an artical on Toxic Masculity being the real monster in stranger things is the worst

Here's the article:

https://www.bustle.com/p/the-monster-in-stranger-things-3-wasnt-the-mind-flayer-it-was-toxic-masculinity-18180786

Yeah, it's a reach in a lot of ways. And she doesn't seem to get that the chauvinist board of directors at the paper were all Flayed early on and deliberately trying to stop Nancy's investigation. They (or rather It) had no idea she was associated with Eleven or things would've gone bad for her straight away. Also Jonathan never doubted Nancy was right, just questioned her confrontational approach since these annoying and condescending older men were their bosses and could ... you know, fire them if they didn't like their attitude.

ST is trying to portray the 1980's as an era, as it actually was and not as a historical revisionist might have it be. Guys like Harvey Weinstein and Roger Ailes were not only tolerated - something which continued into this century I might add - they were covered up for, and victims were shamed and intimidated. That's the workplace environment many women have had to deal with over the years. Jake Busey's character may have belittled Nancy on a daily basis but at least he wasn't groping her or trying to get her alone in a room so he could assault her. At least the editor wasn't implying that she could either do a few favors for him at the local hotel or look for another job.

Some people see things through the tinted lenses of certain issues that fire them up. This author Gretchen Smail seems like one of them; she makes a few interesting points, but overanalyzes and takes it way too far. Political correctness will be the death of us. Certainly it'll be the death of any content that's the least bit edgy or pushes the envelope - one group or another is invariably offended. Netflix has already caved and decided to nix smoking from this and all future programs. Let's hope they don't make a habit (no pun intended) of pandering to the loudest whiner.

Better if you don't give angry, bitter feminazis any attention. It seems all they wanta write about these days is why men suck.

I actually think the article made some okay, if not oversimple, points.

Season 3 was definitely trying to take a feminist stance, from it's Elmax friendship that led to the iconic 'I dump your ass!' line to Karen Wheeler finally getting someone - her daughter - to talk to her, and what they talked about is how constantly both are belittled and looked down on.

The writer could have made stronger points and better drawn better conclusions, but that's just my preference. As a show that upholds the intelligence and power of nerds, it definitely de-values toxic masculinity to a great degree. However, the worst thing it does is pair strong, independent women with overbearing, mildly creepy dudes (stalker Jonathan, rage-Hopper).

Just ignore the article. It's toxic femininity. People don't talk about that much these days.

Just repeat after me: "strong, independent woman", "strong, independent woman", "strong, independent woman".

Do some women really have this low of self esteem? Honestly?

Any time a female led show or movie is announced, what does the actress say, EVERY TIME: "It's so refreshing to be playing a strong, independent woman." Now this has been said 4 billion times at this point, which makes me believe there are plenty of shows now represented with "strong, independent women", so why are people still bitching about the lack of "strong, independent women" every chance they get?

And guess what, if you want to look at real life, and you want to actually look at individuals in real life instead of just demographics as a basis for film and television characters...just as with men, some women are not "strong and independent". That's why the basis of race and sex determining what a character should be or how they should act is hysterical to me.

These over-the-top ultra feminist writers and "bloggers" all over the internet looking for "toxic masculinity" in every single thing they write are just annoying the hell out of and pushing away a lot of people who would otherwise be on their side.

Not every female character has to be a "strong, independent woman." And instead of writing an actual strong, independent woman for film and TV shows, flaws and all, they usually just incorrectly write an invincible masculine woman who has no character flaws or weaknesses, who hates men and doesn't care to fall in love or have a family (because in 2019 that makes a woman weak), and she's also usually mean and unlikeable, this is all to portray as "strong and independent".

Wouldn't it be something if the males of the world started constantly bitching about their portrayals as terrible non existent fathers, or evil murderers, or pedophiles, or wife beaters?

The difference is, men don't give a rat's ass about how their gender is portrayed in a film or TV show, because these are FICTIONAL CHARACTERS.

Women in 2019 are going through a identity crisis the likes of which I've never seen. It's really weird to watch it all unfold. They want to be men, AND women. They want to be feminine AND masculine. All it shows, is that in general, women are just as hungry for power and control as they claim men are. They want to rule everything, and whatever, that's fine, but don't act so innocent about it, and don't get pissy when you find out everyone is fighting for the same slice of the pie.

Whew, that rant really took off there, haha.

That's Leftist Bullshit!

😒

To me this show is more about todays climate and culture than the 80's, it's not made in a vacuum, otherwise it would not resonate with the audience nowadays on a subconscious level. Almost nobody in this show behaves the way people behaved in the 80's, it's been reflective of todays times since the first episode, when it comes to dysfunctionality of families, female power, bullying, etc. It's all very conscious on the filmmakers'part. It comes to 80's only on an extremely superficial level, mainly from the technical standpoint.

Season 3 was quite bizarre to me on the toxicity front actually. I'd argue it had some pretty toxic characters, males and females alike, who showed little to no remorse for their actions. And then one of the only characters who actually owned up to anything, and then some, was sympathetic and got next to no credit for valid concerns.

Chief Hopper seems pretty masculine, and a good thing too