Dr Temperance Brennan Role Model

Dr. Temperance Brennan is the main character of the television show, Bones. In this show she is a forensic anthropologist who works with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by identifying injuries on a victim’s bones. The work of her and her team eventually lead the FBI to catching a murderer. She is a tall Caucasian woman with strawberry blond hair and green eyes; herself and others often refer to her as an attractive person. She is considered to be extremely intelligent, but has a difficult time reading social cues, understanding popular culture references, and empathizing with others. Her behaviors are solely influenced by logic instead of her feelings. Although she has difficulty relating to others, she is able to interact and form

Brennan is an extraordinary female character that proves that women are able succeed in science, have strength, and provide for themselves, there are ways she could improve her portrayal of women. For most of her career, Dr. Brennan was in control of all aspects regarding her laboratory. During the second season of Bones, another female doctor was hired as Dr. Brennan’s boss. Throughout this season, the two females continuously argued when Dr. Brennan constantly discounted her colleague’s power. One could argue that these two characters displayed an immature superego and masochism because their arguments showed little morality and caused a cycle of endless insults causing pain to both (Hyde & Rosenberg, 1976). In order to improve her portrayal of women, Dr. Brennan should accept that other women are allowed to have power and success without them taking away from her own power and success. It is important that she accepts this because it is important that women encourage each other up instead of competing especially in a field that lacks female representation such as science. Another way that Dr. Brennan could improve her portrayal of women is to be more accepting of emotions. In some instances, Dr. Brennan states that a person has no reason to be emotional. In addition to this, some of her comments can be considered sexist. For example, she explains that, anthropologically, it is negative for a man to show emotion because this can cause his mate to view him as unable to protect her. This perpetuates the male stereotype that men are not permitted to be emotional (N. Salahuddin, personal communication, February 10, 2016). Although this comment is scientifically correct, it is necessary that Dr. Brennan cease to make comments such as this because they cause men to feel unable to show their