Breaking the Silence — Challenging Misogyny in the Media

Alyssa Ramos, Section Editor, Community News

March 12, 2024

Barbie in support of Women in any careers!

Since the start of 2024, there have been unnecessary misogynistic actions, mainly in the media, degrading women and their success. Many people do not understand the impact of these measures. Depending on the situation, both men and women choose to bring down other women and their success.

Golden Globes Disaster
Comedian and actor, Jokoy, was recently under fire as he stepped up as the Golden Globes host for the evening. Jokoy is known for his stand up shows, several even filmed and on Netflix for streaming, including a large fanbase on Instagram.

At the 81st Annual Golden Globes, he didn’t spark his audience with his infamous jokes. Rather, he continuously offended many people, especially women, with his opening monologue.

He started his comments by comparing the two biggest movies of the summer in 2023, Barbie and Oppenheimer. Jokoy praised the two movies on cinematic box office achievements. Jokoy explained that Oppenheimer is a 721-page “Pulitzer prize winning book about Manhattan Project. And ‘Barbie’ is on a plastic doll with big boobies.” Isn’t that disgusting and humiliating to listen to? Here he is, in front of millions of people watching worldwide, comparing a movie about the development of atomic bombs to the body of a famous doll, when the movie was so much more than that.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce beaming with pride, showcasing their successful lives while together as a couple. (Sophia Walker)

Many people online have discussed their discomfort with the jokes made on stage. Some have stated that Jokoy had totally missed the whole point being made in the Barbie movie. “Barbie” shows how men in the real world overlook the power of women in society. This strongly affects Ken and urges him to completely change Barbie Land into a world of men running the system. One famous monologue, made by America Ferrera, has been notorious since the Barbie movie came out. It has helped women stay empowered and left the audience emotional.

Ferrera’s character, Gloria, explains societies’ expectations of women, but also the contradiction of reaching those expectations. Women are expected of so much, yet still feel so restricted and degrading.

Gloria’s Monologue:
“You have to answer for mens’ bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much, or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged…It’s too contradictory, and nobody gives you a medal, or says thank you!… I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us.”
Barbie Snub
Barbie has indeed become one of the most groundbreaking movie of the past year, bringing close to $1.3 billion in tickets and among the top 20 highest-grossing films ever. However, a new crash of information has landed shocking people worldwide. Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were not nominated for Best Actress and Best Director.

Many people have revealed their frustration because it perfectly depicts what the Barbie movie has been saying all along. Women are succeeding in a male dominated field, and some people aren’t up for it.

People have expressed on social media that the Academy missed the whole point of the film. Ken, played by Ryan Gosling, was nominated for an award, but not the lead actress that the whole movie is about.

Two major actors in “Barbie” spoke out about this Oscar Snub. Ryan Gosling, playing Ken, gave a statement to Entertainment Tonight expressing his disappointment of Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig not getting the recognition they deserve. Gosling highlights that “there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie.” He reveals that his disappointment for not being nominated would be an understatement.

Simu Liu, playing another Ken, defends the two women about the Oscar snub on ‘X’. Liu exclaims that they deserve everything and that they “started a movement, touched the world, and reinvigorated the cinema.”

The Golden Couple

There is no doubt that everyone has been buzzing about the new relationship of pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chief player Travis Kelce. In September 2023, the pair were first sighted together after Kelce’s football game in Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium. Ever since, fans have been raving about the couple and are always excited to tune into Chiefs games.

At the games, there have been many times where they pan the camera to show Swift watching the game in the upper suite. Because of this, many men have spoken about how they hate seeing Taylor Swift on their screens, and only want to watch the game. Swift fans have retaliated, saying how Swift is only on screen for less than a minute and that men will take time out of their day just to hate on Swift for supporting her boyfriend.

