Emasculated

In the film, “Friends With Benefits” the two main characters are Dylan and Jamie. Jamie’s character is an example of a woman trying to break gender norms. She refuses to be a submissive person both sexually and socially. Her personality is seemingly off putting but when looking into her personality piece by piece you being to realize that she is breaking the stereotypical norm of what society says that the typical woman should act like. She is introduced as a woman with a stable job and doesn’t allow her work life to effect her social life. Although she does mix the two, her professionalism is still kept above it. Additionally, she is not quiet about her thoughts or feelings. She is very forth coming and blunt, which is something that stuns Dylan.

Dylan sees women as all the exact same, and wanting the same thing out of a relationship. They want someone who will be with them every single day until the day they die and this is something that causes Dylan a lot of anxiety because of his own family history. From his mother and father’s relationship he learned that not everyone will be together every single day until they die, and that there is no “the one”. Which is very much contrary to Jamie’s beliefs. Although she does believe there a “the one”, she does not base her entire life around it. She understands that she needs to be a strong individual for herself and needs to be self-reliant but also emotional validation and support are something she looks for in a potential significant other.

However, out of all of Jamie’s unique characteristics, the one that Dylan is most impressed with is her sexuality. She is willing to embark on a relationship with him that is simply just sexually based. There would not be any intention of a relationship. Jamie is not a submissive person both socially and, as the movie goes to show, sexually. In MacKinnon’s ‘Sexuality’, it is said that sex is equated with man’s power and thus making a woman the inferior. This definition is forced upon women.

 This is even illustrated within the context of the movie. Dylan and Jamie begin to have sex with each other when Jamie is on top of Dylan. This dynamic in the context of male power and sexuality, makes Jamie (the woman) the dominant one and Dylan (the man) the submissive one. This sparks Dylan to say, “I gotta be honest, I feel a little emasculated.” Although he has nothing to feel emasculated about as Jamie points out, he still has her switch positions so that he can be in the more dominant position—on top.

Emasculated Scene from Friends With Benefits