Amy Poehler and Tina Fey: A Win for the HFPA and Women Everywhere

Earlier this week the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced that Amy Poehler and Tina Fey have signed on to host the Golden Globes in 2014 and 2015! If you're anything like me you were as excited as Leslie Knope is here:

And, frankly, if you weren't like that I'm not sure what your problem is. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are awesome and amazing and hilarious and amazing and stunning and amazing. They're comedies darling, dynamic duo and for good reason. Amy Poehler is currently starring in the deliciously hilarious sitcom Parks and Rec while Tina Fey recently completed her run as star, writer, and producer of the Emmy-winning series 30 Rock. They've also both had notable success on SNL including their iconic sketch as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, possibly the most well-known sketch of the 2008 or 2012 election.

Earlier this year they continued their success as the co-hosts of the Golden Globes and, after Ricky Gervais's disastrous and alienating run, the Globes needed these bona fide comediennes. They brought viewership up 17% from Gervais's most recent run. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association made a wise choice by asking them back for two years. I doubt that the HFPA will regret this one.

What's more is that this could be the beginning of a great run for women in hosting gigs. This past awards season Fey and Poehler were undoubtedly the fan favorites with Neil Patrick Harris falling short at the Emmys and Seth McFarlane down-right offending everyone at the Oscars without managing to actually be funny. With Fey and Poehler returning to the Golden Globes and Ellen Degeneres returning to the Oscars in 2014, we could see the beginning of the reign of a team of amazing comedic women in hosting gigs, not surprisingly a field with women have been traditionally underrepresented in. Furthermore, no one doubts that Poehler and Fey won't stand for the kind of sexist foolishness that McFarlane's Oscars were rife with. Instead, for two years we can expect the jokes at the Globes to be funny without taking cheap shots at women who show their boobs on the big screen and I have to say I'm excited for it.

If Fey and Poehler's past performances are any indication, Globes viewers have a good run ahead of them. So here's to you, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. We're all excited for what's to come!

The Olivia Pope Problem

As I sat watching the fast-paced and popular premiere of “Scandal,” a problem once again forced its way into my consciousness and it came in the form of Olivia Pope. Don’t get me wrong. I love Olivia. She’s a certified badass by anyone’s standards. The problem is that that bad-assery stops at the office door. As soon as Olivia leaves the professional realm, it seems her life falls apart. Her personal life is in shambles, to say nothing of a growing lack of agency on Olivia’s part. The most troubling aspect of this is that the “Olivia Pope problem” is more and more an archetype of modern television.

It seems that Olivia isn’t the only woman on our screens who is super-competent professionally but whose personal life is an absolute mess. A growing stereotype on our screens is that of the uber-professional woman who can’t seem to get the rest of her life in line. From Oliva Pope to Liz Lemon to Mindy Lahiri to Alicia Florrick, we continue to see the stories of women who are rather personally challenged. It’s a stark contrast to the long gone days of women like Mary Tyler Moore, who could be professionally competent and personally competent without lacking interesting stories to tell. Instead of stories like that glorious woman, Hollywood is increasingly feeding us stories of women like Olivia Pope and the message is clear: You can’t have it all. You can’t be professionally savvy and have a well-balanced life. It’s not allowed.

Clearly, that message is problematic. Women continue to be told that they can’t have it all. And why? Women who successfully balance work and life can still have interesting stories. I’m just as interested in Meredith Grey as I am in her more relationship challenged counterpart, Christina Yang. Just because Meredith has managed to be professionally and personally successful doesn’t mean she lacks interesting stories to share.

As a culture, we must stop acting like all women face an ultimatum: work or relationships. In fact, we can achieve balance, even if it’s difficult, and our lives and stories become no less interesting when we do manage that delicate balance. So stop with the “Olivia Pope problem,” Hollywood. Stop telling women that they can’t have it all. Stop telling women that they must be emotionally fractured to be interesting or successful. Stop. Just stop.

Dear Show, Do Better: Week 2

Dear "Scandal,"

I'm getting real tired of the lack of agency Olivia Pope has. Once again, in the season premiere, her life was controlled by men and not be her own choices. While having Olivia choose to walk away from her father's plans was a step, it's not enough as long as the strings of her whole life are being pulled by the president. Their relationship is unhealthy and, frankly, President Grant is a bit of a jerk, in my opinion.

Sincerely,
Mellie and Olivia Should Team Up and Take Over the World

Dear Show, Good Job: Week 2

Dear "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD,"

Yes. This is how you write female scientists. They're just scientists who happen to be female. Fitz-Simmons are both the best. While they are both to some extent caricatures of scientists, they are at the very least equals. Simmons is not relegated to the role of sexy librarian and she holds her own just as well at Fitz. Her defining feature is not her gender. This is fantastic. Keep up the good work!

