By Lisa Fary
What’s that? There’s a lack of “male-friendly” choices on television? Or is that just the sound of commercial and cultural dominance flushing away?
The source of my rage is a comment in the Ain’t It Cool News talkback for Defying Gravity, which led me this guy’s original post on another site. A post that can pretty much be summed up like so:
Too many women talking on my TV!!!! Make it the 1950s again! I want my bitch in the kitchen and my gay son in the closet!
Pretty much.
Note: it’s actually John who found this in a talkback on AICN. I don’t read those talkbacks because most of them are obnoxious, moronic, and misogynistic. Had John not drawn my attention to it, I’m not likely to have seen it. Sometimes, it’s like throwing raw steak to a lion.
Which I am now throwing to you. Go ahead. Read it and come back. I’ll wait.
The real summary of the post in question is that television today is a “female-gay ghetto” that increasingly isolates male viewers in its lack of male-friendly programming. The post’s author, Whiskey, defines male-friendly, non-female skewing programs: few female roles, not much concern for relationships and other things women viewers like to see. Shows like The A-Team.
Interestingly, he (I’m assuming it’s a he) also named Smallville and Supernatural as non-female skewing programs and I’m not so sure that’s the case. Legions of women watch those shows, particularly Supernatural. No one can tell me (and be accurate) that Supernatural doesn’t have few female roles, lots of action and gore, and other typically “male-friendly” qualities.
He goes on to say that the networks’ emphasis on female viewers over male viewers has made television dull, predictable, and (egads!) PC and multicultural. Because nothing says “male-friendly” like a bunch of white guys and racial/ gender stereotypes. And boobs. You can’t forget boobs (but only if the mouth stays shut).
If networks are aggressively targeting women, there’s a reason for it: there are more of us than there are of you. The US Census Bureau says so (keep in mind, these are from 2006):
Total population: 298,757,310
Male: 147,129,583
Female: 151,627,727
To put that in perspective, the 1950 US Census counted a TOTAL of just over 151 million people in the United States. There are more women in the US NOW than there were total people in the USA 50 years ago.
And, damn it, we should have stuff to watch.
Now, let’s look at the non-white population comprised of both men and women (estimate):129,453,341
Non-white folks should have stuff to watch, too. Even better is if the casting is reflective of the society in which we live. Television can be a powerful medium in the fight for social understanding. When young viewers see negative stereotypes on screen, it reinforces whatever intolerant bigotry they’re learning from someone else. So, the shift isn’t purely demographic – whether networks intend it or not, it’s a step toward social responsibility.
If only it was always done well.
But, I’m off on that PC, multicultural, relationship, womany stuff. Let’s do some selective point-by-point (post text in italics) of some of the post author’s responses to comments:
Oops forgot to add Sci-Fi is a tough one. Shows like Battlestar Galactica have more women than men watching. Not surprising, given the “edgy/dark” plotlines and soap opera relationships, compared to say the straight-ahead adventure sci-fi of Stargate and the very masculine Richard Dean Anderson.
Ummm. . . notice the lack of hot Cylon guys (I never did get to see Anders naked in a tub of goo). Notice the availability of hot babes who like to do it. You know. It. BSG totally engaged in male-fantasy fulfillment and the systematic degradation of women. And, BTW, the post’s author has obviously not watched Stargate for any length of time.
There is no “conspiracy” to depict White guys as the font of all evil, this was the natural outcome of self-seeking agents hired to run media giants and appealing to second/third generation creators (like Whedon/Abrams) who are deeply socially isolated, contemptous of most ordinary people, and pandering to a mostly female/yuppie audience because it’s easy and comfortable and there’s no emphasis on profits.
And yes, entertainment has been male oriented until recently. Most novels were written for and by men, women’s concerns were only addressed by Austen.
OK. Dude. Start off by getting a basic literary education. There were numerous women writers before Jane Austen and plenty of middle class/ upper class/ aristocratic women to read them. Regarding Joss and JJ, that’s just. . . . I’ll just let that nugget stand on its own.
Not to mention. . .
The WORLD has been male oriented until recently. You got TWO MILLENNIA of world domination. What else do you want?
I’m going to say the same two things that I say to everyone else:
- Bitch with your viewership and your money. Seriously. We can say whatever we want to online, but it’s not bloody likely that those in charge will read it or act on it. Ratings and money is what gets attention.
- If you have a problem with what you see in the media, make your own damn entertainment. Get a camcorder, learn how to build a website, and make your own male-friendly webseries with all the scantily-clad, subservient, sexually available bimbettes you want. You’ll at least be acting to solve the problem.
The given definition of “male-friendly” is like Sarah Palin’s idea of “real” Americans – only acknowledging one notion of what it is, rather than accepting the reality that there are numerous types (not to mention accepting that diversity trumps sameness). Networks ignoring that one idea of “manly” didn’t ruin television. The world has changed and continues to do so; entertainment changes with it.
