Feminism in "The Hunting Trip"

Parks and Recreation -- Season 2 Episode

Parks and Recreation was a hit comedy TV show that debuted in 2009 and ran 125 episodes until its finale in 2015. The show focused on a bureaucratic organization tasked to run a local Park Department in a fictional town in Illinois. The show based upon the main character, Leslie Knope, who undertakes a series of projects and mingles with a range of different types a characters in a dynamic and humorous way. Leslie is a feminist and finds herself in a position that is far more progressive than many of the characters that live in the fictional town. The "Hunting Trip" show is an interesting episode for many reasons. First, despite being female, Leslie proves that she is just as good a hunting as the men in the show.

However, she actually uses the stereotypes that are commonly held towards women, to cover for her friend Tom after an accident happens in which Ron gets shot. Not only does she play off the existing stereotypes, but after she realizes that they seem to be working, she throws out a barrage of exaggerated ones in one of the most comical exchanges in the season. Not only did I find this rather humorous, but it also portrays the idea that when females uphold the stereotype and the types of behaviors expected of them by society in general, then they often receive positive reinforcement from those they interact with. However, if a woman is more aggressive and does not fit...
...

In this brief essay I will look at some of the research that has been conducted in regards to criminality and gender and relate this information back to the show and draw a few conclusions from the research.
Feminism and Acceptance

The perceptions of gender norms are something that I feel is largely misunderstood. There are many contrary views on any of the inherent or substantive differences between men and women. There are at least some biological differences that are indisputable. However, it is not clear how these differences manifest into behavior naturally and what are socially conditioned. For example, researchers have compiled data through various studies that have looked at the roles of hormones and other biological differences in men and women have been thought to contribute to predispositions based on gender for various criminal activities. For example, it is commonly assumed that women are less aggressive based on these biological differences. I believe that the science is important since many people attempt to justify their views based on evidence such as this.

The hormonal differences that exist between genders is thought to cause significant differences in behaviors based on the biological characteristics of each gender. For example, men on average have far more testosterone which has been correlated with certain types of behaviors such as aggression and competitiveness.…