Camio Reseburg
Professor Hassel
Wom203
11 February 2010
Patriarchy
Allan Johnson would agree that there is an enormous amount of
patriarchy in the daytime drama General Hospital. Male dominance is a big
part of General Hospital, this can be seen because most of the male
characters hold the higher positions in society and dominate over the women
in the show. The mayor, police commissioner, all the police officers, the
mob boss, and chief of staff at the hospital are all men. There are a few
exceptions where a woman co-owns a business but never solely owns one.
One of the characters, Kate, is a magazine editor and when she first started
into the business she was in a relationship with a man who could help her
climb the ladder. When she wanted to end things with him he tried to
convince her that she would never make it on her own. The mob boss,
Sonny, tends to dominate over the whole town. He has the most power and
always gets his way, even with the law. He tends to tell everyone in his life
what to do.
Male identification can also be seen in General Hospital through Sonny.
Sonny definitely has the qualities of control, strength, competitiveness,
toughness, and forcefulness. These qualities allow him to run a smooth
business and strategize against his enemies. Johnson states that “women
are often prized for their beauty as objects of male sexual desire…often
possessed and controlled in ways that ultimately devalue them.” Sonny
tends to pursue “beautiful” women, even when they don’t want to be
pursued. He believes that he is the object of every woman’s desire and that
the women he pursues truly want to be with him.
Johnson described male centeredness as the focus of attention is
primarily on men and what they do. He explains that when there is a crisis
in movies “what we see is what men did to create it and how men dealt with
it” and that “women are …along for the ride…providing something for men to
fight over.” This also holds true for General Hospital. If a crisis arises, it is
usually due to Sonny and his business. He is always a target for danger,
which puts his family in danger as well. When someone else in his family is
injured from his business he always takes matters into his own hands to
make things “right” again. Rarely in this show are there two women fighting
over the same man but there is almost always two men fighting over the
same woman.
The fourth characteristic of patriarchy that Johnson describes is the
obsession with control which is when men maintain their privilege by
controlling women and anyone else who might threaten them. He also says
that “men are assumed to be in control at all times, to be unemotional, to
present themselves as invulnerable, autonomous…” Again, Johnson would
see these characteristics in Sonny. Whenever Sonny is threatened he
always tries to take control of the situation, which usually results in making
that person “disappear” and he tries to never expose his weaknesses.
Johnson states “the more men see control as central to their sense of self,
well-being, worth, and safety, the more driven they feel to go after it and to
organize their inner and outer lives around it.” Sonny has tried to leave the
mob business numerous times but the power he receives from it is too much
for him to give up.
Based on our in-class analysis of two artifacts (Trace Adkins' video/lyrics and "Toddlers and Tiaras"), and
using concepts from Allan Johnson's Chapter 1, "Where Are We?" and Chapter 2, "Patriarchy, the System,"
select a third artifact of your own choosing. In a one-page (typed/word-processes) paper, conduct your
own analysis of how you see the four core values of patriarchy illustrated in your selected artifact. You
should also identify any ways that your artifact challenges the four core values. Bring your assignment to
class on Thursday.