"8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter" & Hegemonic Representation of Masculinity and Femininity

8 Simple Rules: Pilot

Today, the standards of what it means to embody femininity and masculinity is constantly moving and changing to what is the acceptable norm. The elite group of society has the power to tell young audiences how they should behave dress and interact with the opposite gender to get what they truly desire. The stereotypes of women include those who are less intelligent but who are beautiful and those who are smart but not so attractive are dominated by the hegemonic representations of femininity and masculinity. Throughout the media, we see a variety of characters who reinforce and disrupt the constructs of hegemony. According to Lull, “Hegemony implies a willing agreement by people to be governed by principles, rules, and laws they believe operate in their best interests, even though in actual practice they may not. Social consent can be a more effective means of control than coercion or force” (p.63). Teenagers and young adults may or may not choose to follow these rules and social expectations in order to fit in or stand out. Hegemony is a process where society and the people within it try to maintain power and dominance to establish what is considered the acceptable norms. Others will demonstrate counter-hegemony and will stray away from these acceptable norms.

The hit television series “8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter” is about a father, Paul Hennessey, who’s constantly challenged to raise, discipline and connect with his children. The show focuses on the two oldest daughters, Bridget and Carrie who are trying to get through the high demands and social expectations of high school. The two daughters’ characters contrast in their looks and personalities which cause them to argue frequently; at the same time, the audience can relate to their teenage angst, desires, and experiences that overlap between them in two very opposite spectrums of the social circle. The very first piloted episode of Season 1 introduces us to the two sassy teenagers and demonstrates how their lives are dictated by counter-hegemonic and social standards and norms.

Bridget’s character is tall, beautiful and blonde. She may not be the smartest of the family, like it matters to her anyway; but her world mostly revolves around friends, shopping, and boys. Her behavior, attitude, and the way she views herself and the people around her reinforces as well as disrupts hegemonic masculinity and femininity. The episode begins with Kyle, Bridget’s date, coming to pick her up. As we are introduced to Bridget for the first time, she comes downstairs with a revealing tank top and tight pants and is sent back up by her father to change. Instead of coming to the door, there are several loud honks outside. Once inside the house, Kyle gets a call from another girl and claims he’s at a friend’s house.

Just in this brief scene alone, it shows that women feel like they should dress in a certain way they think will attract the opposite sex and men are depicted as the more powerful and dominant person of the relationship. In Johnson’s article, he says that patriarchy has become partly about “valuing of masculinity and maleness and devaluing of femininity and femaleness”, which is truly demonstrated by this scene (p.94). Kyle may believe that it is acceptable to treat Bridget this way because masculinity is seen as more valuable than women’s femininity.

Another scene where Bridget is shown to care about her looks by the way she dresses, young female viewers can relate to the father-daughter interaction. Paul clearly does not approve of what Bridget is wearing yet she believes that it’s what people wear in her generation. The dialogue between Paul, Bridget and Carrie went like this:

Paul: Bridget, why are you dressed like that?

Carrie: It must be casual sex day at school.

Bridget: Hey, at least I get…look good.

Paul: Okay cupcake, I think you missed the word under in underwear because I can see your bra and that sling shot you’re wearing under your pants.

Bridget: It’s a thong.

Paul: It’s floss.

Bridget: I can’t wear anything else. Panty lines, hello.

Paul: Panty lines, hello, are fine. Actually, they were a pretty big deal in my day.

Bridget: Well, we’re the thong generation.

Paul: Well maybe that’s why your generation is so angry, you’re always walking around with wedgies.

Through this interaction, it is true that hegemony and popular culture is a process that develops and has no finite ending. Status quo and social standards change as time passes. By dressing this way, Bridget believes she is following what society categorizes as the norm and to viewers, she embodies beauty, femininity, and sexuality. And as Carrie points out, Bridget’s sense of fashion promotes that sex sells in order to be popular and to draw in attention of the opposite gender. Popular culture tells her and the audience that if you’re not up to date with what everyone else is currently doing in this generation, you put yourself at risk of major social consequences to come. Chapter 1 in the text-reader states, “[The media] contribute to educating us how to behave and what to think, feel, believe, fear, and desire – and what not to. The media are forms of pedagogy that teach us how to be men and women” (p.9). As described in the article The Unreal World, Pozner would identify Bridget as the Perfect 10. She is pretty, passive, and intellectually unthreatening. Pozner also says that “the real concern is the millions of views, scores of whom are young girls, who take in these misogynistic spectacles uncritically, learning that only the most stereotypically beautiful, least independent women with the lowest-carb diets will be rewarded with love, financial security and the ultimate prize of male validation” (p.99). Although, not quite a reality show and although “8 Simple Rules” reinforces family and morals, in many ways, Bridget’s character depicts women as someone who needs love and male validation.

