced character development—were meant to be a shining beacon of gender equality. I mean, who watches a film about a suave spy driving exploding cars and thwarting world domination plots and expects a masterclass in feminism? Shocking oversight, really.
Linda van A. 1 week ago
Every woman is falling for him and wants to have sex with him immediately.
Fenchurch 1 week ago (edited)
The whole franchise is male wish fulfillment, Fleming was an arsehole by all accounts.
Load More Replies... #6
The episode of Ted Lasso in Amsterdam, where Rebecca falls into a canal, goes into the houseboat of the man who helped her out, showers there, and ends up sleeping there. The whole time I was thinking “what MAN wrote this?!” In what universe would an adult woman go into the home of a complete stranger and feel comfortable enough to shower, let alone spend the night?!
sturmwesen 1 week ago
to be fair... when I was young(er) / single I would do similar stupid s**t in hindsight
#7
Just watched an old episode of the original Star Trek where a woman somehow switched bodies with Captain Kirk against his will as a way to take over his command/life. The way the crew was convinced that the apparent Captain Kirk wasn’t himself was summed up by Scotty: “I’ve never before seen the Captain red-faced with hysteria.” God damn.
T'Mar of Vulcan 1 week ago
Except Janice Lester was crazy. She was convinced Starfleet didn't want her because she was a woman. But it's because she was nuts.
Audiences definitely pick up on it. "Some common stereotypes or tropes that stand out to me are that women are not an important part of the plot or only serve as eye candy in the film," Embarrassed-Toe-1920 told us.
"I am also so sick of seeing the stereotype that a woman can either have a career or have a family and social life. I'm currently watching Ugly Betty, and the male magazine executive (Daniel) has a thriving career and 1,000 booty-call girls, meanwhile the female executives (Wilhemina and Alexis) have almost no social life outside of work. Work is their life."
"Stop saying that women can either have a career or have a social life. If men can have both then we can too. We shouldn't have to work twice as hard just to achieve the same career level that men can with half the work," she added.
#8
My ex and I rewatched the first National Treasure movie last year and it was...rough. The treatment of Diane Kruger's character was downright criminal.
She plays an archivist working in the f*****g National Archives, a bona fide professional in her field, but once she gets wrapped up in the (from her perspective, INSANE) hunt for the Declaration of Independence she's treated like a child. I can't count the number of times the two male leads share a look and shake their head in response to DK's character asking questions. They just oozed "aww isn't she cute, she's trying so hard to keep up" energy. The infantilization was crazy.
Luke Branwen 1 week ago
"You're an educated expert in your field, and I'm a man, so that means our knowledge about the topic is basically equal."
#9
Passengers, and if you can't tell that Chris Pratt is absolutely evil in that movie, you're definitely not safe to be around. And tbh, I've heard the "he picked the wrong girl obviously " argument, and it also reeks of predatory male privilege.
#10
Anything with 90% of men being the protagonist and the overly-objectified women who are only there as love interests.
CanadianDimes 1 week ago
Oceans 11 drove me nuts because of this. It was a great heist movie on its own and they should have left out the whole 'romantic' subplot with Julia Roberts' character. She was literally just a prize to be won by George Clooney's character. She didn't have any real desires or motivations of her own. She should have ditched her casino owner boyfriend, given Clooney's character the finger, and gone off to live her own life.
However, the woman who initiated the discussion acknowledged that some of these pitfalls are due to a lack of skill, which carries over to other genders as well.
"While female characters are often poorly written in movies, so are male characters," the Redditor said. "And the messages that male characters may send to an impressionable young audience can be highly problematic. For example, in Ugly Betty, Betty breaks up with her boyfriend because he cheats on her and then he stalks her incessantly until she gets back together with him. Nowhere in the script is the stalking named for what it is or made clear that it's not appropriate," she explained.
"I wish the writers had made it more clear that stalking is more than a silly little subplot. I could go on forever, but honestly, I think the comments on the Reddit post are very enlightening. I was so glad to see that thousands of women related to the post and could easily list off movies that gave them a major ick at the obvious lack of female writers."
#11
Not a movie, but the S1 Supernatural episode [Home]
There is NO way in hell a woman would open up the house to a male stranger (much less TWO) who knocked on the door and asked to come in just because they "used to live there", and ESPECIALLY not when she has a young child with her at home too. WtaF.
Couragetcd 1 week ago
Yeah, I was bothered by that too. I can suspend belief for ghost hunting and demon banishing, but that was too stupid for real life to be a pass.
#12
Pretty much every, manic-pixie-girl, who's a huge extrovert, lives an amazing action-packed life, inexplicably falls in love with the quiet, introverted guy who does nothing to show any value and she makes it her personal mission to bring him out of his shell. They're not always the manic-pixie aesthetic, but the concept is the same.
#13
Lemme add another pet peeve of mine. Strong women characters. When the strong woman character is written and she behaves like a man: fights like a man, is a tomboy, has interests in science or building things. These are things that men value and view as strong. These are female characters written by men imagining that what makes a strong woman is a woman who acts like a man. They are not what makes a strong woman.
ETA the strong woman who doesn't communicate or suffers in silence. Again...a man attempting to write a strong woman character and making them behave like a man.
