Blogpost 9: Kim Possible: Sexism

Action roles are usually portrayed for men. It is rare for women to get the roles reversed, and in all action flicks that made history or was ever remembered, the men has it in their plate. As a guy, who likes superhero movies and action films having encountered, Kim Possible astonished me.

The show was run of the mill where the girl beats the guy and saves the world from threats only she can stop but as the show progressed, it revealed undersides which shows that the story always favored Kim. Being a children’s show, there is the point that of course, the good guy or in this case, the good girl should always win. But in this context no one else seems to be in the know but Kim. It is bias that even though Kim always had her best friend Ron with her on her mission; Kim was and is always the hero. There was never a circumstance where Ron would swoop in and save her instead, the characters’ roles are upturned.

It didn't affect me in the way that it’s about a high school girl who was a cheerleader and student by day and an agent by night, it came as a shock that instead of having a guy sweeping in and saving the day, they gave a heroine in place didn’t affect me in the way that it’s about a high school girl who was a cheerleader and student by day and an agent by night, it came as a shock that instead of having a guy sweeping in and saving the day, they gave a heroine in place. 

Though ideal, Kim Possible is quite impossible. It gives of idea of sexism. It was not a matter of the roles reversed but how the roles were portrayed, it gives off this inkling that men in the series were weak and can always be beaten and helped by Kim. I find it uncanny that a 16 year old girl agent would be any good to have a role of that of a man and would be someone who can save the world in a minute by herself which puts the image of men through a prejudice that in this particular show, women are better.

According to the article What is Sexism? by Lea Verou, sexism is not just a female issue. Prescriptive gender stereotypes are even more oppressive for men. Kim Possible degrades the male by making their image oppressed, in which case the article explains that women who act masculine would seem superior and expandable. She also explained that by way of nature girls are told they are to act pretty and boys to be smart and brave which the show disregards as all male characters are inferior to the heroine.

Noah Berlatsky also explains in his piece When Men Experience Sexism, when men suffer from sexism, they do so in much the same way women do, rather men suffer because of the same gender role stereotypes that hurt and restrict women. In the series, Kim was always insulted by the villain in which sense; she always wins which emasculates the image of the men. Also in the story, Ron, her best friend, who’s portrayed as clumsy and a weakling always gets to be the let-down of the story line where Kim always has to be there to save him, the lord in distress. 

That being said, the representation of Kim Possible in the TV show, when view in a deeper sense, is actually degrading for men. Not only does it exudes feminist ideologies, but it portrays and conducts particular points in it's show that makes Sexism obvious. Issues of where sexism is present is a serious matter where by history has been taught as a way of life, the ladies have to feed the children and the men have to earn the money but prejudice can be avoided through equality of roles.