sexism?
There’s a new TV show starting on Channel 10 – Taken Out. From what I can tell from the promos, one guy stands in a room while 30 women stand opposite and rate him out of 10 for his looks and what he’s wearing.
Not sexist, apparently.
But imagine for a second what the show would be like if the roles were reversed – let’s put one woman out the front and have 30 males stand opposite and rate her out of 10 for her looks and what she’s wearing. How do you reckon that would go down? I’m pretty sure there would be yelling and screaming about sexism and degrading of women, and the media would go crazy with it.
Here’s a good definition of sexism: take a situation in which there’s a male and a female and reverse the roles they’re playing; would the people now be treated differently that the roles have been reversed? If yes, then it’s sexist.
Time to get off my soap-box.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
This show sounds really crap! I think it is awful setting up situations of judgement like this, and so much of the media does it. My advice is “turn the TV off!” However, i would just say that it can be a good thing for those in more powerful groups to experience the discrimination those in less powerful groups are regularly subjected to. The fact that you are responding with outrage shows how dreadful this practice of turning humans into objects to be rated according to their appearance is. This is done to women routinely, so much so it is almost invisible.
August 29th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Totally agree, Stella. It really is disgusting how much people turn women into objects. And I get really sad when I see women actually encouraging it.
It’s not how it should be.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:54 am
James my lad, you seem to be forgetting than men are acceptable targets.
On television, women can hit men but men can’t hit women because it isn’t right for men to hit women. When you have an attractive woman on television, her husband must be really ugly; likewise all men are perverts. Fathers must be portrayed as either incompotent or lazy and their wives must be morally superior. Then there is the age old theory that men don’t cry because if they do, they’re less manly.
Other acceptable targets include rich people, the clergy, christians generally, politicians, and anyone else in any authority at all.
September 26th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
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