Sexism in the Classroom

I am taking intro to cinema production this semester with a male teacher. Three months into the course, I am starting to see how he truly favors the work of my male classmates over my female classmates. It could be true that the productions from the males are possibly better, however each project varies in content and style so no one can really say which is "better" or "worse". The boys also create more somber, edgy films about death with shots of roadkill in comparison to the girls who create films with a different kind of mood and subject matter. It angers me though, that when giving feedback to the boy's projects, he goes more in depth, gives more compliments and just seems to care more. I have talked to some other girls in my class and they agree. 

This is not the first time I've noticed sexism in the classroom. I remember in eigth grade, my male science teacher gave straight A's to the pretty blonde girls who were no better at creating static with balloons in an experiment than the rest of the class was. I hope I'm not the only one who finds that creepy, I mean we were 13.

However, it's not just the male teachers that can be sexist. In my high school spanish class, my teacher totally favored girls. She is the sweetest, most caring teacher I've ever had. She always gave the girls good grades, including me, and I did NOTHING in that class. However, the boys in the class always walked all over her and she got no respect. We probably had Spanish class three times a month because we could complain about our lives and how much homework we had and she would let us go. That would never happen with a male teacher, I believe. 

I'm sure that teachers don't realize what they're doing if they happen to favor boys over girls or vice versa in the classroom. I've read that boys get more air time then girls, and girls can charm male teachers into giving them good grades blah blah. But going back to my cinema production class with my chin up gets harder and harder each time. While I appreciate constructive criticism and getting praised on my work only when I've really earned it, I know I'm not the only girl in that class who feels like she can't make good films because she's female and isn't interested in shooting dark, creepy, sad movies about death and stuff. 

In class I know we've talked about what women had to go through to even be allowed to go to school and get educated for more than home ec stuff. However I'd be interested to hear what the rest of the class has to say about this aspect of sexism in the classroom. 

Barbie Saves the (Cinematic) Day?

Ever since the first few weeks of Women's Studies class, I have been thinking about female heroes in movies. It's kinda confusing to me.

I know that the mainstream movie business is an industry that caters primarily to its audience. The audience expects and wants to see certain things in movies. The women may want to see strong female characters and stuff and the men wanna see some "jiggle" right? I mean, I don't necessarily think that, but I know that's pretty much what Hollywood thinks (basically). 

What confuses me is how we have heros like the Charlie's Angels (I have only seen the remake with Cameron Diaz etc) who kick ass AND look hot at the same time. What is that saying to the audience exactly? I mean I know that the girls wanna see girls kick butt and the guys just want to see butt.. but that pretty much says that girls can run shit, but they should look good while doing it. 

It's not fair. It's actually impossible. And we've discussed this in class; the images of women portrayed in the media aren't real, but some women still strive to look like Angelina and Cameron (or we're told to.. by the media or whatever). 

My question is, is a movie like Charlie's Angels good for the image of women or bad? Maybe Charlie's Angels isn't the perfect example. I read an article online that describes it perfectly.

Something very interesting that the author says is: 

"Even as a character within a so-called chick flick, whose audience was primarily female, she still manages to reinforce the images of the ideal women that we are meant to picture. Perky, vacuous, tan and well-endowed, and above all else Blonde, she overcomes all obstacles in her path with seemingly no more weapons than a blindingly bright smile, all while maintaining her inner equilibrium and stunning fashion sense. Any girl watching from the audience is presumably meant to come away from the film inspired by the thought that maybe, perhaps, one day, she will be able to marry the twin virtues of style and perseverance the way that Woods does. And perhaps these goals are to be appreciated."

I just wonder where the real women who can also be heroes are in film. And I wonder if a movie that is about a real looking woman who saves the world from exploding would actually be successful or not.