Women's lobby blasts sexism in prime time
Tuesday, October 29, 2002 Posted: 11:42 AM EST (1642 GMT)
Story
Tools
HOLLYWOOD, California (Reuters) -- The National Organization for
Women decried the six major networks as catering to an "adolescent
boy's fantasy world" in its third annual report on how women are
portrayed on prime-time TV, Variety reports.
According to the "Feminist Primetime Report," the six networks employed 134 more
men than women in recurring primetime roles and the majority of the female
characters presented fell into the "Jennifer Aniston" standard of beauty: "young, thin
and white." The study notes that only four Asian-American actresses had substantial
roles on primetime.
"Network programming sends a distorted, often offensive image of women, girls and
people of color brought to you through the point-of-view of white men and boys," said
NOW Foundation president Kim Gandy. "Television remains very much a man's
world, with women serving primarily as eye candy."
More than 80 teams of "feminist field analysts" watched primetime programming
throughout spring 2002 and graded them based on the criteria of gender
composition and diversity, violent content, sexual exploitation and social
responsibility.
Five shows earned "A+" marks: CBS' "Judging Amy" and the canceled "The Ellen
Show," UPN's "Girlfriends" and NBC's "ER" and the recently canceled "Providence."
Grades of "F" went to: ABC's "The Bachelor," NBC's "Fear Factor," and the short-lived,
limited run Colin Quinn variety skein "New York Live," Fox's canceled "Titus" and
UPN's "WWE Smackdown!"
Representatives of several networks said they had not seen the report yet, and
therefore could not comment on it.
cnn.com |