#14
I haven’t seen the whole thing but just the premise of The Switch and knowing they end up together anyway is revolting to me. I had to stop watching it.
Him switching the semen to his own in the cup she’s gonna use for insemination must be some form of a*sault if not r*pe adjacent. And obviously the movie wants it to be this romantic thing that it was his son all along when it’s actually horrifying that he overrode her choice and made her have his child instead. (I don’t care that the character is drunk as he replaced the semen. When she finds out and loves it instead of running for the hills is disgusting.).
Luke Branwen 1 week ago
I've never heard of this movie, and for the sake of my sanity, I'll keep pretending it doesn't exist.
Having said all this, we felt like we had to give credit where credit was due, so we asked Embarrassed-Toe-1920 if she could remember a movie or TV show where the writers had developed believable, well-rounded characters.
"A TV series that I really enjoyed was Glow, about the filming of a female wrestling show set in the 80s," she said. "The show was refreshing because it celebrates female friendship, and doesn't shy away from portraying harassment that male Hollywood executives engage in against women."
#15
I can't imagine any Adam Sandler movies holding up especially well tbh .
#16
As much as I enjoy M.A.S.H. I still find myself thinking about how it was played as a funny prank to set an officer up to sexually a*sault Margaret Houlihan.
Wingsofwrath 1 week ago
Which is shy there's a marked change once Loretta Swit had more to say about her character's portrayal and I enjoy the latter episodes a lot more, even though they tend to be a lot less comedic and more tragi-comic.
#17
Knocked Up. Let's break down the numerous reasons why I think Judd Apatow did not consult with a single woman before writing a movie about something that deeply affects women:
The main character is a hot, mid-twenties woman who just landed her dream job. Other than thinking her nieces are cute, we get no information about how she feels about parenting. She never says she longs to be a mother. She seems extremely focused on her new career in the entertainment industry.
Suddenly she's impregnated by Seth Rogan after a one night stand. She seems to *loathe* this man. Like cannot stand him for longer than a couple minutes. And his character is written to be so gross and obnoxious, it makes sense no woman would want to be around him. But of course, since this movie about pregnancy centers on a man, he goes from annoying and disgusting to "not" and that's the major arc of the movie. He's also *horrible* to her as a partner and expectant father, which is simply glossed over.
Everyone in this woman's life tells her not to have this baby. Her mom and sister are very stressed out for her, her mom even urges her to have an abortion. Other than sit there with a stupid look on her face, the pleas of her family have no effect on her. She also has to hide the pregnancy from all her friends AND everyone at work, lest she be fired (wow Judd, could have written an entire movie on this premise alone. Too bad the movie about pregnancy was just a vehicle for Seth Rogan jokes.)
The movie could have introduced the female lead as a devout Catholic, which would have explained why she was not only against abortion, but also wasn't using birth control. She could have been 15-20 years older and always wanted a child but was too wrapped up in her career. We could have opened the movie with her leaving her husband or long term partner after they reach an impasse about having children or not. S**t, the story could have taken place in a state with restrictive abortion laws instead of California. But no. We get absolutely no reasoning for why this woman would make such an extreme and life changing decision.
#18
Pretty much every Judd Apatow movie.
Which k*lls me, because I find them genuinely funny a lot of the time, and they have some funny women in them. But women are either sexy dreamgirls, or mean mommies. They don't get the joke and they stop men from having fun. In Knocked Up, Katherine Heigl is supposed to be like an E! Tv reporter, and yet she doesn't get a Back to the Future reference?
However, "My all-time favorite movie is Thelma & Louise," the Redditor added. "It tells the fictional story of two women on a road trip who each face their own struggles of being mistreated by men. This movie is very pro-woman and so refreshing amongst the sea of sexism in movies. I don't want to give too much away but I'll just say that I cried a lot and if you've never seen it before, Thelma & Louise is definitely worth your time."
#19
Ghostbusters, specifically the manipulative creep that is Peter Venkman. Literally his entire character is that he is a sex pest that manipulates women into sleeping with him , from his first scene trying to hook up with a student through his entire romantic subplot that is just him using the fears of a distraught client to get into her pants.
#21
Just watched Daddy’s Home (Will Ferrel and Mark Wahlberg) with my parents. As someone who’s just coming out of an emotionally abusive relationship with a narcissist, I was floored by the amount of gaslighting played for comedy on display in that movie.
Both of those men were treating the wife character as an object to be won. It’s was pretty gross. If I was watching it on my own I would have turned it off 10 mins in.
#22
Supernatural
The sheer amount of times that the woman costars died instead of their male ones was enough that people started memeing it. And then the people in charge got all mad when we started shipping them with the other male characters. They've got no one to blame, but their own s****y writing.
Susie Elle 1 week ago
Rewatching it, I remember the female roles all except for two being protrayed by white women with the exact same body type.
#23
Knocked up. I always thought it was a horror film with a laugh track. Only men would find the plot humorous - having your life’s plans ruined by a one night stand with a loser. Abortion - abortion was an option. But that writers room clearly didn’t consider completely f*****g up a woman’s life as anything more serious than a funny plotline.
