In the original Alien vs. Predator, Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan) outlasts her male co-stars and ends up as the heroine of the film. In Alien vs. Predator Requiem (AVP-R), Chelah Horsdal was written as a heroine, but she was not nearly the heroine Lathan was. This is the result of different writers. Two groups of writers created two different stories. The writers of Alien vs. Predator created a dynamic and fierce heroine. The original Alien vs. Predator was feminist friendly. The writers of AVP-R created one woman who was a heroine and another who was "eye candy", i.e. physically objectified.

The physically objectified character, Jesse (Kristen Hager), was introduced at the beginning of the film as the disgruntled girlfriend of the large and in charge violent boyfriend. After all, every woman wants a man who is in control, right? Jesse was powerless next to her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was violent, and even though she said she would "fire him", at no point did she verbally disagree with his brutality to his face. After watching her male friend get beat up by her boyfriend, her boyfriend commanded her to follow him back into her house ... and lo and behold, she did exactly what he told her to do. Big surprise. Her passive acceptance translates to audiences that women accept men who are violent, in control, abusive, and if they know what's good for them, should not show their discontent to their boyfriends' faces. She eventually broke up with him, but her boyfriend stalked her and beat up her new male interest.

Take a good look at that photo right above this sentence. Chris Brown and T-Pain are physically and sexually objectifying this young black woman, and thus, reduce her to eye candy and perpetuating stereotypes about black women. To prove everything is mutual, the video director even had this woman smiling like that is the sort of thing a woman wants. Step right up black ladies! You're going to be featured in a video where everyone is going to look at your ass. If you're black, then it's almost certain we'll stereotype you for having a big ol' butt!

The problem does not stop there. Over the course of pop music history black women have consistently been objectified. If there are women in a hip-hop video, and the lead singers are men, one can almost be certain that a display of the female anatomy will be just what the doctor ordered.

Even before hip-hop emerged, black women's bodies have been objectified. In The rebirth of the booty: America's obsession with my big black ass., student writer Amber Williams discusses mainstream America's obsession with big black ass:

Black women have been objectified as sex objects ever since their voluptuous bodies were seen as a welcome change to the bony figures of European women to whom the male settlers were accustomed. When African women arrived in America via a "free cruise" through the middle passage with their large posteriors, it was assumed that they were sex-craving, savage beasts. The view of black women as sexual predators is still seen today in both the entertainment industry and society at large.

Gunslinger Girl is the type of anime where little girls are used to fulfill the desired of men. What do the men want? The men who "condition" them (i.e., brainwash) are assassins. That's right people. Little girls brainwashed into becoming assassins. What a way to train those females! Train them while they're young so they won't rebel; that way, they'll do exactly what they're told.

The girls are, for the most part, completely loyal to their "brothers". The girls and their brothers are called a fratelo. In Italian, fratelo means siblings. Siblings are the furthest things from the truth. The truth of the story is that these girls are being exploited by men.

The girls are exploited, but they are also epitomized as heroines. They display courageous acts of loyalty to their fratelos and their fellow cyborg sisters. In this regard, the cyborg-girl-assassins are revered if they are loyal. Triela is the only cyborg who shows emotional rebellion among the other cyborgs. According to the storyline, Triela was the least brainwashed of the girls. The girls who were brainwashed the most are the most loyal.

Limited lead female characters is an understatement with regard to this movie. The only part of the movie where there were a lot of females was during the scene where women were stuffing small packages of heroine. Traditionally the women have to be naked since there is the possibility they might steal some, but seriously, black nude females? Goodness knows we never see enough black women poorly represented in the media.

The female characters of this film were rendered powerless. The one incident where Eve (Lymari Nadal) spoke up against a man, she was immediately slapped in the face. She cowered with fear and was not able to defend herself. Mama Lucas (Ruby Dee), the mother of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), never asked her son how he had enough money to afford to buy her a house clear out of the blue. She was portrayed as being completely naive throughout the film. Towards the end of the movie she confronted her son about his gangster activities. After he lied to her she slapped him in the face for it. She said that she did not like to be lied to. The wife and mother of this film were both written as mentally and physically powerless in the face of male goals. What was the message of the movie? If a woman was in the way of what a man wants, then who is she to stand in a his way?

