15 Popular Movies With Screwed Up Messages About Women

Hollywood has some lady problems. Despite the fact that in many years women make up a majority of movie ticket holders, the industry notoriously does a poor job of making movies for or about women. If you’re an adult woman looking for smart entertainment, NPR’s Linda Holmes argued its next to impossible to find movies that represent you. For every ten throwaway action movies, female audiences get a couple geared toward them — and half of those are Nicholas Sparks adaptations or Twilight knockoffs.

A number of terrific movies with strong female casts have popped up in the past decade, like Bridesmaids and The Upside of Anger, but even the movies we like often send mixed messages to women. Here are 15 examples of movies with odd gender politics — some of which are otherwise good movies and some of which are Twilight. This doesn’t mean you have to stop watching the good ones (because The Women fucking rocks), but you should know what’s in what you consume. Blame the patriarchy, my friends.

1. Twilight

The fact that Bella and Edward are the Romeo and Juliet of a generation actively destroys my will to live. What kind of relationships are we setting girls up for? “Hey, ladies, your ideal guy should be a much, much older gentleman with control issues who obsessively stalks you and while he loves you, wants to eat in your sleep.” According to the Domestic Violence Hotline’s criteria, their undead romance fits all the criteria for an abusive relationship. Being that Bella (SPOILER!) eventually does die and become a vampire, I’d say they might have a point.

Overall Quality Score (Out of 10): 2

Patriarchy Score: 10