#24
Not a movie but some disney episodes make me turn my head. The Proud Family (one of my fav shows) has episodes I can’t event stomach. One in particular is “There’s something about renee”
The rundown essentially is Trudy (wife/mom) who works full time as a veterinarian, is the sole breadwinner AND takes care of the household is extremely tired. Her husband Oscar literally never helps with household work. She has a vet convention coming up and decides to hire a nanny (on her dime) to make sure the house isnt a s**t show while she’s away. Well, she gets nervous and returns early only to find that the new nanny has essentially replaced her role as a mom. All the kids and her husband like the nanny better and they pretty much forgets she exists. In the end, she has the nanny fired and comes back home to a messy house, all the family being demanding, but she’s happy again because her role as overworked mom has been restored. Literally nothing changes. Oscar still isn’t helping with the kids and the house is a disaster since no one cleans it but her. But she’s just so overjoyed and complete being the sole breadwinner at a stressful job AND taking care of the household solo when she returns.
OneWithRatsAndKefir 1 week ago
I’ve seen a few reviews about this show on YT and it just sounds like it’s awkwardly failing to spread its own inclusive message? If I remember correctly, there’s some Asian triplets that are heavily stereotyped, the main character’s friends don’t seem to actually seem to like her, the nerdy girl is usually the butt of some joke, et cetera.
#25
I feel like this is basically every movie until "Clueless."
My boyfriend likes a lot of movies from the 70s and he's always watched them through a "filmmaker's eye" and never watched them with a woman. When we watch them together I always end up telling him how problematic the film is afterwards. I'm a bummer. But, it's not my fault - I didn't write this trash!
#26
"There's Something About Mary" Just watched it this morning and that exact thought kept popping up
everytime a joke was made.
The Darkest Timeline 1 week ago
To be fair, none of the characters in the “gross-out comedy” genre are ever fully fleshed out. These movies are always about getting cheap laughs at anyone and everyone’s expense.
#27
Ready Player One was a major one for me - I mean, the book alone already gives me the ick but the whole "All my problems are fixed because I'm finally loved even though I'm soooo ugly!!" s**t from the protagonist's love interest was especially ridiculous in the movie, considering that they gave her a tiny, faded red mark, which you couldn't even SEE in most scenes because of the lightning.
#28
Indecent Proposal. Hated, hated, hated the movie. Woman goes with the old rich guy. 🤮.
#29
I watched the first few minutes of American Pie: Girls Rules and turned it off because it was so blatantly written by men and i was not about to subject myself to an hour and a half of a stupid movie written by stupid men about ***adolescent female sexuality***. like, just f**k no. i didn't even bother with googling the writers, it was THAT obvious. a critic also said the same thing.
Rahul Pawa 1 week ago
I do wish there was an example from the movie given of what it made it so bad in regards to how women are portrayed. I can probably guess though.
#30
This might be an unpopular opinion, but it’s how I feel about Scott Pilgrim. I won’t deny that it’s a really well-made movie overall. However, I’ve always struggled with *why* Ramona Flowers suddenly becomes so interested in Scott Pilgrim. What does she see in him? That aspect of the story felt a little too rooted in the male gaze for me.
#31
Poor Things, for so many reasons.
Equal_Tumbleweed_556:
THANK YOU! That movie felt like a 3 hour sequence of triggers and rage bait. And the gaslighting in the reviews! "You don't understand, it's actually a very feminist movie 🤓" Miss me with that bs. Unlike the protagonist, I have a functioning adult brain of my own, thank you very much. Sorry for the rant, I'm just so glad I'm not alone with this! All the best to you
Lara Verne 1 week ago
And I loved it. Because it was movie about growing up and realizing that main character owes nothing to men.
#32
I just watched the Jennifer Lawrence movie where she is a 30 something year old who takes up a families offer to date their 18 (19? But between high school and college son) and try to seduce him for sex so she can get a car. Like wtf. If the roles had been reversed and it was a 30 year old man being set up kidnapping an 18 year old virgin in their van this movie... idk. Just yuck. Felt like a movie where producers/directors/writers just wanted to find a way to show J Law naked.
Yvonne Dauwalder Balsiger 1 week ago
IMO they make it very clear that this is wrong and creepy behavior. He is scared (who wouldn't be?) and pepper sprays her, it's not like he gives in to Lawrence. Lawrence is not playing a decent character and the movie makes this obvious. All her seduction scenes are extra cringe and not sexy at all
#33
Sucker Punch. I genuinely don’t care if people like the vibes of it now, it is such an obvious male fantasy that it made me sick watching it when I was younger. Ironic love of it or not, they were not intentionally going for camp.
detective miller's hat 1 week ago
I LOVE Emily Browning, but yeah that film was absolute rubbish.
#34
Chef.
I always loved how John Favro droned on about "Staging" in REAL kitchens because he wanted the movie to be sooooo authentic, and then he shoehorned in the fact that both Scarlet Johansson and Sophia Vergara's characters' just found him so irresistibly sexy that they couldn't control themselves.
You know, for the authentic realism, because every drop dead gorgeous woman I know is just dying to find a man who looks like a 50 year old John Favro, but has no money or fame.
