NICOLAS MARTINEZ

Take a look at this TEDx Video by Colin Strokes about the role women and men play in American film. I know you’ve heard before about the depictions of women in movies, but this is something so much more.

Watch it here:

My first impression is that it would be talk about how women are not depicted enough in American film. And yes, Strokes did cover this, and yes, indeed they aren’t. But Strokes developed a greater appreciation for this statistic. First he causes us to question what kind of roles women play in film. But then he challenges what kind of world we ought to raise our children in. This was particularly resonant with me. Strokes takes the blame off of the industry and sheds light on how fathers play a role in shaping the norms of their sons. In order to change the way we view women in the world, we ought to teach our sons to learn compassion, equality, and teamwork from a young age. Learn that degrading women, even in a “humorous” way, is still degradation, and still intolerable. Rather than learning that manhood should be defined by war, individualism, and aggression, fathers need to set the example for young boys to support their sisters and mothers. One in five women report being sexually assaulted at some point in their life. Why analyze what women are doing wrong? Why not critique why men are so aggressive? Where are they getting that aggression from? Why do boys grow to men and believe rape is okay? How is this behavior normalized?

These are the questions we should be asking our sons.