There aren’t many things I know about feminism….or many things I know in general. But one thing I have a firm grasp on is entertainment, more specifically television shows. Last night my roommates and I watched The Bachelor, a show I am still ashamed to admit I watch weekly. The series focuses on a single man who meets a pool of interested single females and throughout a course of a few months, he eliminates girls one by one until he proposes to his potential fiancée.
When we’re not watching The Bachelor we keep the TV on MTV, which ironically is not Music Television anymore. Shows that air on MTV are supposed to appeal to a younger audience: Teen Mom, Buckwild, Awkward, Jersey Shore and more. Each of these shows revolves around Sex/Relationships, Drinking, Partying, or in some way all three. At night, when we all sit in the living room to do our homework, we spend our time flipping between MTV, E! News Channel and any show that one of us may be addicted to at the time.
I had to ask myself, because I have watched these shows and with interest, does that mean those 3 themes are the only things I’m interested in? To make matters worse, one of my favorite shows of all time was Desperate Housewives, a show that revolved around 4 women who were constantly involved in romance, drama, mystery and more romance. These characters were consistently in and out of relationships and, at times, would even fight each other over the same men.
My roommates aren’t the only ones that sit and watch with us. My roommate’s boyfriend will watch with us when he comes over, and some of our other guy friends. And although they’ll fight with us and argue that they don’t want to watch, they become just as enthralled as the rest of us.
So why am I going on and on about how much television my roommates and I and all my friends watch? Because obviously I have to invest in a hobby and so do all my friends. But seriously, where do we find the time to know about all this? Yet, it’s not just us –
This nifty graph from a Nielson Report shows us that at least 114.7 million Americans own one television in their house. They also state that in 2012 the average American over 2 years old spent more than 34 hours per week watching television. And if these numbers mean nothing to you, imagine yourself sitting to watch television every single day from 12-5, because that is what this means! What is even more mind boggling is that this is an average – which means some people are watching even more television than that….
If a child goes to school from 8-3 Monday through Friday that’s about 35 hours per week, and if an adult goes to work from 9-5 Monday through Friday that’s about 40 hours per week. This means that the average amount of television is roughly equal to the average amount of time a child spends in school and an adult spends at work
Once again, what is the point of this lecture on television consumption? I think it is important to point out that the hours we spend getting an education and making a living is almost the same as the amount of time we spend watching TV.
This isn’t in some way trying to justify how much I know about television shows (okay, maybe a little) BUT it speaks volumes about where our ideas and interests stem from. If we are spending this much time on one medium of communication, would we not mold our thoughts about ourselves and our society around it?
Based on the shows I watch the most, my idea of society should be that every female is vying for the same man. We will win them over by either throwing ourselves at them, drinking and dancing like a fool or fighting with our neighbors to seem more like the girl next door. (Maybe I need to watch the Discovery Channel more often…)
Based on the shows you watch, what does your idea of society look like?
ShoutOut! James Madison University 
I think that your post speaks to the need of parents to help youth navigate a tumultuous culture. Watching these shows isn’t a problem unless one does not have the critical analysis skills to separate the ridiculous from reality. If enough people can identify and speak out against these negative portrayals, then media itself will change.
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Interesting look at how our society values tv. I have small vested interest in tv from it’s history to its effects, and to sum it all up I’ve resigned that I might not own a tv when I’m older.
In pop culture terms, tv programming is constantly remolding itself to become more competitive in ratings. Since around the year 2000 with the introduction of “Survivor” and others, the shift has been towards reality shows. Every year the envelope has been pushed to include more outrageous, scandalous, sexy, drama-filled, “real” content than ever before. A good example is looking at the MTV show “The Real World” from 10+ years ago and it’s progression to now. As the bar is constantly raised, so too is our desensitization to the programming, which unfortunately translates over to tv violence as well. I love me some “American Horror Story,” but good God there is some disturbing content on there that even sets me off. I remember reading that by the time children are 10 now, they’ve seen at least 10,000 graphic acts of violence on tv. Oh, and don’t get me started on comparing old and new Disney Channel, that’s a train wreck in itself.
The point is you’re right, what we as a society watches and how long we watch it is crazy. Not only is it grossly exaggerated and staged, but it often sends the completely wrong messages of how to live and act. From a feminist perspective, the messages we send to women and girls is way out of line. While some shows like “Next Top Model” give false impressions about body image, others like “Desperate Housewives” or “Grey’s Anatomy” portray misguided intentions, goals and roles of women in society. Given what our country shells out as programming, I shudder to think what other countries expect out of American society.
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We watch almost no TV. Downtown Abbey, some movies on HBO. The rest, from our point of view, is a waste of time.
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I agree! if you monitor the type of television you watch – then this will obviously alter your perception of television. Based on pop culture and popular television shows, the portrayal of women is usually shallow and misguided.
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