On the Basis of Sex

I have always looked up to Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she is one of only a handful of women that have ever had the privilege to serve on the Supreme Court. She has also been very vocal in her dislike of President Trump which has caught the attention of a lot of people. I was very excited to watch this movie to learn more about her life and her fight for gender equality.

On the Basis of Sex is a biographical movie about current Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The movie follows Ginsburg's pursuit of a Harvard Law School degree while dealing with the complications of having a family. Her husband becomes sick and she steps up to take both of their classes but inevitably drops out when her family moves to New York City for work. She finishes her degree at Columbia but struggles to find work as a woman in law, so she goes into teaching a course at a college. She is brought introduced to case in which a man felt as though he has been discriminated because of his gender. Ruth would go on to defend him in court in the hopes that if she won this case that the ruling could be used in cases where woman are discriminated.

I think that some biographical movies can have the tendency to be dull, but I found On the Basis of Sex to be a very inspiring and fast-paced movie.  I enjoyed that the audience was able to see how well Ginsburg handled both her marriage and her motherhood while maintaining a rigorous education. I found the scenes in which she was discriminated in, like the classroom scene where she is constantly raising her hand and her teachers calls on all the men around her, to be very accurate. Some scenes in movies that show discrimination of the sexes are super "out-there" and almost make you want to roll your eyes with how blatant they are but this scene showed how subtle these acts of discrimination can be. One scene that I found almost stomach churning was when the new class of law students were sitting at a table and the women were asked why they were taking a spot that could have gone to a man. This clip was eye-opening as I was able to see how woman were viewed by men when colleges first allowed them to attend. Ruth responded to that question in a comical way by saying she was there to be a "more understanding wife."


My favorite scene in the entire movie was when Felicity Jones (the actress who played RBG) is walking up the steps of the Supreme court and the camera pans by the doors and you can see the front of the actress, but it is not longer Felicity Jones but RBG herself. I found this moment so touching and such a perfect way to wrap a film about all her trials and tribulations to get where she is now.

One part of the movie that I feel should not be overlooked is how her husband is portrayed. In a world where many men see the feminist movement as an attack on their gender, Ruth's husband, Martin Ginsburg is a perfect person to debunk that male stereotype. He supports his wife's dreams even when people around her do not. Her husband helps her in her studies and her career and always pushes her to go after what she wants. I am very happy with how he was portrayed in this movie and I believe he is an important character to look to when men want to see how they can participate in the feminist movement and how they can support the women in their lives.

Overall I think this movie is an amazing portrayal of such an important feminist figure and everyone should definitely see this awe-inspiring film. I have told many of my friends to watch this film as I feel like it is such an amazing story about feminism. I hope that you all will watch it as well as I enjoyed it so much and I know that you will too!