Anyone who has watched Friends is familiar with Joey. The lovable, goofy, and ditsy member of the friend group. A trait of Joey that is repeatedly highlighted and joked about in the show is his promiscuous behavior. He definitely sleeps around a lot. The characters of the show never judge him, on the contrary, they admire him and even ask for his advice at times. His famous line “how you doin’?’ is iconic. I was a little late to jump on the Friends bandwagon, but now I am on season seven and I couldn’t help but think, what if Joey was a woman?
Currently, I am in a woman and gender studies class and it has opened my eyes to many tropes in the world of entertainment. Woman are not allowed to show their sexuality because it will make them look “slutty” and “desperate.” While men are free to sleep with whomever they please without any judgemental. Men are praised for their “conquests.” While watching this show I couldn’t help but think, “what if Joey was a girl? Would everyone still think he is so cute and enduring?” I don’t think they would. I think that is Joey was, say, Joan, and Joan was good looking and slept around with a lot of men, the characters in the show would not respect her the same way they do for Joey.
Now, don’t get me wrong; I love Joey and the show. In fact, Joey is my favorite character. I just feel that if the situation was different, the characters wouldn’t be celebrating his smoothness with women. Just a little something to think about the next time you watch Friends.