Don’t Wash Your Dirty Laundry In Public

Once again, Sociology has encouraged me to look at things differently. Even at movies! Since my previous reading was on family and gender, I decided to analyze my elder sister who is living by the traditional role and the Mona Lisa Smile movie that represent the notion.



The “ideal family" consists of the breadwinner husband, homemaker wife, and their children. This ideology may not represent how we are now, but it definitely has influenced economic policies, social roles, movies, expectations about family life and even our own individual choices we make today.

Sociologist Denzin once said, “Movies ‘screen’ and frame social reality, and they reflect ideological images of interaction relationship, and the community.”



I watched the movie Mona Lisa Smile with my elder sister, in addition to the sociological readings I had about the movie. Ironically enough, she related to the movie the same way the girl’s ultimate goal was to get married and fulfill the traditional role. She is now a housewife and mother, while being a pharmacists.

The movie is about a freethinking, feminist, independent liberal art professor who teaches conservative 50’s Wellesley girls to question their traditional societal roles they have been spoon-fed.



At one point of the movie, one of the staff members get mad at Giselle, one of the free-spirited students, and yells, “This is not a joke. A few years from now, your sole responsibility will be to taking care of your husband and children.” This quote becomes symbolic and becomes further evident as the theme of the movie evolves around the notion and on how the pupils see their education as a way to pass their time until they are married.

The traditional-societal norm at Wellesley provokes Katherine to encourage her students to reject the social norm by continuing their education. For instance, Joan is torn between attending law school and marriage; Katherine literally fills out her applications ford Yale, Joan’s dream school. However, Katherine gets disappointed when she finds out that Joan chose to get married and move to Philadelphia.

At one point of the movie, Betty’s mom says, “Good wife lets her husband think that everything’s his idea, even when its not.” This clearly shows the 1950’s conservative expected female role as a wife, and how the husband has the final say in everything.



One of the outstanding moments of the movie was when Betty returns to class and gets into an argument with Katherine. This part of the movie stood out the most to me, as it showed the struggle to break social norms of women in the society, while facing the elite.

Betty: Don’t disregard our traditions, just because you’re subversive.
Katherine: Don’t disrespect this class just because you’re married.
Betty: Don’t disrespect me just because your not
Katherine: Come to class. Do your work. Or ill fail you.
Betty: If you fail me, there will be consequences

“Don’t wash your dirty laundry in public,” Betty’s mom said. This emphasizes on the importance of appearance, and not what happens within the family itself. This tends to be symbolic as not all married women had a happy marriage and family, but had to put up an appearance.

Masculinity vs. femininity

After walking out of my sociology class on a Thursday evening, I realized how most things in every aspect of our lives are gender polarized. By gender polarized, I mean the organization of social life around male-female ideals, influencing every aspect of our lives. For example, toiletries at supermarkets are separated into male-female categories. We generally don’t give that much thought into these socially constructed and categorized products, as they seem to be ‘natural.’ However, these are socially constructed in order for us, the consumers, to learn the expectations of being a male and female. In a sociological perspective, they are agents of socialization: the process by which we develop a sense of self and learn the ways of the society in which we live in. The male-female categories of toiletries may also be commercialization of gender ideals: the process of introducing and marketing products for consumers to achieve masculine and feminine ideals.



In order to investigate more into commercialization of gender ideals, I went to Shoprite Supermarket. Toiletries such as shampoos, deodorants, soaps and even hair dyes were categorized by gender. Most products were advertising and promising the consumers to achieve femininity and masculinity. Since the sales depend on buyers, they would convince the consumers on buying products that play on their insecurities that would conform their gender ideals. For example, on one of the male deodorants said, “ Stay dry, and stay focused on her.” In addition, masculine products and packages were color coordinated; male products were mostly in bold colors such as blue, green and black, whereas, the female products were in light and feminine colors such as pink, yellow and purple.



One major theme I noticed while taking pictures was how the manufacturers are trying to create new markets especially for the males, as the female market is flooded with all kinds of product. This is because the amounts of money females spend on toiletries and cosmetics have reached its limit. Therefore, searches for new products for males are emerging in the market. However, one major issue for marketers is to ‘masculinize’ feminine products. For instance, on the package for a hair dye for men said,” only for men” with an image of a masculine male.



Toiletries are only one example of gender polarization and separate male-female categories, ideals and spaces. This social construction is instructive as it serves to be an agent of socialization and teaches us how to be a male and female.