Obviously, not all men express hate towards the two. Many fathers have shown gratitude towards Swift because it brought their families together, as their daughters join them to watch football. A Super Bowl commercial went viral in the Swiftie community; a heartwarming video of a father and daughter having a closer bond as the daughter, a Swift fan, joined him to watch football as a family. Fathers and husbands have responded to that video, explaining how relatable it is for them.

Horrid Use of AI

No doubt, AI has fundamentally changed the world. People use it for school, social media, and even in the medical field. However, even though people use AI for good, it’s guaranteed that people could use it for horrible reasons. One event that spread on former Twitter app, now known as ‘X’, was that people created graphic, deepfake photos of Taylor Swift at Chiefs games.

Thankfully, there has been lots of support for Swift to get these images taken down. Fans have supported Swift by creating posts with “Protect Taylor Swift” to drown out the explicit images.
Her publicist, Tree Paine, took action and got the images deleted.

Still, these photos exist on the internet, and people could spread them around. Even the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, spoke out about this issue. Jean-Pierre mentions that these photos are alarming and that there should be legislation passed to prevent more issues like this.

What makes things worse, is that even though Taylor Swift has the money, status, and the abundant amount of power to take action against it, these deepfake images can happen to anybody. The use of AI can horribly affect other women and imposes a larger threat, especially for young women. It is too big of an issue that is, once again, being overlooked.

Overall, the events spotlighted shows how women in the media have been dealing with misogyny regularly. These occurrences are very disturbing and alarming especially how nothing is being done to stop hurtful actions towards women. Of course, women are not the only people being torn down in the media and men aren’t the only people being rude and disrespectful. But with these circumstances happening so recently, day after day, we can only hope that one day women will be treated with the decency and respect they deserve.

About the Contributors

Alyssa Ramos, Section Editor

Alyssa Ramos is in her senior year at Golden Valley and the Section Editor for the Community News Team. She is a member of the Asian Student Union, the Crafting Club, and Bring Change 2 Mind. She is also part of this year’s yearbook team. Alyssa is passionate about covering topics around school and the information that GV students want to learn and are genuinely interested in. She is interested in writing about different clubs, classes, and events that go on in the Grizzly community. But, she is also interested in any music topics that go on in the world. Being a part of the student newspaper is important to her because it helps her feel closely tied to what goes on in the school and the community and to meet more people through the newsroom and those parts of the articles. In her own time, Alyssa likes to cook and bake. She is planning on starting her own business for baking! She is self taught in guitar and ukulele, and loves to sing. She also enjoys embroidering and playing games with friends.

Ashlynn Escobar, Staff Writer

Lynn was born in Antelope Valley California, but raised in Santa Clarita the rest of her life after she turned 1 years old. They are now a senior at Golden Valley High School and a staff writer for the CEPAT News Team. Her family is very involved with her and wants her to succeed. She is involved with their school club called HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America). She’s also involved with theater arts (children theater). She has been in theater for 3 years of her high school years. She is very passionate to be talking about medical and health related topics. She is very passionate because she sees herself getting into the medical field. Being a journalist is new to her, but she hopes to share more of the issues of art and creativity in our world by educating people about art, culture, entertainment and how it's made. Ashlynn is very interested in anything horror, loves Vampire Diaries, and loves Spiderman!

Sophia Walker, Staff Writer

Sophia Walker is a Staff Writer for the Sports New Team on the Grizzly Gazette and she is in her last year of highschool. She's very passionate about writing about campus activities, student spotlight stories and community issues because she wants to be involved with everything that is happening and to be able to share what needs to be shared which is very important to her. Being a part of the Grizzly Gazette to her is extremely important because there is so much that is going on and all people need to be educated with everything in the world and our community which is very diverse and different. She loves journaling, writing their thoughts and making poems with what happens to make her feel better and researching common things going on to learn more. She also loves helping people and leading them in any way she can, she strives to help and understand anyone. She has had many hobbies including hockey, dance, tennis, volleyball, and acting. Eventually I would love to be a therapist or counselor for families, relationships, and or with any people in need of help or support.