10 Guy Movies I Proudly Survived

HALT: Is that misogyny I hear yander?

It's hard to believe in the 21st century that No Women Allowed clubs are still prevalent in the entertainment world. Sony hack emails revealed actresses being paid less than their male co-stars. Female cosplayers and video gamers are objectified. Female directors can't seem to break new ground in Hollywood. And according to a recent film critic, women shouldn't see an abrasive movie like The Revenant.

For the past year director Alejandro González Iñárritu's adaptation has gained media attention. The story ventures the early American west as a frontiersman Hugh Glass is left for dead by his crew after a crippling bear attack. It's centered on a father enacting revenge for his son's murder as he attempts to survive a harsh winter against Native Americans reclaiming what was stolen from them and violent, pillaging raping settlers. Due to the epic nature of its film-making, crew members walked off the project and brawls between actor and director broke out on-set. There's hunting, pillaging, blood and guts, rape, animal carcasses, and vengeance.

Naturally, it's a pretty brutal movie. Don't take my word for it because I'm a woman. No, take the word of veteran film critic Jeffrey Wells:

Wells latest "critique" promptly faced backlash from movie goers, both male and female. His immediate defense and reasoning of his tweet came from noticing four women in the same screening showing difficulty watching the film.

However, this isn't the first time he's been disrespectful towards women in film. Last year he tried to coin funny chubby before the release of Amy Schumer's Trainwreck. As far back as 2012, he warned against female critics falling for The Hunger Games just because it's a female led franchise, and even poked at Jennifer Lawrence' body frame as big-boned (something many outlets pointed out at the time using words like "baby fat" and "womanly").

Women have always had it tough in the film industry, let alone the history of humankind. Yet, the respectful reaction of quadruple people made into a hasty generalization of the whole female species burned me the wrong way.

The funny thing is, in general, the critical reception towards The Revenant has male reviewers to male movie goers (because us women still can't read) giving the exact same reactions. Only their reviews are ones of praise, hailing the experience as manning up to cinema's finest endurance test. As Vivian Hale so awesomely puts it, if you weren't a man before this movie, you will be afterwards.

What does it say about women seeing films like The Revenant? We endure unflinchingly brutal, you-are-there, raw element immersion experiences in any element of our daily lives: coping with excruciating periods and childbirth, putting up with catcalling, trying to heal from rape and sexual assault, performing the same jobs as men for less money, and remaining on guard so our every move isn't objectified and under-minded because of our 'delicate sensibilities'. Worse when we share our genuine tales of horror, nobody hears us or thinks we're making it up. If there's one thing we can't handle - it's a man versus nature, dog-eat-dog, movie?

Some movies are marketed towards men and others are marketed towards women. Men shouldn't be castrated and women shouldn't be prohibited from watching or liking something geared towards the other sex. It's the 21st century and most of us are adults; we can decide for ourselves what we like to watch and our tastes shouldn't be judged by a movie's cover. To the Jeffrey Wells of the world, if women can't handle men's movies it's because they are intended for men. We are somehow valued less for having weak stomachs. But, what if we put up with a man's movie - cause we're taken to one as a date or choose to see it of our own will? It probably just makes us another 'Cool Girl'.

I don't know about other women but I've been watching "Men's Movies" my entire life. Of all the ways my gender as a woman limits my opportunities and is used against me, and I try to fight against too many to list here, the invisible yet prevalent sexist caution tape outside of a theater still exists. I'm expected to accept female sidekicks who become sidestepped by the superheroes. Or chick flicks that are inundated with obnoxious sex jokes and objectify the woman chasing the skeezy guy who really couldn't care less about her. Or the dramas that examine and specify "women's issues" versus dramas that explore The Hero's Journey. That same caution tape won't and hasn't stopped my capability to decide what I do and don't have the guts to watch. Let me divulge in (at least) ten men's movies (including The Revenant) this one woman is proud to have "survived".

Apocalypse Now

Deliverance

Dirty Harry

The Godfather

The Passion of the Christ

The Patriot

Pulp Fiction

Reservoir Dogs, Death Proof, Inglorious Basterds,The Hateful Eight
Anything Quentin Tarantino, really

Saving Private Ryan

Se7en

Taxi Driver