Bridget not only demonstrates hegemonic representations, she also reveals counter hegemonic representations that disrupt the constructs of femininity. She sneaks off to the mall, hoping to bump into Kyle so he would ask her to the homecoming dance. He approaches her with a few smooth lines, “Check me out, checking you out…checking me out, checking you out! Yeah, I’m checking you out”. Bridget is carried away by this guy and can’t stop smiling until another girl walks by and Kyle leaves her to use the very same lines on her. Here, you see Bridget crying, in a vulnerable state which makes the audience feel sorry for her. According to Johnson, the system of patriarchy establishes that women are to be vulnerable and caring while men are tough and aggressive (p.94). This only reinforces that women depend and base their happiness and self-esteem on men. However, turns of events show that Bridget disrupts her character build up. We later find out that she already has a date to the dance but thought she could do better. Now, power has shift from the man to the woman. In the same way Kyle believed he could dispose of Bridget for another woman, Bridget believed that she could easily dump her pre-established date for someone better because she can and deserves to because of her looks. Society teaches teenagers that the opposite gender is just someone you can play with, tease, excite, and control. Throughout the episode we see that men dictate how women see themselves when in fact, women are just as guilty for participating in the expectations and norms of society.

In contrast, Carrie is short, rebellious, and a redhead. She is nothing like Bridget but seems not to desire the popularity her sister has established for herself. She dresses very differently and is always moody. She has a lot of attitude as most teenagers do. She is the typical angry-at-the-world, not as beautiful, yet smart and artistic. Usually a good, well-behaved student, Carrie surprisingly gets suspended from skipping school one day. Her parents and the audience are left with the mystery of why the sudden rebellion. When she is questioned why she isn’t attending the homecoming dance, she responds by saying that it’s stupid and is for idiots when the truth is, she didn’t get asked by anyone, which isn’t a surprise to Bridget. When Paul approaches Carrie, she asks her dad if he thinks she’s pretty. She is tired of boys considering her as just a friend, not looking at her in any particular romantic way. Paul tries to understand by suggesting if she didn’t dress so baggy, maybe boys will start to notice her developing figure. Carrie desires to feel pretty yet even when her dad reassures her that she is, his opinion doesn’t matter due to the age gap. Here we see a change in hegemonic representation. Carrie’s character embodies a teenage girl who supposedly doesn’t care what people think of her or whether she dresses more like her sister. Secretly, however, she wants to be accepted by society and noticed by the opposite gender. Like Bridget, she depends on boys around her to make her feel beautiful and feminine. In the end of the episode, her usual scowl changes to cheerful and upbeat because a boy is coming to hang out with her. It’s not until after this conclusion of the episode that she seems freed from her insecurities and she demonstrates gratefulness for her father’s love.

The contrast between her and her sister tells the audiences that if you’re smart and independent, yet don’t dress as sexy to show off your body, you will not be noticed or as popular. Carrie’s character is assumed to be set apart from the popular crowd and she “deviates from the codes of mainstream femininity” (Johnson p. 94). Her sarcasm, rebelliousness and bad attitude “endorse counter-hegemonic values and lifestyles” (Lull p.65). She is all about being very different from the people around her and going against the trends. Yet, little does she, as well as her father knows, society has shaped her thinking just the same as her sister in terms of the way she feels about her own femininity to the standards of other teenage boys. Even though she does not desire to dress in any way like her sister, she can’t help but to feel she lacks beauty as she stands in the shadow of her older, more popular sister. According to Kellner, “[The media shows] us how to dress, look, and consume; how to react to members of different social groups; how to be popular and successful and how to avoid failure; and how to conform to the dominant system of norms, values, practices, and institutions” (p.10). She hates the very thing she wants, which is to be noticed and to be considered as feminine in her own beauty.

Hegemonic and counter-hegemonic seem to dominate the world of the young audiences still, as seen in the show. In the episode alone, you can analyze each character and conclude that they each represent hegemonic femininity and masculinity. In reality, young audiences are learning these standards of what it means to be a woman and a man through the media. Within the social constructs, both Bridget and Carrie demonstrate these hegemonic and counter-hegemonic representations. Bridget portrays femininity in the way she dresses and by her popular social status. She also displays counter-hegemonic femininity when she takes control and power over the men she can easily have as opposed to the guy she actually wants. Carrie depicts counter-hegemonic femininity by being different and not following the social norms but she also displays a longing to be feminine as she reflects her own relationships with the opposite gender. These representations can be found in this series of shows and can be easily paralleled to society today.

Johnson, Allan G. “Patriarchy, the System. An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us” 93-94.

Kellner, Doughlas. “Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism, and Media Culture”. Gender, Race, and Class in Media. Sage Publications Inc. 9-19.

Lull, James. “Hegemony”. Gender, Race, and Class in Media. Sage Publications Inc. 61-65.

Pozner, Jennifer. ”The Unreal World”.98-99.