Tag Archive for "Television"

Posts Tagged Television

GLAAD Report: TV got less LGBT this year

Yesterday, GLAAD released their annual report on LGBT representation on TV. And the numbers ain’t that great: after steady increases over the past few years, the number of LGBT characters on network television has dropped. They will make up 2.9% of scripted series regular characters this season, down from 3.9% last year. Cable’s regular characters number has dropped a bit as well, though an increase in LGBT recurring characters means there will be close to the same number of total queer characters. Which isn’t great, considering the number of characters should be increasing a lot each year if we really want to be seeing improvements in representation.

When we start to look at intersectional identities the numbers get even worse. ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 12 years ago

A character on Grey’s Anatomy had an abortion

*spoiler alert*

As a long-time advocate for showing abortion on television and a devoted Grey’s Anatomy fan (seriously, I even stuck with it through the ill-advised supernatural turn), I was thrilled about what happened on last week’s season premiere. It was one of those rare television events: a character actually got an abortion.

She didn’t just consider it. She didn’t have a miscarriage at the last minute. She didn’t talk about it in hushed euphemisms. She said the word. Other people said it. She didn’t even do it off-screen. They showed her in the stirrups and the doctor even talked about numbing her cervix. And although all that happens every day to real women across the country, it has hardly ever ...

*spoiler alert*

By Miriam • 12 years ago

The new fall TV season is dominated by women

Studio 360 has a new article about gender in the fall TV lineup and it’s good news for women actors:

The new fall TV season is upon us and there’s a not so subtle subtext: women rule.

The primetime lineup is dominated by new half-hour comedies featuring women in the lead roles, including HBO’s much anticipated Girls and network sitcoms New Girl starring Zooey Deschanel (FOX), Two Broke Girls (CBS) and Whitney (NBC).

Of course, women in leading roles doesn’t mean the shows themselves don’t still play off the same sexist stereotypes we’ve come to know and hate. As an added bonus (not), all the leading ladies are also white, skinny and able-bodied.

The “romantic vulnerability” that ...

Studio 360 has a new article about gender in the fall TV lineup and it’s good news for women actors:

The new fall TV season is upon us and there’s a not so subtle subtext: women rule.

The ...

By Jos Truitt • 12 years ago

White men win big at the Emmys

The Primetime Emmys aired last night, and it was another big win for white dudes (and not just because of the appearance of every feminist’s favorite person, Charlie Sheen). Out of 25 categories presented last night white guys won all the individual awards that weren’t in lady-only categories (they swept writer/director awards but failed to capture Best Supporting Actress).

Awards like those for the best Comedy and Drama are given out to writing or producing teams, and a few women managed to make it on stage there. However, all the winning teams had men billed first, and on teams of 10-15ish people there were typically about 2 women.

Racialicious has a breakdown of the Emmy numbers by race, and those are ...

By Courtney • 12 years ago

So you think you can perform gender?

There’s no question that So You Think You Can Dance? has bandied about its share of unexamined racist and ableist stereotypes and sometimes objectified and oversexualized women in bizarre ways, but I also think it’s one of the most experimental mainstream shows on television when it comes to gender and expression. It feels as if both men and women get a very wide range of options, thanks in large part to such talented, innovative choreography, when relating to and performing their masculinity and femininity. A recent number, performed by the two top contenders for this season’s crown–Sasha and Melanie–is a prime example. Check it:

How fierce was that? I hope a million little girls and boys are watching this show ...

By Courtney • 12 years ago

So you think you can perform gender?

How fierce was that? I hope a million little girls and boys are watching this show ...

By zerlina • 12 years ago

Amy Winehouse and the bystander effect

“The bystander effect [] is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present. The probability of help has in the past been thought to be inversely related to the number of bystanders; in other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help.”

For years we watched the late Amy Winehouse on her downward spiral into addiction and self-destruction. In her first single off her international smash hit album, Back to Black, Winehouse sang a catchy tune about not wanting to go to rehab. She won a Grammy, ...

By Chloe Angyal • 12 years ago

“This would not happen if I had a penis!”

The Emmy nominations were announced today (by Bridesmaids’ Melissa McCarthy, who was also nominated, and seems to be having quite the year!). I was thrilled to see that Amy Poehler was nominated for her work on Parks and Rec, where she plays an unabashed feminist by the name of Leslie Knope. When asked about her inspiration for the character, Poehler has described her as “part Girl Scout, part pioneer,” and said that Knope has “a very suffragette spirit.”

It’s also exciting to see Poehler nominated alongside Tina Fey, her close friend, former colleague on Saturday Night Live and fellow feminist comedy lady person. One of the greatest things about Fey’s book, Bossypants, is the way she writes ...