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Paige Johnson

Rhetoric and Civic Life

Generations of Sticking It to The Man

The Representation of Women in Television Throughout History

Men act and women appear. This is a direct quote from John Bergers book, Ways of

Seeing where he discusses how women are represented and objectified in art throughout history.

He proceeds by saying, Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This

determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to

themselves. Thus, she turns herself into an object (Berger). While Berger uses his book to

examine women in art, the same can be said for women in the television industry. Contrary to

traditional art, womens representation in television has shifted along with the culture. While

artists can be found painting naked women in any given era, todays gemale television characters

widely differ from their predecessors. While looking at our history, we can correlate the shifts of

womens representation in TV sitcoms with the feminist movement during the corresponding era.

As women in politics continued to make strides in social issues, women in entertainment found

themselves being given more and more dynamic characters.

The idea of feminism has been around since the 1800s when both men and women

sought equality for women, particularly in terms of womens suffrage. Since then, many different

waves of feminism have been born, each pertaining to different social issues. However, the exact

timeframes of these different waves are up to interpretation. Numerous theories exist on how

many waves have actually occurred in American history and what event was the birthplace for

each wave. For the sake of argument and confusion, this paper will examine each wave as

Martha Rampton of Pacific University has laid out. She sees there being four distinct waves of
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feminism, as opposed to the common idea of three waves, with one wave having two separate

phases (Rampton). Also, this paper will omit the first wave of feminism from its research due to

the sole fact that this wave occurred before the introduction to the television industry and

therefor does not pertain to this research.

THE KITSCH LIFE OF WOMEN IN TELEVISION PRIOR TO AND DURING THE

SECOND WAVE OF FEMINISM

The second wave of feminism was active during the early sixties to the mid-eighties. The context

of this wave included civil rights movements, anti-war ideals and the consciousness to a variety

of minority groups. During this wave of feminism, activists of all races and classes fought issues

such as the Miss America Pageant and the Roe vs. Wade trial on abortion rights. This wave

fought to end the patriarchy and sexism for all women and introduced us to famous feminists

such as Gloria Steinem (Rampton).

Prior to the second wave of feminism, when televisions were in the early stages of being

installed into homes across the country, shows such as I Love Lucy, which ran throughout the

fifties and Leave it to Beaver, which ran quickly after, became very popular. The women in these

sitcoms were pictured as the ideal housewife. They spent their days cooking, cleaning and

attending to their motherly duties. Frequently, the women in shows such as these would be found

placing a pie on the window sill to cool while wearing an apron that silhouetted her thin frame

and inconveniently high heels. Soon after, their husband would walk in the door and awaited

pampering from his little wife after a long day in the office. The women in these sitcoms

maintained perfection and went through little to no character development.

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Later, while second wave feminists were fighting for equality, television industries were

producing famous shows such as The Brady Bunch, Bewitched and The Carol Brunette Show.

Although these sitcoms started appearing on televisions during the second wave, they still

featured the kitsch, perfect lifestyle. Today, each of these series are considered classic, and are

perceived as good, wholesome television but in reality, they were also completely unrealistic to

the times. The Brady Bunch was a show that idolized the perfect family and marriage. However,

Mimi Marinucci found in her research that in 1974, the year The Brady Bunch ended, the divorce

rate was 4.6 per 1,000 people per year (Marinucci). When carefully exaimened, The Brady

Bunch, and other shows of its time, were filled with sexist messages.These messages however,

were hidden under the idea of the perfect American family, allowing the messages to go

unnoticed completely.

As the wave progressed, the entertainment industry started to listen to what the feminists

were fighting for, and started to shift the content of its current franchises. Once again, taking The

Brady Bunch, episodes were included to reflect such social issues. An episode titled The

Liberation of Marcia Brady aired not long after the National Organization of Women was

formed (Marinucci). Despite attempts such as these, the industry as a whole found they were

unable to shift the themes of their current productions in order to conform to the new social

norms, so one by one, series that featured the ideal housewife died off, and new shows that

included women in the workplace were on every channel.

DYNAMIC FEMALE CHARACTERS DURING THE THIRD WAVE OF FEMINISM

After the television industry finally started listening to the activists, television characters and

plots slowly started shifting to appease the new normal. The third wave of feminism, which

lasted during the mid-eighties until the earlier 2000s, consisted of women who were strong, bold
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and empowered. This particular wave was the birth-place of the stereotype of the angry feminist

as numerous feminists made sure their voice was heard at any cost. This group of feminists

believed that a women could wear high-heels or a push-up bra and still be considered an

intellect; that they could be mothers and still be successful in their profession (Rampton).

Attempting to learn from their mistakes, the television industry took what the world was

telling them and started featuring female characters with stronger characteristics. During this

time, sitcoms such as Charlies Angels, The Golden Girls, The Cosby Show and Rosanne started

airing. Charlies Angels and The Golden Girls were a part of the first shows who featured strong

female protagonists. The firsts plot centering around three women and their job as private

investigators and The Golden Girls story was that of four, older, imperfect, single-women and

their friendships and experiences with one another. The Cosby Show and Roseanne featured

women who were not only mothers and professionals, but were also previously seen as a

minority in television. Clair Huxtable is a strong, confident, bilingual black woman who is not

only a loving mother to five strong children, four being girls, but also is a very successful lawyer.

