Michael Holleron

Pogue
ISSUES IN: Gender Communication
9 December 2014
Gender Binary Final
In the movie Don Jon, events follow a character named Jon and his struggle to
find a woman that the binary has taught him to pursue. In this time, he becomes
addicted to pornography. Pornography generates his interpretation of the gender
binary as well with him discussing at multiple points that real woman dont do it like
the women in porn do it. This movie raises a lot of looks at the traditional gender
binary within the American hegemonic structure, through looks at his
interpretations of how romance should be attained and how he reacts to women
within his culture. Jon interprets these things through many of the areas studied by
both Foss and Bordo. From The points in Bordos book, the movie fits with the idea
of aggressiveness of athletes (Bordo, 231, 236-239) and active vs passive images of
the male body (Bordo, 190-191). This can correlate with Jons mentality about
working out and how he pursues women at the bar. It also looks at the way he
performs within the gender binary from the Foss book (Foss, 175-177). The next
space is within his interaction with Barbara, a woman who he considers perfect
even though she tries to control multiple and eventually all aspects of his life. This
fits in with the standards of the gender binary noted in the Foss book (Foss, 75) and
the development of agency within the relationship (Foss, 16). The final interaction is
between Jon and Ester. This one fits in with the double standards in old versus
young in the Bordo book (Bordo, 224). It also fits with tolerance, discussed in the

Foss book (Foss, 210). All of these fit together to complete a very interesting look at
what the binary has created for the male performer to consume. By using this as
underlying themes of the films plot structure, it creates discussion for these
subjects, which are usually swept under the rug in this day and age.
Jon is very shark-like when he is at the bar, he doesnt seem to get really
drunk, instead he focuses on finding a woman to take home. Even though he knows
this woman will not fully satisfy him like porn does. He is very predatory in these
situations and plays to the aggressiveness of athletes idea (Bordo, 231, 236-239)
in which she discusses the idea of a man being both an unstoppable warrior and
how he needs to be a perfect gentleman at the same time. This aggressiveness in
the social scene shows that Jon is using his aggressiveness to satisfy his penile
needs, but also shows his cognitive dissonance created by this mentality when he is
trying to impress and keep Barbara around. To play into his aggressiveness, he
works out constantly to keep a tone on his body that is solely created by the gender
binary. This phenomena is explored within Bordos book as well, with her discussing
active versus passive images of the male body. This ties into how Jon perceives
his body, and how he feel it must be maintained so that he can be an active pursuer
of sexual gratification. Jon hints at wanting to be receptive in bed by talking about
how real women dont do it like girls in porn do, but his interpretation to the binary
keeps him trapped in the need to be the alpha male in social interactions. One way
for him to do this is aggressively work out to fit into the traditional hegemonic
structure of how men should look to be successful partners for a female. This
creates his overall performance, discussed in the Foss book (Foss, 175-177) as his
interactions around women that he feels sexual desire for and his interactions
around women that he sees only platonically. This interaction is visualized through

his way to take women home, and how he gets them there (this is also shown
nonverbally) with the only vocal patterns being issued being the womans moans at
the end of the sequence. The flip side of the interaction is observed in how he
pushes away Ester as she tries to interact with him in what seems to be a mostly
agenda free manner. The interactions between Jon and Ester will be explored more
in depth later.
The second point where Jon has to deal directly within the gender binary is
when he meets and ultimately spends his time pursuing Barbara. She is a normal
standard of beauty (though not really to my taste), with large breasts a firm, tight
butt and a slim body frame. This fits as a look at the traditional binarys need to
create the perfect woman. This is explored in the Foss book with the ideal of the
perfect woman (Foss, 75). Barbara does not want Jon to lift a finger at home. And
this comes out in scene where she says she is going to make him get a maid
because he shouldnt have to clean. Barbara also pushes Jon to attend college so he
can get a better job and offer her financial security. All of this builds up while not
mentioning Barbaras career field. This can be interpreted as she wants to stay
home while Jon goes to work and brings home money in the long run. She also uses
her sexuality deceptively by making Jon work for sexual actions with her. This can
be seen as both empowering and destructive. She uses this to pursue her own
agenda, and to control Jon, but it also shows her recognizing her sexuality as a free
being that can and will choose when it wants satisfaction. She uses her sexuality to
develop agency (Foss, 16). By doing this she manipulates Jon into what she wants,
which is submission to her wills through the denial of sexual gratification. Later in
an interaction between them, she gets mad at Jon for wanting to show his ability to
be independent. This was her showing her agenda that she slowly implemented

through sexual gain that Jon thought hed attained. The sex wasnt magical between
the two by any means, but the traditional structure dictated that they both worked
because they were both attractive.
The third interaction is between Jon and Ester, throughout the time Jon
spends at night school, Ester tries to extend herself to him emotionally. Even if her
agenda did not dictate a relationship with him at first, it slowly developed into one
that caused second order change in Jon. The main focus that sits within Bordos
book on this is the double standards, specifically old versus young. (Bordo,224). In
Don Jon, Jon rejects Ester because she does not fit with the traditional standards of
beauty and attractiveness for his age. She is too old for him, and that right there
should be enough he feels. He forgoes sexual interest in anything with a vagina to
place specific descriptors as to why he only wants women who look like Barbara. As
he eventually changes his mind, he recognizes that sexuality is to be appreciated,
not just used. The build up to this point though, runs right through the lines of
tolerance for gender performance mentioned by the Foss sisters (Foss, 210). These
interactions show Ester tolerating Jons overall write off of her, and her expanding
and exploring the inner workings of herself and revealing them to Jon. Her openness
shows that her agenda is not kept hidden within her sexuality like Barbaras, but
instead is an open book, if asked for.
All of these interactions with members of the opposite sex and with the
individual create a look at the gender binary which, when taken in a shallow
interpretation, shows that boys will be boys and that the girls of today fall into this
and probably deserve it slightly, since they made their choice to sleep with Jon. If
looked at much deeper, it opens many discussion points within the binary that
subtly appear within the movie, created more as discussion points that crack the

structure rather than directly attack it. These small, subtle looks at the standard of
the binary allows the audience to take the cracks within the hegemonic structure
and discuss them more in depth with others. By creating discussion points, the
cracks widen and can be used to travel freely between all emotional factors
involved within the gender structure. These cracks allow the introduction of a point
which can be discussed until each party reaches the root of the problem, the only
reaction left at that point, is how to pull the root. This movie uses its ability to open
discursive space between the two sexes in a very advantageous way, and allows for
an audience member to hope that it will be received in the same way.