In both Gone Girl and Kindred the two protagonists, Amy and Dana, go through some sort of feud with another female character. There is competition or tension separating the two characters. They also encounter certain men that lead them to altercations, but the difference here is that the motives behind both sources of tension are drastically different. When it’s a "woman on woman feud," the reasoning behind it is more often than not about either jealousy or a man. Women are scarcely seen feuding over something like a business deal, or a topic that is more gender neutral in today's gendered society. For example, in Gone Girl, Amy’s hostility toward Andie is purely out of jealousy, since Andie is Nick’s mistress. Amy's emotions are understandable and only human; however, it's the interactions or relationship that these two women have that's problematic. 

In Kindred, on the other hand, this confrontation is done in a very different way. Rufus, Dana's ancestor and the owner of the plantation where her ancestors live, puts Dana and Alice in constant opposition; he uses Alice to satisfy his carnal desires and Dana to satisfy his intellectual side. This claim can be argued, but the important question is why that rivalry even had to be in the novel.

Media often pits women against each other in movies, books, or celebrity tabloid gossip. This issue persists and is thriving more than ever in pop culture and celebrity news and tabloids. This has been an ongoing issue in Hollywood for decades now. In the 1930's a feud between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis took the media by storm.

Hollywood exploited this feud in every way possible by not only highlighting it so much that it overshadowed the actresses careers but also making it commonly believed that this historic rivalry was surrounding a man, Franchot Tone. Hollywood continues to exploit this relationship even to this day by adding fabrications to this story and turning it into a television show. Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon star in the critically acclaimed tv-show named Feud about Davis and Crawford's alleged rivalry. 


We live in a time where hip hop and rap is arguably the most dominating genre in music; audiences are exposed to hundreds of male rappers, yet only a handful of female rappers. Feuds and disses, in general, are a large part of rap culture, however, the difference between male and female feuds is that men tend to fight over an array of different topics; however, the media tends to pit women against each other by claiming that there should be only one “Rap Queen.” Every time a new face appears on the scene, she is subjected to a great amount of scrutiny and pressure to not only be good at what she does but to be the best there is out there and to “dethrone” the previous female rapper. A celebrity gossip youtube channel uploaded this video “Cardi B VS. Nicki Minaj: Who Is The Queen Of Rap?” only a week ago. Why do women continue to be pitted against one another in media narratives?