Did Marilyn Monroe express feminist sentiments in her lifetime?

Question

Here are a few famous quotes:

"I have too many fantasies to be a housewife.... I guess I am a fantasy."

"Some people have been unkind. If I say I want to grow as an actress, they look at my figure. If I say I want to develop, to learn my craft, they laugh. Somehow they don't expect me to be serious about my work."

"In Hollywood a girl's virtue is much less important than her hairdo. You're judged by how you look, not by what you are. Hollywood's a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty."

Pretty insightful quotes. Is it because of these sorts of quotes that many feminists, such as Gloria Steinem, have been attracted to Monroe as a sort of feminist figure (or perhaps just a symbol of oppression)? What do you think? Why does Monroe, despite her status as a sex symbol, appeal to some feminists more so than other bombshells?

Answer 1

Marilyn is an interesting figure. If you read about her life, it becomes clear that she clearly understood that she was the hottest sex symbol in a man's world. But from the quotes you mentioned and other things that she has said, it seems that she didn't really like that "sex symbol" status. She would have preferred to be taken as a serious actor. She took acting lessons after she had become famous as the blonde bombshell. And that I think was because she wanted to show her versatility in her craft. So she definitely wanted to be seen as being more than just a sex symbol. That can be interpreted in feminist terms, although did Marilyn do that due to feminist reasons, one cannot be totally sure.

She was very well read. Many people who knew her say that most of the times they would see Marilyn reading. Did she read feminist works? We don't know. It might be interesting to find out what books were in her collection.

She was generally type casted as the dumb blonde, but if you watch a movie like "The Misfits", you see how good an actor Marilyn actually was.

So to answer your question, I think the reason some feminist writers find Marilyn interesting is because she is clearly a symbol of oppression. You see in her a struggle to survive in a man's world. She did the nude calendar photoshoot, when she was Norma Jean because she was running low on money. After she became famous, she struggled to be famous as a person and not a symbol. And she died because of her involvement with the most powerful man in America at the time, JFK.

So yes, you see her struggling with oppression but she didn't really talk about it in openly feminist terms.

Answer 2

Because the woman was one hell of a female!! That's why the likes of Steinem and her ilk are attracted to her.
The woman had more common sense about the sexes than Freud, Steinem, Greer could ever hope to have even as a collective group they didn't hold a candle to Miss Monroe.
They lay in her shadow as far as I'm concerned.

Answer 3

This was a woman who never knew her father and had a mentally ill mother. Because of her mother's mental illness, she bounced between her mother and foster care, where she was mistreated and sexually abused. She married at the age of 16 to get out of the foster care system for good. Still, she was highly intelligent and gravitated towards intellectual men. The thing she wanted the most in life was to be happy. One of her major disappointments in her life was her inability to have children. Her friend Mamie Van Doren has said in an interview that if Marilyn had had children, she would still be alive today.

Answer 4

Marilyn Monroe? Right or wrong, to me a classic 'symbol of oppression'. There was precious little diversity in the roles she played, and I know she was a HUGE pain in the #$$ to work with because she was strung out most of the time and constantly forgetting lines or failing to show up altogether. I think she has become more myth than reality; conspiracy theories die hard.

Answer 5

This is a great question, mainly because I've wondered it myself. She was a terrific actress and a beautiful woman and sadly left ths world too soon. I think she would have been a feminist had she lived because she wanted to run her life. But she was indeed too needy.

Answer 6

Marilyn Monroe was a bright individual.
She was exploited because of her looks.
Her acting ability was never truly appreciated because her looks always got in the way.
Arthur Miller would have never have married an idiot, neither would Jo di Maggio.
People often forget this about this fine actress who's looks were her downfall.

Answer 7

in 'some like it hot' monroe demonstrated how she had the ability to become the great comic actress of her generation (there were hints of it in 'bus stop').

but she belonged to a particular group of 'independent women' (they didn't have the agitprop commitments of actual 'feminists') whose social strategy was to use their sex appeal autonomously.

women who flirted their way into positions of respect and authority included anita loos, anais nin, edna st. vincent millay, and even dorothy parker.

the paradox in the position is that a woman who uses her charms can stay independent of any particular man (none of those women are remembered for their husbands) but is still dependent on men in general for her credibility.

nin, millay, parker and monroe all fretted themselves to death when they lost their looks - even though each of them had always made their way in the world on their brains.

(monroe's infamous nude swim for 'something's got to give' was bizarre: she didn't need to do that stuff anymore).

it is a tragic example of how the myth can still get you even when you think you have mastered it.

Answer 8

She was, contrary to her public persona, very intelligent and she was murdered because she knew too much and was too uunstable emotionally. Got involved with people too important and learned too much and went too far trying to clutch onto Bobby. It is her premature, mysterious death and her sympathetic, lost girl image that appeals to feminists.

Answer 9

She's made a lot of quotes, some of which contradict each other. Example: "A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night." That leaves me in doubt as to her real priorities.

Answer 10

I think she was probably a whole lot more deep and complicated than the media and society of the time gave her credit for.