We tried to delineate what characteristics an alpha male possesses, keeping in mind that the idea comes from the animal kingdom (or a fantasy of how the animal kingdom works). Is the alpha male aggressive? Is he always in control? is he charismatic? a good speaker? heterosexual or homosexual? bisexual? is he rich? does he get laid when he's not busy being alpha somewhere else?
We conformed with equating the alpha male with the dominant male and so, their traits are the same:
- Powerful
- Wealthy
- Influential
- Attractive
- Heterosexual
- Objectifies women
What does a woman alpha need to be? Can we extrapolate "alphaness", or is it sex-specific?
I read an article that suggests that high heels suggest status:
"Certain class advantages make it easier for upper middle class and wealthy women to don high heels. High heels can really only be worn routinely by women who don't work on their feet all day (I'll grant there are dedicated exceptions). Valet parking makes it a whole lot easier to wear shoes that hurt to walk in, so does not having to take the bus.* Having money, in itself, means that nothing stands between you and buying things that are impractical."
But heels didn't start being shoes for women. Heels started as riding shoes for men and then evolved into status wear, until the Enlightenment. Then, the discomfort of heels was left to women.
So nowadays, women show power by wearing 6 inch heels, instead of a sleek leather belt.
Two days ago, PBS ran a documentary called Makers: Women Who Make America. Not only is it super inspiring, these women explain one by one the hardships they had fighting, what we now see as, an incredibly backwards patriarchal system. NB: what if what we now see as fair and egalitarian is actually not? Seriously think about this. Because back in the 1920s people still believed women were rendered incapacitated during their period. As in once a month for a full week. As in out of 52 weeks, you spend 12 in bed because you're a useless individual.
Crystal thought for a second and said: what about Lara Croft? Or River Song? or Buffy the Vampire Slayer? or Anita Blake?
Honestly, from that list I only know Lara Croft and Buffy and I only played a Tomb Raider game over one summer (and I can't even name it) and I've seen a handful of episodes of Buffy. But I get what she meant. I also get that these characters are not exactly pushing for equality. Although they are somewhat, and in varying degrees, positive in depicting capable women that, you know, do their thing, they aren't something we should strive for or settle on. It's not a matter of making women fighters in media, it's about making them fighters without having to take their clothes off or without them always being white or well off or fulfilling some sort of sexual fantasy. And making them fighters without using violence, but that's just my personal taste.
So what do you think? Can we abstract "alphaness" or is it an archaic notion?
In case of absolute despair, look at this.
After reading this, and understanding we have come a long way from the 1920's, I do believe we can abstract alphaness and obtain those alpha attributes without taking our clothes off, wearing high heels, and without being violent. So many women today have started out at the bottom and made their ways to the top without ever succumbing to any of those things. Often the alpha male is also attributed with "starting from the bottom, and working his way to the top" to have the "ultimate success story", further adding to his dominance. When women are seen as alpha working her way to success is not something that first comes to mind. We often think of the clothes, how she presents herself, what car she drives, etc. I googled famous success stories to see how many were male,and how many female, and then comparing who was alpha and who was not seen as alpha. 43 of the 50 "famous success stories" were male while only 7 on the list were female. Yet, every female worked just as hard if not harder to prove herself and gain her success and "alphaness". I think in today's society it's easier and more accepted for a woman to have and display alphaness, although that may "intimidate" many men. And even in that situation people find a way to sexualize a woman's dominance, whether she, herself is adding to the sexualization or not. Men think it is "sexy" when a woman is dominant or alpha. Even though most women who display alphaness and dominance are not doing it to be sexy or draw negative attention, but to make it known that women can be strong and independent.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting, but I always attributed "alpha males" not to success, power, influence or anything, but of someone's attitude. The douche-bag.
ReplyDeleteIt is called the "Alpha Male Syndrome" and it is called that for a reason. These are the type of people who are so insecure of themselves that they have to act a certain way to impose a certain attitude over others, in a superiority sense. Men can be dominant without the douchey-ness of the alpha male. Most, if not all of the alpha males that I have met had some form of insecurity that has caused them to act the way they do to protect themselves.
But I do believe the "alphaness" can be extrapolated to include women although we NEVER hear such things. The "alphaness" is merely a characteristic much like confidence is, so why wouldn't it include women? Now most women just don't have the issue with having to exert their power over others in the way men have to. But then again if the one's that deviate away from the norm of being subordinate, they're referred to as the "dominatrix" or said to be "wearing the pants".
Video game characters like Lara Croft do promote the capabilities that women have and also induce a feeling of being able to do what men do, but unfortunately they are still hyper-sexualized in the process.
Likewise, I am not too familiar with the rest of the characters listed, but I can say with the recent Tomb Raider game Lara actually does not seem sexualized.