Beauty Ideal Meme

For my meme I chose Barney Stinson from the show  “How I Met Your Mother.” Barney is the epitome of the anti-feminist. He is sexist, objectifies women, and frequently lies to them in order to have sex with them. In the show he is apart of a group of friends that seem rather feminist. The two female characters Lily and Robin are strong and independent and are not reliant on relationships. The two other male characters, Ted and Marshall are not hyper masculine, are sensitive and often cry on the show. Marshall and Lily share a very egalitarian relationship. Barney is the odd man out and is often made fun of and scrutinized for his behavior. On occasion he shows sympathy to wards women’s struggles and even signs of interest in individual women’s thoughts and not their bodies but it is hard to tell if these actions are truly genuine. Barney Stinson’s behavior in the show strongly relates to the beauty ideal. Barney often approaches women and the local watering hole and insults them in order to get them to strive for his approval.

Some men, the greater capitalist system and the media, petrochemical companies and political institutions within this system use the beauty ideal to suppress women.  Barney Stinson can represent this situation. In Barney’s group everyone knows what he is doing is morally wrong. The members of the group sometimes say something but often not wholeheartedly and soon forget about it.  We see the same problem in our society regarding women’s bodies.

Barney is portrayed in the original image very favorably. He is dressed nicely, hair in order and he is fixing his tie. He is looking very attractive and must be successful at getting women to sleep with him. Many men who watch this show may aspire to Barney and find his acceptable. It is for this reason that I chose Barney for this meme.  I use Barney to first attract attention of those who watch the show he is on and second to those who are aware of his sexual orientation. The text serves as both a joke and a message to how ridiculous the beauty idea is. Women are taught to strive for the perfect core, buttocks, breasts and hair while still having to struggle with financial and educational oppression.

Kiefer, Kate. "Ten Most Awesome Barney Stinson Quotes." PASTE Web. 16 Oct. 2012. <http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/07/10-most-legendary-barney-stinson-quotes.html>.

"How I Met Your Mother" IMDb. IMDb.com, Web. 16 Oct. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460649/plotsummary>.