Sincerely,
Female Scientists Everywhere

Dear Show, Good Job: Week 1

Dear "Parks and Rec,"

I already expect you'll be a perennial winner in this series. Let's be honest, you're the standard for feminist television right now. This week was no exception. It was great to see you pay attention to women in government. I'll admit, I squealed of excitement when Leslie said "I look forward to a day when women in government are just people in government." Right on, Leslie! You go girl! But I was also excited to see Leslie struggle with how thankless her job is. It's great to see that women can be awesome and amazing and still struggle like the rest of us. We don't need super women on TV. We need real women and I'm glad to say Leslie Knope is one of them.

Sincerely,
Leslie Knope Is My Girl

Dear Show, Do Better: Week 1

After catching up with last week's television premieres, I've decided to start two weekly series. This first one will be dedicated to documenting a truly cringe-worth moment from the perspective of a feminist. The other series, "Dear Show, Good Job" will document a positive representation of a female character or feminist issue. I'll probably write at inconsistent times in the different weeks just because I have a busy schedule and the moments I'd like to document may come at different points each week. Let's get started!

Dear "The Big Bang Theory,"

You gave me hope and you took it away! For a few seconds on Thursday night I really believed that Bernadette and Amy were going to be allowed to talk about being scientists instead of talking about boys. Alas, within seconds my hopes were dashed as the topic immediately changed to the opposite sex. I've got to tell you that I'm sick of it! Just for once let the ladies talk about something other than boys! Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Raj get to talk about all sorts of things like science, comic books, movies, games, and, occasionally, girls. So why do Penny, Bernadette, and Amy only get to talk about their significant others? Believe it or not women have lots of interesting conversations about topics other than men. Start showing it on television!

Sincerely,
Have You Heard of the Bechdel Test?

How Failing a Math Test Made Me A Feminist

If you ask my parents how they raised me to become such an ardent believer in equal rights and feminism they will give you this answer: We don’t know. We’re actually pretty sure we didn’t have much to do with it.

And they would be mostly right. My parents didn’t really raise me with the intention of turning me into a feminist. Neither my mother nor father ever openly identified as a feminist when I was growing up, and I doubt they would now. We didn’t talk about reproductive rights or the glass ceiling or domestic violence. Feminism never came up at the dinner table. No one was reading books about it. There was no household subscription to Ms. magazine and there were no pro-choice bumper stickers on the back of the cars. My parents just weren't openly feminist and they weren't out to make me one. Now, that’s not to say my parents didn’t raise me to believe all people were created equal, but they had no intention to make me a feminist and, in fact, I think it might have shocked them a little when I began applying that word to myself in high school.

That’s what lead my mother to ask me a few days ago where all of these beliefs came from which got me thinking about my "click" moment, that minute when it all started. Eventually I reached a pretty obvious realization. If it hadn't been my family, it had to have been my teachers. Of course, when I reported this discovery my mom assumed that meant my women’s studies teacher in high school, but by the time she had me in class I already believed in feminism. She didn’t teach me the beliefs and principles; she just gave me the words for it and allowed me to own and embrace my feminism while fleshing out my exact beliefs on different issues.

So I thought back a little further in my education. If by high school I was already identifying as a feminist, then that meant it must have started in middle school or even elementary school. I examined my memories of middle school, but nothing stood out. Even then I think I was already a feminist despite not having labeled it yet.

That left elementary school. Finally, a memory jumped out. Fourth grade. I had consistently been the smartest girl in the class. Actually I tended to be the smartest person out of the boys and girls. And that was a problem for fourth grade me. After being the only person to get straight As for two quarters I was starting to feel the pressure to be “normal.” My classmates thought I was weird and I knew it. Everyone knew girls weren’t supposed to be the smart ones and they definitely weren't supposed to be good at math! Sure, my classmates told me I was smart, but they also told me I was a freak, I was unusual so I did what any fourth grader would do. I deliberately failed a math test. And, then, I failed another. That was all it took to get a B and just one was enough for me. That was all I needed. Suddenly I was like everyone else and I wasn’t beating the boys anymore. I had done it. I had achieved my goals! I was normal!

Unfortunately, I was fooling no one, least of all my math teacher, Mrs. Schulter. It didn’t take her long to figure things out. She’d seen girls with my MO before and she wouldn’t stand for it. It only took one B for her to sit me down and tell me I was better than that and that she could see right through my act. And because she terrified me like no other teacher before or since, it worked. I shaped up and was back to straight As in no time.

That was all it took to make me a feminist: One woman telling young, impressionable me that I was allowed to be the smartest person in a room even if I was a girl. There was nothing wrong with me being smart; there was something wrong with the people telling me that was bad. That was it. From that moment on I realized I could be what I wanted to be and I could be the best at it. And what I wanted was to equal to the boys. I’ve never stopped wanting it and I’ve never stopped fighting for it.

So, thank you, Mrs. Schulter, the most terrifying woman I’ve ever met, for allowing me to be the best and for making me a feminist, whether you meant to or not.