#35
Catch and Release, starring Jennifer Garner and Timothy Oliphant, which is also a Kevin Smith film. It came out after he'd done really fun and interesting work with Clerks, Dogma, etc.
The premise is that Jennifer Garner's fiancé dies right before they're going to marry, and she discovers she knew nothing about him (he had a kid with another woman who she found out about at the funeral or something... it's been a while). I'm pretty sure she moves in with his friends. Anyway, Timothy Oliphant is visiting as an old friend of the fiancé and he knew all of the secrets, and he's aggressively dickish to her and a bit of a player. Lots of drama, TO is the love interest despite there being no way that makes sense.
What made it clear that this wasn't written by a woman is that JG has absolutely no support of her own. She doesn't couch surf with her own friends or move into her childhood bedroom. She's supposedly all twisted up in grief and anger but doesn't vent to a single girlfriend. Even though TO is the guy she gets involved with, I'm pretty sure at least one of the other guys also thinks he's in love with her... despite the fact that her fiancé JUST died and they were HIS friends. JG is super likable in general, but her character is more like a sketch than a full human being, and yet she's also the main character. It's just disappointing.
That said, I also remember thinking the film was absolutely beautiful. Like the settings, the way it was shot, gorgeous. Just completely empty of how a real woman would be or what she would do.
Faminerst Anstemal 1 week ago
It's written and directed by Susannah Grant. Kevin Smith only acted in it.
#36
Dumb and Dumber is so creepy that I can say that Lloyd Christmas is an incel. His character lies, manipulates, and steals in order to stalk a woman he barely knows across thousands of miles. He fantasizes multiple times about m*rdering other men because he's super insecure and possessive of Mary Swanson. After encouraging the main villain to shoot his best friend out of jealousy, he finally learns that Mary has a husband. He then fantasizes about grabbing a cop's gun and shooting the husband several times as Mary screams, and this is completely played straight. Then he snaps out of his violent fantasy and slinks away (because he's threatened by other men).
Like, *holy s**t* this movie is awful. But they f*****g love it on r/movies and have downvoted me every time I've brought this up.
EDIT: I forgot, he is also nearly r*ped in a gas station bathroom by another man, and this is played for laughs. The movie is really bad.
#37
Any movie with a sex scene, really. Where they have simultaneous PIV orgasms.
Captain Grump 1 week ago
While it doesn't always happen, it's reasonably common for some of us. I don't see how this fits the theme.
#38
Anything written by Quentin Tarantino - he's created some kick-a*s female characters but he's also created some 1-dimensional ones that sound exactly like him - and he *always* manages to get a prolonged shot of their feet in there.
#39
Time Traveler’s Wife- Eric Bana appears in front of a child version of Rachel McAdams’ character multiple times (in the nude btw) and tells her about how she’s going to end up married to him in the future. At least she does call him out on the manipulation when she’s an adult, but it’s still icky. The book the movie was based on was written by a woman, so maybe it plays out differently in the book.
CanadianDimes 1 week ago
It doesn't play out differently in the book; it's just as disturbing there. The best review I ever read of the book was that the author had accidentally written a great book about a girl being groomed by a sexual predator. I do not understand why people think it's so romantic. It's gross, abusive, and glorifies co-dependence.
#40
Hot tub Time Machine, but it’s not like I was expecting interesting plot or social commentary… it was still just soo bad.
The whole plot of “if only i could go back to high school and do it all over again, I wouldn’t be a loser” (it’s not being useless, it’s the world that worked against you!)
The married dudes story is the worst, he traumatized his future wife by calling and yelling at her in the past. Gets back to the future and he’s married, she didn’t cheat, and she took his name. They even reference the call when she was a child. Like he owns her life.
#41
Not the worst on this list, but Bladerunner 2049. The women they bothered to have on screen were literally disposable objects.
(The original wasn’t much better.).
#42
Naruto. There's a pervert who creeps on girls at the waterfall played for laughs. Including the main character (male) morphing into a naked girl using shape change powers as the only way to make the mentor pay attention. Also just terrible writing of the female characters (and that's from fans who ignore the other part).
#43
Not the worst offender by far, but on a recent rewatch I was kinda shocked at how patronizing and at times outright misogynistic the Indiana Jones movies are. I never clocked that when I watched them as a child. But Jesus, I had to do a double take when it was implied that he slept with his love interest in the past when she was underage and his student. Like, I am sorry WTF did you just say?
#44
Idk if this counts because it’s a series but The English on Prime. Did no one actually study how women lived in England in the 1800’s? Why is a woman of the peerage (sp?) wandering around the Wild West of America all by her lonesome? Where are her servants? Even when they cut scene to where she’s in her family home in London, there’s like one guy tending the whole manor. There’s a stranger (an evil man with low status who went on a rampage in the West) that comes to their house and then they talk IN HER ROOM(which never would have happened).
I was left thinking that they never actually thought about this, AT ALL. No woman of their right mind would have been by themselves unless they grew up in that environment and knew how to protect themselves. And the indigenous man just lets her go on her way knowing she barely knows how to shoot a gun but , “oh by the way she’s great with a bow so that works better” 🙄.
cerinamroth 1 week ago
I haven't seen the series but have a read about Isabella Bird. Noblewoman who said eff this to her parents' idea of who she should marry and went travelling around the world instead. Her travel writings in Japan are particularly good. I love the scene where she imagines her parents' horror when she finds herself hoiking up her skirts and being carried across a raging torrent by a buff, half-naked Japanese dude. Good for her, I say!
