Entourage: Representations of Masculinity and Sexism Within "Hook Up" Culture

            The show Entourage is about an American actor, Vinny Chase, living the life in California with this two best friends and brother. His brother Johnny “Drama” Chase is also an actor, but has yet to see the fame and success that his younger brother has. His manager and also best friend, Eric is always there whenever he needs him. Whether it’s to call his angry, yet successful agent Ari Gold or to get him out of a girl situation, he is always there and ready to help. The last friend is Turtle. Turtle is basically there for the boy’s entertainment because he is usually made fun of for his lack of success and lack of ability to get a girl to “hook up” with him. Entourage lets you see the world through an actor’s eyes as well as enjoy the bromance of the boys and follow along on their endeavors to hook up with girls, make money, and have as much fun as they possibly can. Entourage also feeds into the “hook up” culture in our society as well as the norms surrounded around masculinity and sexism.

            There are many instances where the show may seem sexist. The show basically says if you don’t have money or power you wont have sex and you are basically worthless if you don’t have these things (Gallagher). The way they treat the girls they hook up with is usually vulgar and rude. The show makes all girls appear as ditzy, gold diggers who have zero self-respect for themselves or their bodies. Every girl on the show is beautiful, skinny, and just wants to have sex with one of the boys, but usually just with Vinny. The show puts a certain stereotype on girls in LA and because the show takes place there it makes people who don’t wonder if that is how all girls act in that city or if it is just the show exaggerating a specific stereotype of LA girls. Most of the time they hook up with one girl no more than once, but there is the occasional exception if she is “hotter” than the rest or maybe better in bed. Gallagher describes all of these girls seen throughout the series as “trophy sluts” who are tossed to the crew as a carnal reward.

Two of the women shown throughout the series who have full-time, well-paid jobs are also talked down to throughout the show. They are not seen as competent to the male workers even though they have the exact same positions as them. One example is Dana Gordon. Ari Gold is constantly talking back to her and yelling vulgar things to her about sex. He doesn’t treat her the way professional businessman would or how he treats other co-workers who are males on the show. Feminism is supposed to be long over and women are supposed to feel that they can be in a workplace without being constantly harassed. They also assume that they have the same opportunities in the job force as their male peers (Kimmel, 242). Basically in Entourage we are seeing the opposite of what Kimmel is saying. This is because of the way the female characters are sexualized by what they wear and the way they are treated.

            There are two characters on the show that actually have consistent relationships throughout the series: Ari and Eric. Eric is made fun of almost daily because he doesn’t act like the other guys. He is considered to be more sensitive than the rest. This is mostly because he doesn’t hook up with girls on a daily basis and doesn’t like the whole idea of a “one night stand.” The other boys call him a “pussy” or tell him to be more of a man about being with girls. He dates a girl named Sloane for majority of the series, which he usually gets mocked and made fun of for. In the book Guyland by Michael Kimmel he explains because of the hookup culture in our society men sometimes have trouble when they have to transition into serious relationships. This is shown in how Eric is able to have a serious girlfriend but the rest of the boys cannot.

Another woman on the show that is not perceived like the rest of the women is Ari’s wife. She runs the show in the Gold family and does not let her egotistical husband tell her what to do. The interesting part though is that it is not until season 7 that we even learn her first name. She is called Mrs. Ari until later it is told that her name is Melissa. This shows how this program in particular views women being not important enough to even be given a first name. It shows the sexism surrounding the show and the idea that men will always be higher up than women.

When it comes to sex, the boys usually describe it in vulgar terms. They never say sex really, its always bang, or fuck, or get laid. Entourage is trying to feed into the masculine stereotype that men are supposed to just “hook up” with girls and never want a serious relationship. Kimmel describes the term hooking up as the current form of social and sexual relationships among young people. He explains that in most cases groups of the same sex go out to the bars or to a party to meet a group of the opposite sex (Kimmel, 191). In Entourage the group of boys always go out together. They never go out alone or with just one other. All of them travel as a pack to a bar or party in order to meet girls that they can take home with them later that night. With hookups there is no expectation for a further relationship, which is why Vinny never hooks up with the same girl more than a few times because he fears she will start to want something more. Kimmel also says that when hooking up guys run the show. So if the girl is not into that then they should just plan on going home alone every night. This is interesting and is reflected in Entourage as well based on the girl’s willingness to do whatever Vinny wants.

Overall, the show Entourage is very good and does a good job of capturing the audience and making you fall in love with every character. However, there are times where it feeds into most of the stereotypes revolved around masculinity and what it means to really be masculine. This is done through the sexism in the show as well as getting into the “hook up” culture that is most prevalent in our society today. The show undermines women in many ways and makes men appear as the dominant ones throughout the whole series with very few exceptions.

Works Cited

Kimmel, Michael S. Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men. New York: Harper, 2008. Print.

Gallagher, Brenden. "Nobody's Perfect: Entourage's 25 Biggest Fails." Complex.com. N.p., 13 May 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.