Daddy's Home

Masulinity and femininity are two ends of a structure that we know as gender. Gender defines a lot of rules and norms in our society and power relationship often stem from these rules and norms. You can look at these power relationships and rules and norms when you look at how the masculine and feminine alike interact with each other. In How I Met Your Mother we get a very definitive look into gender when we look at how Barney treats the women in his life.

http://www.headoverfeels.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/barney-5.gif

Barney is a misogynistic pig toward feminine figures in his life that he views as a sexual target. But, those that he sees as a platonic figure (like Robin and Lily) or familial (like his mom) he treats with much more respect. With the women in his life being so strong and independent, you would think the respect he shows for them would translate over to his sexual life. Through the use of critical rhetoric, we will look at gender through Barney’s treatment of women throughout the series.

According to Burgchardt, “Gender criticism analyzes how the symbolic interactions of particular cultures define, inculcate, and impose performances of femininity and/or masculinity” (2010, 561). So, to look at the construction of gender surrounding Barney, we will be looking at the cultures he partakes in.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

Barney starts off his adult life as a hippie who works in a coffee shop with his girlfriend that he loves and with whom he plans on joining the Peace Corps with. Barney is very respectful of this woman and even has a pledge of abstinence with her. When she ditches him for a high society businessman (or “suit”), Barney decides to immerse himself in another culture altogether.

When Barney trades his ponytail for a Double Windsor Knot, he becomes part of a culture he had never been a part of before. We start getting insight into this culture when Marshall starts working with Barney("Life Among the Gorillas" (S1E17)). When Marshall joins GNB, he starts to take on the philosophy of “joining in with the gorillas.” Marshall partakes in the dirty talk, and misogyny of the masculine culture that GNB has and begins to bring it home just in the first few weeks of him working there. With Barney having worked there for many years, we can only believe that this kind of workplace is what changed Barney from the respectful hippie that he was to the misogynistic pig we see throughout the show.

Now, though Barney does not treat most of his feminine exploits respectfully or… really positively at all, he treats four specific women differently than the rest: Loretta, Nora, Robin, and Ellie.

Barney was raised in a single mother household, which, in and of itself, is a type of culture. Barney relied on his mother to be both the masculine and feminine figure he needed while growing up. We learn in "Cleaning House" (S6E2) that Barney sees his mom as both his mother and father and assures her that she was always enough for him. This speaks a lot to the type of respectful man that he was when he was a young adult. Loretta taught him that there was no shame in a man being feminine or masculine. This is also seen when we find out that Loretta was always supportive of James “coming out of the closet” in "Single Stamina"(S2E10).

http://www.neontommy.com/sites/default/files/0909%20barney%20mother.png?1384238819

Nora meets Barney after he has reverted to the chauvinistic ways of his work culture. Barney develops real and honest feelings for Nora and tries to fight to become the respectful man that he once was, but still finds himself unable to fully change for her, despite his strong feelings. We think that Barney has finally found his reason to change when he has his “come to Jesus moment” with Tracy in "Platonish"(S9E9). But, Barney still ends up putting more value in his blog about sex and can’t fully place his support in Robin’s court so they und up divorcing in “The Last Forever Part 1” (S9E23).

We as viewers, start to think there is no hope in changing Barney’s masculine-focused outlook on gender. He reverts back to his sexist attitudes after his divorce with Robin by saying “if not her than it’s no one” and even attempts (and completes) a perfect month. But, he soon finds out that he got a woman pregnant and he meets his daughter, Ellie. When Ellie comes into Barney’s life, he gets a new outlook on gender, which is seen when he tells two girls in the bar that they are “someone’s daughter” and “what would your fathers say about this.” Barney learns a new found respect for the feminine gender when he becomes engrossed in the culture of fatherhood.

Barney goes from being open minded about gender roles to masculinity-focused and back again in the span of his lifetime. Strong women and traumatic experiences shaped Barney’s cultures and, ultimately, his view on gender. Barney discovered that respecting women can become easy when you start seriously asking “who’s your daddy.”

References

Burgchardt, C. (2010). Readings in Rhetorical Criticism (4th ed.). Strata: State College.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/600x315/b8/03/2c/b8032cadeb1c216044685bbda90e84e2.jpg