#45
I watched Old School with my partner a while ago (rolling my eyes the entire time), and when it got to the scene where the women were actively interested in lessons on how to give BJs, I just lost my s**t. Like ANY woman would be interested in that - it was clearly some male fantasy b******t.
Toothless Feline 1 week ago
There actually are women interested in learning such skills. They’re nowhere near as common as Hollywood writers would have us believe, but they do exist, and they’re even not all prostitutes! Don’t make the mistake of thinking that all women feel the same way about anything.
#46
I have a tv show. Though I enjoyed it until like most fans season 8, I'm going to say Game Of Thrones t. v. adaptation. Which they made even more sexist and vulgar than the book. The books G. R. R. M. had history as a reason and the books are very good. The show much was added, changed, and gratuitous. The ending says it all.
XenoMurph 1 week ago
GRR M wasn't wrong. Women were treated terribly in history, and not in history. Especially during war. GOT did focus on well developed female MAIN characters. Would be interesting to look at male/female dialogue/screen time. The ending was what was planned from day one. But you are right the series did it all so badly. how can 6 seasons of foreshadowing of Arya being a super assassin, and Dany being borderline psychopath, become surprising and seemingly against character.
#47
50 first dates.
#48
Wonder Woman 2017. Wonder Woman is a super hero in her own right but it took the death of her man to unleash her full potential and defeat evil. The movie literally defined her powers as it related to a man in her life. I almost walked out.
#49
Pretty much any stoner comedy. I very much enjoy turning off my brain and watching Grandma's Boy but the only female character is such a Cool Girl.
#51
Dude, Where's My Car?
Watched that when I was younger, remember little about it. Rewatched it last year and God, it was terrible.
#52
Anything and everything based on the trope where the scrub at best but often more s****y guy gets the dream girl with minimal to no effort or character development.
#53
The Godfather comes pretty quickly to mind
Once upon a time in America, too.
Gabby Ghoul 1 week ago
To be fair, The Godfather depicts an organization that to this day remains notoriously patriarchal.
#54
I just rewatched The Holiday yesterday and there's a scene where Cameron Diaz's character proclaimed that she thinks foreplay is significantly overrated. So definitely that.
Orange Panda 1 week ago
Um, female here. I try to move that along as quickly as I can. OP doesn't speak for everyone.
#55
Not a movie, but a series - The first few seasons of Lost.
I tried to do a rewatch recently and I couldn’t get through it. So many sexist and racist stereotypes.
#56
I think this more often than not when watching ANY movies or TV shows nowadays. Seriously. It's getting harder to watch anything that's not Shondaland (and last season of Bridgerton was disappointing) or otherwise written, produced and directed by women.
#57
Clockwork Orange, I spit on your grave, or any movie with horrible sa scenes.
#58
Not a movie but HOLY SCHMIKES the first few seasons of Walking Dead grossed me out. Not the zombies or the gore, that was boring but whatever. The screaming obnoxious sexism was something else.
#60
Not a movie, but the Try Guys have a new segment where they do scavenger hunts in a big city with a budget of $500, a list of activities for certain number of points, and a time limit. The teams are two pairs of dudes. They go to places on the list without looking up if these places are actually open or not, and end up wasting a bunch of time. Why not sit down with the list for a 30 minute planning period to check business hours and talk strategy??
Ryan-James O'Driscoll 1 week ago
Because it's YouTube content. You realise that organised men and disorganised women exist, right?
What do you think ?
Sue User 1 week ago
Almost every Hallmark movie ever. Mainstream: cant believe no one mentioned Transformers.
Load More Replies...
Graham_Illegal 6 days ago
BREAKING NEWS: Many movies are — they’re just typically not made in Hollywood.
Load More Replies...
Child of the Stars 1 week ago
Some of these are spot on (especially for the juvenile comedies and rom coms). Others are mostly products of their time and wouldn't be made today or (in the case of some of the historical dramas) are reflecting more on treatment of women in the set time period. But one I want to point out is M*A*S*H. Yes, in the movie and early seasons, Houlihan is very one-dimensional. But her character was given a significant amount of growth into an independent woman capable of holding her own in an army full of misogynistic men. It should also be pointed out that Hawkeye's own sexist views of women were pointed out several times, from his treatment of the nurses as sex objects to his not taking at least one woman doctor as seriously as the men doctors.
Gabby Ghoul 1 week ago
The storyline of Margaret's marriage was created so the character could split with Frank and subsequently grow beyond that one dimension. If that had not been agreed upon, Loretta Swit probably would have left the show after season 5. Similarly, Larry Linville did leave after season 5 because he didn't see anywhere to take the character.
Load More Replies...
CP 1 week ago
To the people upset about movies depicting rape or SA, it happens in the real world. Just don't watch those movies. It is better to have stories with that in it than to censor them.
