Final Assignment West Breaking Sexist Barriers

For my final video essay, I am analyzing the media’s current and progressive attempt to break sexist barriers in sitcoms. The new Netflix original series, Workin’ Moms, aims to not only defy stereotypical female roles, it even blatantly points out the issue. The main characters Kate, Frankie, and Anne all illustrate real-world working women who endure the sexism and prejudice that comes with simply being a new mother. From being expected to decline job promotions to being accused of bad parenting due to being a lesbian, the characters must struggle to ignore cultural assumptions in order to succeed. I will be applying Ideology, Stereotype, and Power as I contrast the Workin’ Moms progressive intent to other recent sitcoms conveying stereotypical female roles such as How I Met Your Mother and Modern Family. The class content driving my argument will include 1) This Film is Not Yet Rated,  2) The Urgency of Intersectionality, 3) the Ideology Keyword reading, 4) the Stereotype Keyword reading, and the 5) Power Keyword reading – as well as scholarly sources found on the internet.