Roseanne is an out-spoken, sarcastic, overweight mother who helps her family overcome poverty

by taking jobs wherever and wherever she can. Bonnie J. Dow speaks on Roseanne by saying,

Roseanne as a sitcom offers a great deal of feminist commentary within the context of a nuclear

family. It has also been praised by feminists precisely because it avoids idealizing family life

(Dow).

These women would have never made it onto the TV screens if it were not for what the

second and third wave feminists fought so hard for. The sitcoms during the third wave were some

of the best in television history. They were humorous, witty and heartwarming while still

remaining family-friendly. If they did contain questionable content, the shows wouldnt play
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until later at night when kids were asleep. They are series that not only do people still watch

today, but they still frequently discuss them in conversation. These shows are examples of good

quality television, and they all ran for numerous years because of it. Finally, after some shifting

of ideas, the industry had found the perfect combination for successful television. Yet, todays

shows do not resemble these classics in any way, shape or form.

DIFFERENT BATTLE, SAME WAR DURING THE FOURTH WAVE OF FEMINSIM

The fourth and current wave of feminism, is formed by women living in post 9/11 America. This

generation of feminists are taking after their grandmothers and great-grandmothers and fighting

for equality. They are having conversations and working together towards the equality for all

men and women, fighting for issues such as the lack of women in government positions and the

current wage gap between men and women. They are staying true to their beliefs, and through

the use of technology and social media, are spreading the awareness globally and are making

great strides because of it.

After their streak of continuous success, one would think that the television industry

would continue to produce strong, female protagonists. However, it seems the industry was

getting too comfortable and bored with its products and, therefore, started to take more risks.

While female characters are still becoming increasingly popular, the amount of self-respect,

healthy body-images and strength in these characters are decreasing greatly. Shows during this

wave include, Sex in the City, Desperate Housewives, American Horror Story and Keeping Up

with the Kardashians. While these shows are widely different, they all share similar

characteristics. They all use excessive language, an uncomfortable amount of on-screen sex and

unrealistic body standards. Todays shows are degrading to women. As said in the documentary,

Miss Representation, More than 70% of women on TV are in their 20s and 30s. A male
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dominant system values women as child bearers so it limits their value to the time that they are

sexually and reproductively active and they become much less valuable after that (Miss

Representation) The actresses are also forced to fit a certain body type and wear clothing that is

unnecessarily sexual, no matter the cost.

The entire industry has taken numerous steps back away from progress. In fact, we are

right back to where we were at the birth of television. We have gone back to unrealistic standards

and roles of women. Instead of the perfect housewife, todays women in television are seen as

sexual objects who lack any real dynamics. The story-plot of these women often center around

the womens need for a man and their pursuit to get that man. Desperate Housewives, although

primarily women, centers around these unstable, yet conveniently attractive, women and their

lives as wives and mothers and it also includes a prominent white, middle class bias (Press). In

terms of sexual content, there seems to be no limit as to what the industry can do. They can force

their actresses to undergo surgeries to fit a certain mold, and shows such as American Horror

Story, includes violent and graphic sex scenes with little to no reprimands for it for the sole

reason that sex sells.

As we have looked throughout history, we have found the changes in how women are

represented in television. We, as women, are no longer stuck in the perfect housewife mold, but

instead are perceived as sexual objects and again, women who lack depth. Even though women

are not wearing high heels in the kitchen any longer, they now are found constantly maintaining

a new type of perfection, one that the industry is forcing on its viewers. The problem with

todays television is, despite how much we enjoy watching the shows, they are damaging the

future of this country. With the average teenager being exposed to media for over ten hours a day,

media that objectifies women and their bodies, it is no wonder that rate of depression in girls and
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women have doubled in just ten years. As stated in the film, Miss Representation, 53% of 12-

year-old girls and 78% of 17-year-old girls feel unhappy with their bodies, and 65% of women

and girls in America have an eating disorder (Miss Representation). These statistics are

terrifying, and unless actions are taken to clean up television and promote healthy body images

and self-esteems through it, these numbers will continue to rise.

Girls today have become accustomed to seeing themselves as objects. What Berger said

in regards to the art he observed now directly applies to television as well. Men act. Women

Appear (Berger). Girls who do fall to self-objectification are more likely to become depressed,

have low confidence and even lower grade-point averages in school. It is time we stop letting the

television industry get away with harming todays girls. We have seen how powerful feminists

have been in changing the television industry throughout the course of history. Second-wave

feminists got us out of the kitchen, and into the work force, now it is our turn to get us out of the

fad of objectification and force the entertainment industry to take us as we all are, strong,

different and imperfect.

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Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. British Broadcasting Corporation / Penguin Books, 1972.

Dow, Bonnie J. Prime Time Feminism. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.

Miss Representation, Dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsome. Girls Club Entertainment, 2011. DVD.

Marinucci, Mimi. "Television, Generation X, And Third Wave Feminism: A Contextual Analysis

Of The Brady Bunch." Journal Of Popular Culture 38.4 (2005): 505-524. Women's

Studies International. Web. 29 Oct. 2016

Press, Andrea. Gender and Family in Televisions Golden Age and Beyond. The Annals of the

American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 625, 2009, pp. 139150.

Rampton, Martha. Four Waves of Feminism. Pacificu.edu. 25 Oct. 2015. Web. 29 Oct 2016.