From: jk13+@andrew.cmu.edu (Joanne M. Karohl)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: "Basic Instinct"
Date: 17 Apr 1992 18:11:06 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: muffy@remarque.berkeley.edu

JMK>I am curious about the reaction any of you out there in netland has had
JMK>to the film "Basic Instinct" with respect to its portrayals of women and
JMK>the interactions between its male and female characters.  I found the
JMK>movie quite offensive;  my male cohorts found it enjoyable.  Any
JMK>comments?

Well, first of all, I noted a very subtle implication that your "male
cohorts" enjoy movies that are "offensive" to women, and that this might
possibly reflect males as a whole.  While your friends who are male may
have all enjoyed the film, I honestly cannot say that all men would enjoy
it, and indeed, many women might in fact enjoy it as well, for similar or
differing reasons from your friends or from other men and women.

As for the comment that it presents a negative stereotype of homosexuals, I
believe that you have a fairly good point.  Many movies, like Silence of
the Lambs for example, portray homosexual males as doubting their masculinity
while some other movies show homosexual females as being hateful towards
males.  (I can't recall any movies besides this one which have this
characteristic, but I am not denying that there are others).  Even so, while
the argument that gay males are doubtful of their masculinity has been
fairly well debunked, the argument that many lesbians are prejudiced against
men has a certain amount of credibility (unfortunately indeed), given the
strong lesbian backing of feminist groups advocating separatism from men.


As for the argument that it unfairly shows women as being violent, I don't
buy that at all.  If this were true, then by jove, where were all the men
protesting Cape Fear or The Godfather for its violent portrayals of men as
serial murderers?  (excuse my sarcasm here).

Proponents of the "This is not only demeaning homosexuals but women" camp
back up their arguments by saying things like "Face up to reality here...
Violence is solely the domain of men" and other wonderful gems of gender
tolerance.  While it is true that the majority of SERIAL MURDERERS are men,
the incidence of other types of violence (except for sexual violence, of
course) is HARDLY 100% male-initiated, although more than 50%.  (Even so,
SOME *feminist* writers have said that the male/female ratio in domestic
violence is closer to 50:50 - *I* don't even believe that!)

Nevertheless, getting back to the issue of serial murders, I find it very
interesting to note that I recently came across a statistic stating that the
number of FEMALE serial killers OF MEN is slowly rising, with emphasis on
the word "slowly" (even so, it IS rising).  When there HAVE been cases of
female serial killers of men, the reason given was "she's getting revenge
for all the things that men did to her," as though that EXCUSES the crime!
Indeed, a recent edition of Macleans Magazine (Canada) which featured the
controversy over Basic Instinct, featured an article which made numerous
references to the rise of movies dealing with "feminist warriors getting
even with men".  Naturally, Thelma and Louise came right to the top of
the list here, and with the implicit declaration that the rapist in the
movie somehow DESERVED to die.  (IMHO, he DESERVED to go to jail and
receive REHABILITATION to hopefully prevent it from re-occuring ; he did
NOT "deserve" to die!)

I find it very disturbing that while many groups are doing a job addressing
the problem of violence committed by men against women, in the OPPOSITE case
(which is no longer a "statistical blip," unlike what some feminist
literature would try to tell you), we in society are implictly shown, by
references to movies like Basic Instinct and Thelma and Louise as "feminist
revenge movies," that it's right and noble to commit violence against men
because it's TO GET REVENGE for all of the EVIL THINGS THINGS THAT MEN HAVE
DONE!

All of these cases of female serial killers of men have been explained
away by "male something or other" as though that somehow excuses the
murderers, but in the opposite case, to even TALK about the criminal, much
less to say that HE was "getting revenge" for something that was done to
him by a woman or women, is to "glorify violence against women"!

I can't understand why people just can't get the message - ALL violence is
wrong, regardless of what gender the initiator is, and that REVENGE IS NO
EXCUSE!

W.

Standard Disclaimer - My opinions are not necessarily those of ZOOiD BBS.

 * SLMR 2.1a * Error #23: Reality Check Failed.


-- 
Post articles to soc.feminism, or send email to feminism@ncar.ucar.edu.
Questions and comments may be sent to feminism-request@ncar.ucar.edu.  This
news group is moderated by several people, so please use the mail aliases. Your
article should be posted within several days.  Rejections notified by email.