Helena 1 week ago
I don't think it is that it IS depicted, but rather HOW it is depicted. Intending to titillate rather than horrify. Which ends up being doubly horrific for any woman in the audience.
Load More Replies...
Kurt Frohloff 1 week ago
I feel like people need to get a life. Why do we need to judge movies or TV shows like they are real life…. Unless of course they are advertised as “reality” shows. Isn’t the purpose of the arts to portray evil, good, sad, happy, submissive, dominant, sexist, sexual, and everything in between? IT ISNT REAL PEOPLE!
mandy the capibara 1 week ago
That is certainly true and I don't think that you need to critize every single movie for being unrealistic, but pointing out that there is a trend in Hollywood of portraying very unhealthy relationships and calling them romantic, is fair. Especially as it is shown that it does influence especially younger viewers. Movies such as twilight ( one of many, but a bad one) really normalize abusive behaviour, and blame the victim. Though fiction, younger viewers who are still learning what a healthy relation is, and may use them as rolemodels.and sadly, examples of healthy relationships are quite scarce. Enjoy it, but with your head turned on.
Load More Replies...
similarly 1 week ago
On a positive note, I feel that the fact that we watch old movies and tv shows and cringe says a lot. I think that although we have a long way to go to get where we really want to be, we've made more progress than we sometimes give ourselves credit for.
MindNumbinglyBoringJob 1 week ago
Agree. I watched a few movies from the 70s that were highly rated and was shocked at how women were treated. It was considered normal . I was disgusted. That sh*t would never fly now.
Load More Replies...
LaserBrain 1 week ago
Quite liked Xena the Warrior Princess as an example of something that WOULDN'T make this list. How about you all?
Sue User 1 week ago (edited)
Didnt like the lesbian aspect. It felt like " lets show we are really progressive by showing woman on woman action" when it felt more like male fantasy.
Load More Replies...
Enlee Jones 1 week ago
Two and Half Men, where every woman aside from Berta is a ridiculously bitter shrew or a ridiculously hypersexualized airhead.
Kathy Dragonfly 1 week ago
How is this a list about 'movies' if half of it refers to either Everything with / Anything by or Not a movie!
Grm Moore 1 week ago
They're all American. American, being so religious seems to have big problems with perception of women, like other religious countries.
Tabitha 1 week ago
I’m in the US and have seen plenty of foreign films, including films from countries outside the borders of those “religious countries” you mention. So many of them were/still are even worse in their depictions and treatment of women. While I agree that certain religions are horrible to women, the true crux of the issue is the unchecked misogyny of the writers, directors, and producers “creating” these films. Additionally, the actresses in them are not well treated in comparison to the actors, unless of course they’re at the top of the A-List and are the main draw for the film or TV show, or are the golden nepo babies of powerful A-List parents. But even the actresses who manage to attain A-List status (all on their own talent, not because of their family connections) were treated really s****y before their name meant huge box office receipts.
Load More Replies... 
Roberta Surprenant 1 week ago
The old Our Man Flint, or In Like Flint movies with James Coburn, definitely male fantasies of obedient and pliant women.
mandy the capibara 1 week ago
I quite like the movie analysis of cinematherapy on youtube. They explore all kinds of behavior and relationships in movies. And no, it doesn't mean you can't enjoy these movies, but it is good to at least reflect a little on what your seeing, especially when watching with a younger audience.
Sam 1 week ago
One thing you have to remember about movies and Hollywood...is that everyone is running around like madmen, trying to make films as fast and as cheaply as possible. And that means, yes, the writing is going to suffer. The writers are going to fall into old tropes...because it's quicker than making something nuanced and respectful. The entire way Hollywood makes films suppresses creativity and, frankly, abuses the actors and crew into working ridiculously long hours (oh, like 16 hours a day)...and the whole thing needs to be changed, top to bottom. And, of course, that is what causes stuntmen to get seriously injured or die and all that.
Rachel Pelz 1 week ago
Harry and Sally. I'll explain: of course some guys may have realised that women can actually fake orgasms. So some gain, yes. But there is always somehing belittling about the way Sally is dealt with. Like, she's weird in a maybe somewhat cute way...don't worry about being weird, Sally, Harry will eventually marry you anyway. What bothers me is---why is her behaviour considered to be weird, like a weakness? Why does she have to consider herself lucky she is loved despite (!) all her weirdness?
Susie Elle 1 week ago (edited)
I despise the movie Crank, purely for that one scene where he basically r*pes his girlfriend out in public to keep the adrenaline up, nearly a hundre people are watching, she consistently says she doesn't want to, but somehow ends up enjoying it. It reeked of 'a no is a no until it becomes a yes' and 'every woman secretly has a r*pe fantasy' or something. Toe-curling.
Abel 1 week ago (edited)
But in that crazy movie the exhibicionist sex is consented. I cant take the plot of that movie seriously! Some people watch movies without knowing what they were going to see. 🤷♂️
Load More Replies...
