Read Online How I Met Your Mother and Philosophy by Lorenzo von Matterhorn - Free Book Online Page B

feminists like legal ethics professors Deborah Rhode, author of Justice and Gender , 2 and Drucilla Cornell, author of Beyond Accommodation , believe that women—including former Canadian pop stars turned journalists—cannot be boxed into one set of defining characteristics because all women and their experiences are unique and no two women’s paths in life need to look the same. 3
    Since television lives in stereotypes, the playground of essentialism, we’re virtually never shown this concept. Women are either traditional—pick a solid husband, get married, have kids—or they are classic feminists, focusing on their career while maintaining their single status. We’re rarely shown the middle ground, but that is where Robin Scherbatsky lives. She’s a woman, like many of us real women watching at home, who’s torn between the two worlds. She feels the need to be strong and hide her emotions and live for her career, but at the same time she’s lonely and yearns for love and companionship. She requires both sides of the coin to truly satisfy her yet she’s told it must be one or the other. That’s what causes Robin’s series-long struggle that only ends when she learns the lesson of non-essentialism. That same lesson is there for the audience too simply by going along on Robin’s journey from a career-obsessed woman who didn’t believe in marriage and couldn’t even use the term ‘we’to a successful journalist on a major international network who also happens to be the bride of one of the biggest womanizers in television history.
    Am I Wired Wrong or Something?
    When we’re first introduced to her, Robin views a woman’s future as taking one of two paths, and she adamantly sees herself taking Path B, that of a career woman—or in her words “a serious journalist.” She doesn’t want children and she doesn’t want marriage, end of story.
    Even after entering into her first ever long-term relationship, episodes like “Brunch,” “Moving Day,” and “Something Blue” make it clear that Robin’s views have not changed. She still wants to maintain her independence. Above all else, she still wants to take that career path. She still wants to travel the world and have adventures that do not include children or a husband who wants her to stay at home and raise them. She may be open to dating but not at the expense of compromising her own unique identity.
    But while it’s clear that Robin does not want to travel Path A that Lily has taken, her feminist side is constantly pressured to bend to these traditional things. This is illustrated best in the episode “Slutty Pumpkin” where Robin openly wonders if there’s something deeply wrong with her because she doesn’t want that world of lovey-dovey, picture perfect couples for herself.
    Calling Slut
    Robin may be preprogrammed to be Career Barbie, but the writers very purposefully place her into a group of close-knit, co-dependent friends, three of the four of whom staunchly believe in that fairy tale, Rom-Com, Dreamhouse Barbie ending and therefore push Robin towards it in addition to the coercion she already feels from society as a whole.
    As early as Season One’s “Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M .,” Robin feels the stigma of remaining single and choosing her career and independence over love and tradition. When she attends Career Day at Lily’s kindergarten class the children mock her for having no fiancé or husband and compare her to a lonely old cat lady. One child even questions her sexuality. It’sa vivid example of the pressure Robin feels to bow to that conventional lifestyle.
    At the same time that Robin has everyone lining up to tell her what she should be they’re also constantly pressuring her to avoid what they feel she shouldn’t be. From her character’s introduction, Robin’s always