Will You Be (One Of) My Girlfriend(s)?

Since the very first episode Jackie and Kelso have been dating but maintain a very unhealthy relationship throughout the show. Kelso is portrayed as the “dumb” friend and does not know how to maintain a relationship whereas Jackie is seen as a very sassy stereotypical woman who closely conforms to gender stereotypes. The author describes Jackie as “… the typical, overly feminine stereotypical girl we often see when young women are represented within popular culture. She is depicted as being conceited, selfish and often times very vain.” Jackie is very much spoiled by her rich parents and gets angry when things do not go her way. She states her goals as being a model and a mom. She strives for Kelso to spoil her like her parents do, and when she realizes that he does not have a lot of money she makes him pick up a job in order to buy her something nice for Valentine’s Day. She tells him “you need to make some cash and buy me something nice.” Kelso treats Jackie with no respect as he constantly cheats on her and at one point is dating both Jackie and Laurie, Eric’s sister. He blames this on his sexual drive and how he is unable to control himself. The boys in their friend group are constantly objectifying Jackie’s body and make comments towards Kelso about how her body compares to others. They consistently tell Kelso that he should break up with her and date someone with a better body. A while after Jackie and Kelso broke up he has a one night stand with a girl named Brooke and ends up getting her pregnant. Kelso completely detaches sex from romance and love which leads to him making so many bad decisions. His character stems from the free love culture of the 1970s. When Brooke meets Kelso’s friends she asks “so how do you all know each other?” That’s when Jackie explains how she and Kelso dated for three years and Hyde adds in how he stole her from him. This is when Kelso states “Nah, nah, you never could have stolen her if I didn’t cheat on her first… that sounds a lot worse than what it is. I only cheated on her with Eric’s sister, and the rest of the girls when we were on a break because I annoyed her. But none of those were sisters except the two that were sisters.” Brooke explains how big of a mistake this was and Kelso tries to save himself by saying “No, Brooke, wait… I’ve been with a lot of chicks, a lot… a lot… a lot.” Kelso has no respect for women and is completely careless with his words as he does not care how they affect others. The title of that episode is “I’m A Boy” which is insinuating Kelso should be excused from his actions because he is a boy and he has desires that he cannot control.