Gossip Girl and Gender

In the latest installment of Gossip Girl on the CW, the dramatic saga of Rufus and Lily continues to unfold. They have committed to traveling to Boston in the hopes of locating and meeting the child they gave up for adoption years ago. While there, they meet with the man who adopted their baby. He tells Rufus and Lily that his wife didn't come because it was too painful for her. She could not bear to tell them her adoptive son had died in a tragic sailing accident. She could not face the pain again and speak about her loss. Of course, her husband had the strength to speak calmly and without emotional hysterics to Lily and Rufus.

The episode uses the traditional stereotypes that society has for men and women. The man is portrayed as the strong individual, who is able to keep his emotions in check. He does not shed a single tear while he speaks about his son's death. Meanwhile, the woman is portrayed as being very frail and weak. After her husband's statement about her inability to deal with speaking about the tragedy, you are left to imagine her bursting into tears at the slightest mention of her son's death. The stereotypes of society portray men as being the stronger gender who provide support for women, the weaker sex. This segment of the episode sticks to the traditional stereotypes.

If you skip to about five minutes into this video, you can view the segment of the episode that I wrote about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqHiD160QRY