Photo: marginalizingmorons.blogspot.com
Elaine carefully evaluates her partners in "The Sponge"
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Elaine is not a desperate single woman who will take just any guy, she has standards! For example, in "The Sponge" Elaine learns that her "Today Sponge" is being recalled, so she panics to stock up on as may as possible. We learn that birth control is very important to Elaine, which can be a reflection of women in the '90s and the growth of birth control usage. Since she only has a limited number of sponges, she tells Jerry and George that she has to really evaluate the guys she considers to sleep with and make sure they are "sponge-worthy."
In the video below, Elaine interviews a possible candidate to be her sexual partner, making sure he fits the criteria to be worthy of a sponge use. The next morning, she tells him he was alright, but definitely not worth a second sponge. Ouch! There is a connection between Elaine here and throwing out the stereotypes of women as promiscuous or sexual objects. Elaine gives power to women, showing that they have the power to set their standards, as well as respect themselves by choosing a man that fits those standards. She sticks to what she wants to do with her body, and birth control plays a large role.
Sarah E. Worth even explains "she broke up with someone [else] because his bathroom wasn't clean and another because he didn't agree with a woman's right to choose to have an abortion" (33). Worth explains that Elaine stands up for her values and beliefs, like when she stopped dating a man because his beliefs about abortion clashed with hers in "The Couch," but her ethics are very questionable, which I agree with. She is selfish about what she wants. For example, in "The Sponge" when she sets criteria and standards for men she sleeps with, she does not do this ethically; she is selfish about it and there is no compromise, but only what she wants. Also, the criteria the men have to meet are smaller things like having a clean bathroom and no sideburns.
Another example of Elaine being "one of the boys" is in the episode "The Contest" where the gang decides to make a bet on who can go the longest without masturbating. She jokes about her being able to last much longer because women can last longer than men. Jerry, George, and Kramer (Michael Richards) are hesitant to let her join in because of the fact that she is a woman, but finally let her in if she bets more money. Elaine takes part in the contest, as well as openly talks about birth control (like her sponges) and even mortifies other women with stories of having a diaphragm fly out of her purse and justifying it by saying "one never knows when one might need it" in the very same episode (Worth 34).
She pushes the limits by opening up the conservation of taboo subjects to women, too. This is a portrayal of another way Elaine is a liberal feminist icon for women everywhere.
In the video below, Elaine interviews a possible candidate to be her sexual partner, making sure he fits the criteria to be worthy of a sponge use. The next morning, she tells him he was alright, but definitely not worth a second sponge. Ouch! There is a connection between Elaine here and throwing out the stereotypes of women as promiscuous or sexual objects. Elaine gives power to women, showing that they have the power to set their standards, as well as respect themselves by choosing a man that fits those standards. She sticks to what she wants to do with her body, and birth control plays a large role.
Sarah E. Worth even explains "she broke up with someone [else] because his bathroom wasn't clean and another because he didn't agree with a woman's right to choose to have an abortion" (33). Worth explains that Elaine stands up for her values and beliefs, like when she stopped dating a man because his beliefs about abortion clashed with hers in "The Couch," but her ethics are very questionable, which I agree with. She is selfish about what she wants. For example, in "The Sponge" when she sets criteria and standards for men she sleeps with, she does not do this ethically; she is selfish about it and there is no compromise, but only what she wants. Also, the criteria the men have to meet are smaller things like having a clean bathroom and no sideburns.
Another example of Elaine being "one of the boys" is in the episode "The Contest" where the gang decides to make a bet on who can go the longest without masturbating. She jokes about her being able to last much longer because women can last longer than men. Jerry, George, and Kramer (Michael Richards) are hesitant to let her join in because of the fact that she is a woman, but finally let her in if she bets more money. Elaine takes part in the contest, as well as openly talks about birth control (like her sponges) and even mortifies other women with stories of having a diaphragm fly out of her purse and justifying it by saying "one never knows when one might need it" in the very same episode (Worth 34).
She pushes the limits by opening up the conservation of taboo subjects to women, too. This is a portrayal of another way Elaine is a liberal feminist icon for women everywhere.