Vanessa MacKenzie 6 days ago
The clothing: 1) a woman in a position of power - dressed more like a man, in pant suits and wide lapels, shoulder pads. (Cameron Manheim - Person of Interest as a reference. Women in positions of power can dress feminely) 2) Before marriage, drop dead gorgeous outfits. After marriage, frumpy, cover you up outfits. (Think The Nanny for example)
Júlia Fortes 6 days ago
not a movie but a series. The k-drama Love Alarm. The first love interest treat her like s**t a lot of times but she only think of breaking up when she become a obstacule to HIS life. Then become depressed for two years cause she doesnt have a men only to end up with the most boring guy ever after LYING to him. The first love interest just stuck with a girl he doesnt really like cause he cant live alone. And we need to pretend this is a happy ending???
Kirsty Jackowski 6 days ago
Some of these comments seem to be missing the point. Some of these criticisms are actually done on purpose. National Treasure, MASH, or it's supposed to make you reflect and think.
Panda Panda Bo Banda 1 week ago
I can't believe nobody mentioned Revenge of the Nerds with a full-on SA scene that was played off as funny and romantic.
Parmeisan 1 week ago
First episode of Seinfeld, where he jokes at length about laundry detergent that advertises it can clean blood. Because apparently, no decent normal person encounters blood on a regular basis.
DC 1 week ago
Hm, those people, obviously, aren't into cooking. Or they know how to handle knives.
Load More Replies... Anony Mouse 1 week ago
Surprised there wasn’t a lot of Scorsese on this list. For the most part his female characters do nothing but react to the men.
Graham_Illegal 6 days ago
Maybe it’s because Scorsese tends to create movies set in male-dominated subcultures, where the characters are mostly evil, violent criminals. Do you think his movies are promoting theft and murder just because that’s what those male characters typically do? BTW, he also directed 'Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore', which is clearly a feminist statement featuring a brilliant lead performance by Ellen Burstyn.
Load More Replies...
Fellfromthemoon 1 week ago
The Devil in Love. I used to find it hilarious and still like the basic plot. At the end, it's the devil, he supposed to be POS. However, at the end, the heroin falls for him. After he publicly humiliated her not once but twice.
Sue User 1 week ago
Almost every Hallmark movie ever. Mainstream: cant believe no one mentioned Transformers.
Load More Replies... Graham_Illegal 6 days ago
BREAKING NEWS: Many movies are — they’re just typically not made in Hollywood.
Load More Replies... Child of the Stars 1 week ago
Some of these are spot on (especially for the juvenile comedies and rom coms). Others are mostly products of their time and wouldn't be made today or (in the case of some of the historical dramas) are reflecting more on treatment of women in the set time period. But one I want to point out is M*A*S*H. Yes, in the movie and early seasons, Houlihan is very one-dimensional. But her character was given a significant amount of growth into an independent woman capable of holding her own in an army full of misogynistic men. It should also be pointed out that Hawkeye's own sexist views of women were pointed out several times, from his treatment of the nurses as sex objects to his not taking at least one woman doctor as seriously as the men doctors.
Gabby Ghoul 1 week ago
The storyline of Margaret's marriage was created so the character could split with Frank and subsequently grow beyond that one dimension. If that had not been agreed upon, Loretta Swit probably would have left the show after season 5. Similarly, Larry Linville did leave after season 5 because he didn't see anywhere to take the character.
Load More Replies... CP 1 week ago
To the people upset about movies depicting rape or SA, it happens in the real world. Just don't watch those movies. It is better to have stories with that in it than to censor them.
Helena 1 week ago
I don't think it is that it IS depicted, but rather HOW it is depicted. Intending to titillate rather than horrify. Which ends up being doubly horrific for any woman in the audience.
Load More Replies... Kurt Frohloff 1 week ago
I feel like people need to get a life. Why do we need to judge movies or TV shows like they are real life…. Unless of course they are advertised as “reality” shows. Isn’t the purpose of the arts to portray evil, good, sad, happy, submissive, dominant, sexist, sexual, and everything in between? IT ISNT REAL PEOPLE!
mandy the capibara 1 week ago
That is certainly true and I don't think that you need to critize every single movie for being unrealistic, but pointing out that there is a trend in Hollywood of portraying very unhealthy relationships and calling them romantic, is fair. Especially as it is shown that it does influence especially younger viewers. Movies such as twilight ( one of many, but a bad one) really normalize abusive behaviour, and blame the victim. Though fiction, younger viewers who are still learning what a healthy relation is, and may use them as rolemodels.and sadly, examples of healthy relationships are quite scarce. Enjoy it, but with your head turned on.
Load More Replies... similarly 1 week ago
On a positive note, I feel that the fact that we watch old movies and tv shows and cringe says a lot. I think that although we have a long way to go to get where we really want to be, we've made more progress than we sometimes give ourselves credit for.
MindNumbinglyBoringJob 1 week ago
Agree. I watched a few movies from the 70s that were highly rated and was shocked at how women were treated. It was considered normal . I was disgusted. That sh*t would never fly now.
Load More Replies... LaserBrain 1 week ago
Quite liked Xena the Warrior Princess as an example of something that WOULDN'T make this list. How about you all?
Sue User 1 week ago (edited)
Didnt like the lesbian aspect. It felt like " lets show we are really progressive by showing woman on woman action" when it felt more like male fantasy.
Load More Replies... Enlee Jones 1 week ago
Two and Half Men, where every woman aside from Berta is a ridiculously bitter shrew or a ridiculously hypersexualized airhead.