One of the most prominent themes of this movie was the use of female sexual powerlessness as a means to strike fear in the audience. There are two lengthy scenes where sexual powerlessness occurs. I will discuss one. The protagonist Riggs (Lyriq Bent) is faced with a moral dilemma. He either saves his fellow detectives or saves a prostitute. Jigsaw convinces the prostitute that if she kills Riggs then she will not have to go to jail for her crimes. When Riggs first sees her, her head is covered with a pig's head. Her entire body is in bondage. A 15 second screen shot from her high heels all the way up to the pig's head shows her breasts and thighs. Even in a horror movie, a woman in bondage and being tortured must look sexy. No where in the film are the men required to be physically and sexually objectified.

In Saw IV, both women and men are in bondage. Both women and men suffer from a huge power differential between themselves and the torturer. The difference between the males and female is not the magnitude of the torture, but rather, how the tortured respond to pain and powerlessness. All of the men in the film attempt to fight their way out of being tortured. The female character begs for help. The way that men react to powerlessness and the way women respond is entirely different. The writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan characterize men in the film to fight for their rights even though they are "in the wrong" until the bitter end. There is an endearing quality to a person who fights for their lives until the very end ... even if they are the antagonists. The prostitute was not written to have a fighter's spirit. She was characterized as being self-defeating and desperate.

The primary female characters were Alice (Milla Jovovich), Claire Redfield (Ali Larter), Betty (Ashanti), and K-Mart (Spencer Locke). The first image one sees at the beginning of the film is Alice half naked on the bottom of a shower stall. This is an example of physical and sexual objectification. There is a pattern of horror, suspense, and action movies where at some point in the film a woman or several women are sexually vulnerable and / or physically objectified. It is as if these film makers are saying, "We can have a woman with a lead role as long as she looks sexy doing it. We need to make sure we see some skin somewhere."

Particularly disappointing was the racial stereotyping of Betty. As soon as L.J. (Mike Epps) is hurt by one of the infected, nurse Betty comes to the rescue. 99.9% of the healing was a lot of flirting between the two characters. After the flirting was over with, Betty takes her exit, but not without a 3 second camera shot of her butt as she waved it side to side for the camera. I wonder if the director said to Ashanti, "Move your ass from side to side like that ... oh no, like that ... yeah, that looks sexier." Of all the female characters, Betty was the most objectified character. This is a typical "Sapphire" black female stereotype that goes back to the slavery era in the U.S.:

Sapphire, the wise-cracking, balls-crushing, emasculating woman, is usually shown with her hands on her hips and her head thrown back as she lets everyone know she is in charge. [source]

Keisha Cole and Missy Elliot are reminding women of a very important lesson when in a relationship. If one's boyfriend is not loving them the way they want, then "let him go". Keisha empathizes with women everywhere.

I understand why you wanna try
Make him stay home late at night
But if wanna go he'll be gone no lie
I can't explain how many times I tried
How many times I cried

She, at one point or another, had been paranoid that her boyfriend was unfaithful. Keisha imparts many jewels of wisdom to women who are feeling they are not being loved.

You need to get it if he don't wanna
Love you the right way he ain't gonna
It ain't where he's at its where he
Where he wanna be

In the above lyrics, Keisha is reinforcing the idea that a woman who wants love should not wait. The key phrase is, "It ain't where he's at its where he wanna be". In other words, a man (or woman for that matter) is going to be where they want because they want to, and one cannot force their partner to be faithful. Instead of despair and paranoia, it is important that if a lack of love exists in a relationship, then one should acknowledge this and seek love elsewhere.

In the lyrics below, Missy Elliot warns women of how men who spend most of their time physically objectifying other women are not worth staying in a relationship with:

Yo man he be callin me back
Cause see I'm fine and a matter of fact
(Eh he he he he)
He asked how I do dat dat
Fit my jeans over baby fat
Listen
I don't know the type of tricks he playin
But I should warn you I don't want ya man

How many times does Soulja Boy use the word "hoe" in his song? 30 times. Since we know words carry meaning, let's take a closer look at what the term "hoe" really means.

