The concept of internal misogyny is extremely prominent in today’s society; however, recently, the aftereffects of the barbie movie being released have shown how damaging it can really be
A lot of people forget that internal misogyny is present and keep it to the back of their minds until an event brings it to the forefront. The Barbie movie, which suffered backlash due to certain viewers being offended by the idea that it was sexist towards men, has shown how people have preconceived opinions about a woman’s role in society.
Men, in particular, have been seen walking out of cinemas due to the Barbie movie being ‘feminist garbage’. These actions in response to a movie really put us in the wrong direction in terms of the feminist movement. It depicts how women in certain jobs may never be taken seriously in our society due to internalised misogyny being extremely difficult to abolish. This puts forward the idea that perhaps a female MP will never be heard or seen in the same way as a male MP, which, to all women, is not a nice thought.
However, some men have said that it made them self-reflect and become more aware of how they treat women in the workplace. This relates to women in politics, as 74% of Conservative men say that the Barbie movie improved how they saw leadership positions that were filled by women. This is definitely a positive, due to the improvement needed in how women are treated in the workplace, especially when in high positions.
In the movie, the character Gloria says, ‘We have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong’. This suggests that women need to work very hard to get where they want to go but will still always be criticized for any number of reasons. The idea of having to be extraordinary relates to women in politics due to the stigma around women not being good leaders. This stigma was created because women can be seen as erratic, overemotional, impulsive, or dramatic. All of these words spring into people’s minds because internal misogyny has developed over time and has wormed its assumptions into people’s real thoughts. Women should not be described in this way but unfortunately, they still are in some cases.
One of the damaging things about internalised misogyny is how a lot of people act like it doesn’t exist. Denying that it is present in everyone’s minds only adds to the problem. This is because to be able to get over the stereotypes and stop judging women simply because they are women, people need to accept that internal misogyny intercepts what they are thinking. This is so that they can get rid of the thought and realise it is harmful. Rather than claiming complete morality over everyone else.
An interesting aspect of the Barbie movie is the difference in how men experience the world compared to women. This is mostly shown when Barbie and Ken first go to the real world and Barbie experiences sexual assault and catcalling from men almost instantly, whereas Ken says he feels ‘admired’. This part of the movie was very real and definitely not exaggerated, as this sort of misconduct happens frequently to women every day. Why do some men think it’s okay to grab a woman? How come they feel the right to shout crude words at them? Because misogyny exists.
People who argue that equality has been reached and sexism is not relevant anymore should ask themselves the former questions. This is why four in five women lack confidence and may be held back from career advancement because of it. It is not because they are any less capable than a man; it is because they have been put down by men throughout their whole lives and are therefore worried about being criticised for speaking their own opinions. There are 650 members of Parliament and 224 of them are female. If internal misogyny was not at play, the number of women MP’s would, without a doubt, be higher.
Overall, the backlash that the Barbie movie faced boils down to internal misogyny. If it didn’t exist, women would have equal job opportunities to men, and no one would have walked out of theatres due to the movie being ‘feminist garbage’. In the character Gloria’s words, ‘It is literally impossible to be a woman’.
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