Let’s rename chick flicks

I was reading this article about how Dirty Dancing is always considered a chick flick but it’s really a “subversive masterpiece”—and I think it’s a great argument, by the way—but it made me think about how much I don’t like the term chick flick.

I don’t like the term “girly” either, because if a girl isn’t the traditional form of girly she’s considered a “tomboy,” which is stupid. There are lots of ways to be a girl. Why does “girly” have to mean rainbows and butterflies? In our home, girly means rainbows and butterflies and trucks and ninja stars and baseball and Littlest Pet Shops, thank you very much. It means whatever the heck it means to be a girl to YOU.

And chick flick, to me, means the same thing. I’m okay calling a tearjerker just that, or a “sobfest” or whatever, but when we say it’s a “chick flick” it automatically reduces its status to something that is not meaningful or worthwhile, which is a bunch of crap. I found meaning in Fried Green Tomatoes, Thelma and Louise and yes, even Bridesmaids. I’m tired of the term chick flick—and tired of anything associated with being female being “inferior” to everything else. Whether it’s throwing like a girl, being called a part of a girl’s anatomy to indicate being weak (or even a “sissy,” which is also a feminine term) or anything else, it’s time that we get over this whole BS story about women being week or inferior and started naming things appropriately.

So how about it? What name would you like to dub chick flicks? Honestly, they are so varied we could choose a few. Some could simply be “comedies,” some “dramas,” and some “tragedies.” Imagine that—language that has nothing to do with gender.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia