Prejudices on TV

Jackie Mason | November 4, 2003
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Anna Gregoline | November 4, 2003
I find that one surprising because the prevailing bias is probably that guys buy more computer stuff than girls - so why insult them?

Erik Bates | November 4, 2003
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Scott Hardie | November 4, 2003
I'm glad someone else is noticing it, as in maybe I'm not paranoid. I would like to point out that when I first brought this up, I didn't mean to imply that it's one-sided. Women are portrayed badly in commercials too, most predominantly in those ridiculous beer commercials that thrive on the transgression of sexism. The bashing of women seems limited to commercials for specific products, however, while the bashing of men seems to apply to a spectrum.

Kris Weberg | November 5, 2003
I'm surprised no one's mentioned sitcoms, in whicht he "dopey, arrogant guy is bailed out/showed up by female companion" has been a central premise, let alone plot, for the vast bulk of shows since the early 1980s. I think it has more to do with the kinds of gender stereotypes in comedy -- jokes about women tend, traditionally, to be overtly nasty and demeaning, painting their targets as unintelligent or immoral*; jokes about men usually skewer their perceived arrogance and aggression, traits most of us agree deserve a good puncturing. Given that most commercials do use humor, I can see why this trend would be growing, and why it's been a trend in other strains of comedy for so long.
* I'm not arguing that either stereotype of women or men is necessarily correct; I'm simply pointing out that sexist humor about women seems more genuinely and deeply misogynist than sexist humor about men seems misandrist. I do believe, however, that the historical direction of most sexism towards the disenfranchisement of women informs this tendency in both types of sexist humor. And yes, when an entire gender is targeted by a joke, the joke is sexist, regardless of how innocuous that bias is or of the historical-cultural context of the joke. Wow. I think I've killed the laughter again.

Kris Weberg | November 5, 2003
Whoops, in my footnote, please substitute "however innocuously framed that bias is" where the original reads "however innocuous that bias is."

Erik Bates | November 5, 2003
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Scott Hardie | November 5, 2003
Good points, Kris. When sitcoms do joke about women, the jokes are only about those specific characters - Roseanne Connor being too domineering or Rebecca Howe being too gullible - while jokes about men seem more generalized. Then again, maybe those are bad examples, because the men on those shows were specific caricatures. There are rare sitcoms on the air today (Frasier? Friends? Becker?) whose characters are not generalizations. Indeed, Ray Romano's ability to play a likeable everyman was credited for his record-breaking contract with CBS.

And what of the trend towards beautiful women paired with unattractive men? Still Standing. According to Jim. I'm with Her. Average Joe. Yes Dear. Is it that male viewers want the wish fulfillment of having beautiful wives? Or that female viewers want to be imagined as beautiful? Either way, the burden of beauty is definitely on one gender and off the other.