The Femme Fatal and How The Media Fails Her

There is a problem with the femme fatal. The problem is not with the actress herself, nor her character; the problem is the men that surround said character. Many women are enticed by the femme fatal due to her position of power that she maintains over her male counterparts, however because she possesses this power she is, more often than not, vilified. Men are socialized to think that they are better, more superior, more powerful than women thus they are threatened by her overt sexuality and flirtatious behavior. Because men have the most social influence other women are told to look down upon such behavior and therefore look down on the woman herself as not to upset the rest of society. 

The opening scene of And God Created Woman demonstrates the lack of respect for the femme fatal, Juliette, by both genders by male objectification of her body and female blame of her flirtation. Men lust after Juliette’s body but curse her for the power that this insatiable desire gives her, it’s a true double standard. This representation of women in film and various other media platforms as the villainous “temptress” is a common theme, which uses a women’s body rather than their intelligence to develop a character. This “femme fatal” affect is not a concept of the past; it is still very much a modern concept. The most basic knowledge of the advertising industry is that sex sells, thus they exploit women’s bodies and play upon the sexual temptress character to sell movies, cars, even burgers. I have attached a video entitled “How the Media Failed Women in 2013”, which literally and figuratively puts a face to the claim that women in this role of femme fatal are not respected for their actions. I would highly recommend watching this. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NswJ4kO9uHc