Now, I’m sure there’s some porn or a mixed martial arts tournament airing somewhere. Have fun.
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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
I just replied to that guy's post. ARGH. I can't believe someone alive and watching television TODAY wrote that.
Considering his statements about Smallville, Supernatural, BSG and Stargate, I wonder if he really is watching TV, or simply responding to statistics (real and made-up) about it. I imagine he watches a lot of action flicks.
BTW, loved your comments on Hamlet!
Blogs and thoughts like that can easily be summed up with this phrase: "But who will think of the white men?" Cause, really, who will? I mean, no one is thinking about them, ever. They are so totally the minority. I can't believe I never realized that. Wow. All this time, no one has been looking out for the white man, and they've just been limping along trying to survive with 99.9% of privilege instead of the full 100%. That's tough. I should have thought of them. That must be agony. Oh dear. I must go make Whiskey a sandwich. A sandwich made up of my tears over the pure AGGGGOOOONY he must experience on a daily basis.
That's the accepted manly way of experiencing feelings: eating them in a sandwich with a Bud Light to wash it down.
I… Wow. That's just… I almost didn't dare go read the original post. (And I only got as far as the first few anti-Semitic comment before I had to stop.)
As a Stargate fan, I can tell that this guy doesn't spend any time in online fora and has never attended a convention. If he did, he'd know that the fanbase for his precious "straight ahead… very masculine" series is most decidedly skewed towards The Wimmins. At a convention I attended a few years ago, the audience was probably 60-70% female, and a lot of the men were there with wives / girlfriends and kids. In fact, his complaints about TV's lack of "explosions and CGI" makes me wonder if he's watched any episodes of either Stargate series at all. Those guys love to blow sh*t up.
…to be continued.
continued…
And Smallville and Supernatural are boy shows? Really?! Both of those shows have been pandering to their largely female fanbases for years. Heck, Smallville used to be part of what was referred to by viewers as the WB's "Hoyay Wednesday" lineup when it was paired with the last couple seasons of Angel, and the writers deliberately played up the gay subtext between the leading men on both shows. Round about season 5, it was almost as gay-friendly as Torchwood.
Of the networks he listed as "male oriented", I often watch History, Discovery, NatGeo, USA, and Spike. Not so much with the Lifetime, WE, and Oxygen, and the only thing I watch on Showtime is Dexter, which I imagine he'd classify as a "male-friendly" show, what with it being about a sociopathic serial killer and all. I will admit to loving Food Network, but so does my brother and so did our dad. We're a family that likes food. Also, while I'm not a football fan (I'm a hockey girl.), I have several female friends who are, and several straight male friends who aren't. On the whole, it sounds like he's rather entrenched in the so-called "cult of masculinity".
…to be continued, again.
continued, again…
It's pretty insulting how Mr. Whiskey and several of the commenters assume that women don't use the internet, as well. Hell, with the network programming log-jam on Monday nights last season, I had to watch shows on Hulu just to keep up with all the shows I enjoy, but go there all the time anyway. Listening to episodes of shows I like in the background while I'm working makes tedious data entry a lot less painful and Hulu means that I don't have to tote my DVDs around. [/tangent]
::sigh:: See what you've done, Lisa? You got me all worked up and rant-y. ;p
That tells me that those guys either live in a rural area where there is no access to high speed or they don't interact with women very often. That said though, there are still a lot of women who shy away from the internet (I work with many of them – we usually have nothing to talk about). I'm not referring to any studies, just what I've encountered in my real life (my life in Earth as my nephews would say). But, even though they're around, I'd like to think they're the minority.
I think he classified Dexter as an edgy female-skewing show because the serial killer was the hero. Who knew "male-friendly" was such a narrow field? I thought all it took was explosions, boobs, and a candy bar.
SPN is not a guy oriented show, sorry. Sure there is gore and explosions and that type of stuff but seriously: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. The tagline for the show is "scary just got sexy." And even though Jensen Ackles lips/mouth probably has appeal for both sexes, I can assure you it ain't the men that the publicity people are trying to target.
Lisa, you ROCK, girl!!!!!!!
I enjoy that site for the increasing stupidity of the posts but am more saddened by it than anything else. They banter back and forth about things, but its the equivalent of screaming at a brick wall.
However, the fact that people are so backwards-egads.
Probably doesn't want women on his TV because he barely knows what to do with a living one in the first place.
In other words, Lisa- go kick his frakkin' arse-
if my very limited background serves me, hasn't TV always been aimed more towards the female viewer because of the perception that they spend a family's money? Seems so on Mad Men(i realize that it's a tv show). I'm not complaining, per say, because I'll watch any show really. Though, cartoons, when I grew up, seemed to be squarely marketed towards "males." I could be wrong.