Now, I know that once you've read the title, you might think the title of this series, Toy Boy sounds like something from a porno. But I am here to assure you that this movie is actually real and you could see it when you browse through Netflix. Unlike the recent exotic dancers movie, Hustlers, which featured female exotic dancers, this movie features male ones. This is why many people have compared it to Magic Mike and says that it is basically Magic Mike with a detective story twist. But there is something else which is remarkably important in this series. The fact that this series has male strippers instead of female ones shows that the times are changing as well as gender expectations in the media. Although we still have a long way to go with fully embracing that mark of change with gender expectations in the media, this might be a good place to start. I mean, if we are being realistic, it is the year of 2020 and it's been so many years since the Women's Suffrage Movement was launched. Maybe this is meant to be.
The series Toy Boy starts with a male stripper named Hugo Beltran, who wakes up on a sailboat with a dead body. To make matters worse, it is found that this dead body is allegedly the corpse of the husband of the mature and powerful woman he has been having a sexual relationship with, named Macarena Medina. Hugo is convicted of this crime and is sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Thankfully, he does end up getting out of jail after the help of Triana Martin, a young lawyer from a major law firm. The series then progresses with how the two try to prove Hugo's innocence in various crime situations amongst their growing feelings for each other.
So what I realize about this show is that the power dynamics of the male and female characters here are completely different from the stereotypes. For example, both Macarena and Triana are both women of high standing power, who are either to control or save a male character (Hugo). For example one is a lawyer of a prestigious law firm and the other is the head of her own company called MedinaCon. And I think I know where the name "Toy Boy" comes from. It might have to do with how Macarena tries to "toy" with Hugo and make him do whatever she tells him to do by tricking him and playing him as if he was an actual toy you would get at a toy store. Usually, as we used to see in fairytale books and cartoons, the male is always the one trying to save or overpower the female. I have personally never pictured either Cinderella nor Snow White not take their prince's hand while getting off of a carriage.
So, is the media trying to portray a sense of revolution within gender dynamics? Is this what more and more people want to see? I do know that there are so many activists that have tried to make women's rights a thing in this world and maybe this might be starting to take effect in the world of television shows. But, is this what might happen in reality too? Are we getting closer to actually seeing the reversal of gender stereotypes in real life?