Kathy Dragonfly 1 week ago
How is this a list about 'movies' if half of it refers to either Everything with / Anything by or Not a movie!
Grm Moore 1 week ago
They're all American. American, being so religious seems to have big problems with perception of women, like other religious countries.
Tabitha 1 week ago
I’m in the US and have seen plenty of foreign films, including films from countries outside the borders of those “religious countries” you mention. So many of them were/still are even worse in their depictions and treatment of women. While I agree that certain religions are horrible to women, the true crux of the issue is the unchecked misogyny of the writers, directors, and producers “creating” these films. Additionally, the actresses in them are not well treated in comparison to the actors, unless of course they’re at the top of the A-List and are the main draw for the film or TV show, or are the golden nepo babies of powerful A-List parents. But even the actresses who manage to attain A-List status (all on their own talent, not because of their family connections) were treated really s****y before their name meant huge box office receipts.
Load More Replies... Roberta Surprenant 1 week ago
The old Our Man Flint, or In Like Flint movies with James Coburn, definitely male fantasies of obedient and pliant women.
mandy the capibara 1 week ago
I quite like the movie analysis of cinematherapy on youtube. They explore all kinds of behavior and relationships in movies. And no, it doesn't mean you can't enjoy these movies, but it is good to at least reflect a little on what your seeing, especially when watching with a younger audience.
Sam 1 week ago
One thing you have to remember about movies and Hollywood...is that everyone is running around like madmen, trying to make films as fast and as cheaply as possible. And that means, yes, the writing is going to suffer. The writers are going to fall into old tropes...because it's quicker than making something nuanced and respectful. The entire way Hollywood makes films suppresses creativity and, frankly, abuses the actors and crew into working ridiculously long hours (oh, like 16 hours a day)...and the whole thing needs to be changed, top to bottom. And, of course, that is what causes stuntmen to get seriously injured or die and all that.
Rachel Pelz 1 week ago
Harry and Sally. I'll explain: of course some guys may have realised that women can actually fake orgasms. So some gain, yes. But there is always somehing belittling about the way Sally is dealt with. Like, she's weird in a maybe somewhat cute way...don't worry about being weird, Sally, Harry will eventually marry you anyway. What bothers me is---why is her behaviour considered to be weird, like a weakness? Why does she have to consider herself lucky she is loved despite (!) all her weirdness?
Susie Elle 1 week ago (edited)
I despise the movie Crank, purely for that one scene where he basically r*pes his girlfriend out in public to keep the adrenaline up, nearly a hundre people are watching, she consistently says she doesn't want to, but somehow ends up enjoying it. It reeked of 'a no is a no until it becomes a yes' and 'every woman secretly has a r*pe fantasy' or something. Toe-curling.
Abel 1 week ago (edited)
But in that crazy movie the exhibicionist sex is consented. I cant take the plot of that movie seriously! Some people watch movies without knowing what they were going to see. 🤷♂️
Load More Replies... Vanessa MacKenzie 6 days ago
The clothing: 1) a woman in a position of power - dressed more like a man, in pant suits and wide lapels, shoulder pads. (Cameron Manheim - Person of Interest as a reference. Women in positions of power can dress feminely) 2) Before marriage, drop dead gorgeous outfits. After marriage, frumpy, cover you up outfits. (Think The Nanny for example)
Júlia Fortes 6 days ago
not a movie but a series. The k-drama Love Alarm. The first love interest treat her like s**t a lot of times but she only think of breaking up when she become a obstacule to HIS life. Then become depressed for two years cause she doesnt have a men only to end up with the most boring guy ever after LYING to him. The first love interest just stuck with a girl he doesnt really like cause he cant live alone. And we need to pretend this is a happy ending???
Kirsty Jackowski 6 days ago
Some of these comments seem to be missing the point. Some of these criticisms are actually done on purpose. National Treasure, MASH, or it's supposed to make you reflect and think.
Panda Panda Bo Banda 1 week ago
I can't believe nobody mentioned Revenge of the Nerds with a full-on SA scene that was played off as funny and romantic.
Parmeisan 1 week ago
First episode of Seinfeld, where he jokes at length about laundry detergent that advertises it can clean blood. Because apparently, no decent normal person encounters blood on a regular basis.
DC 1 week ago
Hm, those people, obviously, aren't into cooking. Or they know how to handle knives.
Load More Replies... Anony Mouse 1 week ago
Surprised there wasn’t a lot of Scorsese on this list. For the most part his female characters do nothing but react to the men.
Graham_Illegal 6 days ago
Maybe it’s because Scorsese tends to create movies set in male-dominated subcultures, where the characters are mostly evil, violent criminals. Do you think his movies are promoting theft and murder just because that’s what those male characters typically do? BTW, he also directed 'Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore', which is clearly a feminist statement featuring a brilliant lead performance by Ellen Burstyn.
Load More Replies... Fellfromthemoon 1 week ago
The Devil in Love. I used to find it hilarious and still like the basic plot. At the end, it's the devil, he supposed to be POS. However, at the end, the heroin falls for him. After he publicly humiliated her not once but twice.
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