According to the Urban Dictionary, the #1 most popular definition for the term "hoe" is:

1. A skank
2. A woman that is too loose in the booty.
3. Woman or man that fuck anything with two legs.
4. A promiscuous person.syn: slut

Here are the phrases where Soulja Boy uses the word "hoe":

1. "Soulja Boy Up In This Hoe..."
2. "den Super Man Dat Hoe..."
3. "Watch Me Super Soak Dat Hoe..."
4. "Hoe, So Don't Do It Like Me..."
5. "All too clean off in dis hoe..."
6. "Watch me crank dat roosevelt den supa soak dat hoe..."
7. "supa soak dat hoe(supa soak dat hoe)..."

Another favorite term that Soulja refers to women in this video are "bitches". The Merriam-Webster dictionary online defines "bitch" as:

1 : the female of the dog or some other carnivorous mammals
2 : a lewd or immoral woman b : a malicious, spiteful, or overbearing woman -- sometimes used as a generalized term of abuse
3 : something that is extremely difficult, objectionable, or unpleasant
4 : Complaint

Soulja uses "bitch" 10 times in his song. Here are the phrases where he uses the word "bitch":

1. "I'm Jocking On Yo Bitch Ass..."
2. "Den im cockin on ya bitch ass..."
3. "All too fresh off in dis bitch..."
4. "Den supaman dat bitch(yooouuu)..."
5. "I'm fresh up in this bitch..."
6. "supaman dat bitch(supaman dat bitch)..."

Interesting enough, there are two times where Soulja Boy repeats the same lyrics, but replaces them respectively with either the word "bitch" or "hoe".

"Den supaman dat bitch(yooouuu)..."
"Den Super Man Dat Hoe..."

N-now th-th-that that don't kill me
Can only make me stronger

The above lyrics to "Stronger" is a widely held moral belief that what does not kill someone makes them stronger. They are admirable lyrics that perfectly coincide with the title of the song. Here's where things get hairy:

Let's get lost tonight
You can be my black Kate Moss tonight
Play secretary im the boss tonight.

Why do the producers of this video use Cassie, who is a talented singer in her own right, represent the "black Kate Moss" Kanye is referring to in the lyrics? If you watch the video in it's entirety, Cassie, who is a gifted singer... is reduced to eye candy. Check out the latest cover of Complex Magazine.

By the way, "Complex is a metropolitan men's style/lifestyle magazine founded by Marc Ecko in 2002. The publication offers mainstream readers insight into the latest trends in urban America's niche cultures, such as streetwear, sneaker culture, hip hop, and graphic art." [link]

Complex always has two different covers. One cover is a male superstar and the other side is a female superstar. In the above magazine covers, Kanye's title reads, "Guest editor Kanye West talks style with T.I." while the other side of the magazine cover with Cassie reads, "Kanye West gets Cassie to Reveal all Inside".

Episode after episode Kino is a heroine. At no point in this anime is she written to endure sexism. Many men whom she meets in her journey believe that they can assert their dominance on her and quickly find out they cannot. The women that Kino met during her journey were strong and independent women. One of characters invents an airplane in the world Kino lives in. This female engineer does not allow her fiance or any other male with political authority to stop her goal ... to fly. The women in Kino's Journey were, for the most part, not designated to gender roles established my patriarchy. Quite the contrary, the writer Keiichi Sigsawa, wrote a avant-garde seinen anime. The writer provided a television show that challenged gender roles and oppression in society.

The glorification of violence in this anime is a long time established patriarchal value, but because the focus was on a heroine, the reason behind the violence is questionable:

The use of violence and whether or not it can be justified is a recurring theme in Kino's Journey, from whether animals should be killed in order to sustain the life of others to whether an entire population should be destroyed in order to save two other civilizations. [link]

One might be able to categorize this anime as josei.