Skins

So I was watching an episode of Skins UK last night and there was an element of masculinity in the episode. There's that stereotype that women look for bad boys or just tough guys in general. I felt it also related to earlier readings as well. Wollstonecraft had stated that women allow themselves to be subjugated in order to gain the attraction of men and the woman is taught to yield whereas the man pursues.

The show is about a group of college students in Bristol, England and their escapades. Recently one of them, Grace, had been killed in a car accident during a car chase while they were all on holiday in Morocco. Franky, one of the girls, was in the car being chased with a wealthy, drug-dealing, manipulative boy not apart of their group named Luke, while Grace had been in the car, driven by Matty (Franky's "boyfriend") chasing after them. Luke then framed Matty with drug possession and now Matty was stuck in Morocco, so Luke wasn't viewed so highly by anyone. Franky is going through a lot of grief and won't talk to anyone about it. Most of her friends blame her for the accident, so who does she turn to? Luke. Luke is bad news: he doesn't go to school, he and his friends get into savage fights with other gangs of boys, and he's aggressive and controlling of Franky. He influenced her behavior and she started becoming the same way: ditching school, threatening her parents and teachers, and just getting out of control. He even teaches Franky how to fight so that when another fight breaks loose, she joins him and his friends. During one of the fights, one of Franky's friends and Matty's brother, Nick, had followed Franky and Luke into the bar and he saves her from being severely injured, much to her reluctance. She gets a rush from the fighting and the almost domineering manner Luke has over her; this becomes her way of coping with the grief. But she realizes Luke is bad for her when Luke finds Nick and Franky after the fight and he starts to beat Nick up, almost to the point of killing him. He knows the power he has over Franky and she somewhat reluctantly leaves with Luke while Nick remains hurt on the ground. By the end of the episode, she leaves Luke, much to his dislike, and apologizes to Nick.

In the physical sense, Luke wasn't masculine. However, he carried many of the characteristics that masculinity assumes: aggressive, his use of power to subordinate Franky, his cathexis for women (not that all masculine guys have women as their sexually desired object), and the hegemonic masculinity he displayed in a previous episode when he belittled the boys of the group for not being as wealthy as he was. But it just interests me how he was able to attract Franky and keep her under control and influence her so greatly.  Was it Franky's need for an outlet for her grief or just someone who understood her and would take care of her, even though he may have been a bad influence? How is it that women can become that dependable on men that they change completely? Do they feel the need to be protected and will take whatever risks possible to be with that masculine figure?