This past week I watched all eight, one-hour episodes of "Stranger Things" in one night. Was it worth sleeping at 4am? Heck yeah.
Amidst the crazy scenes of the monsters and pretty yucky scenes of all the PDA, I experienced some pretty bad secondhand embarrassment and pride at the same time. Now, that's two things I certainly never thought I would say in the same sentence.
Don't worry - there are NO SPOILERS. We start to see more character development in this season, which was pleasant to see, especially with all the new relationships and additions to the plot.
In the previous seasons, the character of Nancy Wheeler tended to play a role as a typical high school student and Mike's older sister. When I found out that Nancy got an internship at her local newspaper, I was like, "YAS!! We love a proactive and working woman!" As someone who also writes, I was proud that she was able to find an internship even in a patriarchal workplace environment.
But once I saw how the men at the paper treated her, it was straight up secondhand embarrassment and disgust. They consistently mocked her and called her "Nancy Drew," in reference to the fictional female detective in a mystery series from the 1930's. They would play cruel jokes on her and minimize her to someone who has to deal with menial tasks, such as getting coffee.
Also, when she tried to pitch a potential article topic to the male reporters, she was degraded and humiliated.
Not only that, when Nancy becomes disheartened by all the treatment she received. We see a bigger presence of Nancy's mom in Nancy's life. When Nancy confesses to her mom about her struggles, her mom comforts her and tells her to stand up for herself and what she believes in, regardless of what the men at the paper tell her.
This series takes place in the 1980's, which explains all the gross display of male dominance. As a woman in 2019, I am so amazed by how far women have come today. There's definitely still a long way to go, but so much has been accomplished these past few decades.
Thank you to all the women who have paved the way for this world to view women and men equally.
