Real women aren't on TV
At least not many of them, says NOW study, as it slams lots of network shows
By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/4/2002
NBC's The West Wing and Law & Order, CBS's Judging Amy and UPN's Girlfriends portray women as "smart, resourceful and in charge," while such shows as NBC's Fear Factor, ABC's The Bachelor and The Drew Carey Show, and UPN's WWE Smackdown! show women as objects to be "ogled, used and demeaned," according to the National Organization for Women's (NOW) third annual feminist report on prime time television.
Although the Washington, D.C.-based organization had many positive things to say about many shows, it also believes network television could do a better job of reflecting real American women.
"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," says Kim Gandy, president of the NOW Foundation. "Television remains very much a man's world, with women primarily serving as 'eye candy.'"
NOW hired more than 80 teams of "feminist field analysts," the organization said, each to review a night of a network's regularly scheduled prime time programming, for a total of 107 shows. Each team then reported on the shows watched, noting specific criteria: gender composition and diversity, violence, sexual exploitation, and social responsibility. The NOW Foundation compiled the results, assigning a score to each show and using these scores to grade the networks in each category.
"Violence is still far too prevalent on TV, and sexual exploitation has reached a new low on programs like ABC's The Bachelor, NBC's Fear Factor and the upcoming Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on CBS," Gandy said. "TV bigwigs are using the incredible power of the medium to get rich by serving up an adolescent boy's fantasy world. Women and girls deserve better."
Overall, NOW estimated CBS to be the most responsible network, winning high marks in all categories. In gender composition, UPN and CBS had the highest scores, while ABC and Fox had the lowest. In violence, CBS and WB were graded to have the least, Fox and NBC the most. CBS and NBC showed the least amount of sexual exploitation of women, while UPN and WB showed the most, according to the report. And CBS scored the highest on social responsibility, with the other five networks "far behind," NOW said.
