The Playboy Club was cancelled.
Okay, this happens. TV shows don't do well and they get canned. I get that. But what I don't understand is the shit fit that people were/are having about it being degrading and sexist. I mean, I guess intellectually I get it. I see their angle I just don't agree with it.
*Can* it be degrading to show women wearing skimpy clothes and being hit on by men?
Sure. Not arguing that. But I think the difference is in the attitude of the women and the portrayal (since this is fiction) of the reasons for them being there. Is it falling into the cliche of women who are only escorts/porn stars/exotic dancers/Bunnies/whatever because they have low self esteem and they need men to lust after them and take care of them to have value in their own or any other persons eyes?
Then it's degrading.
Is it degrading to show women who are doing their jobs because they like them? If the jobs just happen to have less clothing involved? I don't think so. One of the Bunnies was working there to pay for her medical degree because her father told her that 'women don't do that' and refused to help her like he would have a son. One of them was saving the money to buy land so she could have something that was hers. And there were other stories that we didn't get to see yet with depth to them.
Why is their method of earning money less valid than a woman who works waitressing? Or secretarial work or any other kind of job that a woman does? I don't think it is.
On the flip side, they're running a show where the woman is a hard boiled detective type in the place of The Playboy Club until the other replacement show is ready.
I want to know why it's not sexist and degrading to portray a woman who has to act and dress in a stereotypical 'male' fashion in order to get respect but it's degrading to portray women who are proud of their gender and their sexuality? They don't want to be men and they don't want to be kept pets. They just want to be given the same respect and opportunity as a man would be, no matter what the job that they choose is.
Why is it fair game to make women feel like they have to have a metaphorical penis before they can be equal?
/end wank
NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, this makes me furious. I wasn't even all that attached to the show, but just the fact that it was cancelled because of idiots who obviously didn't even give it a chance before freaking out over "OMG-PLAYBOY-HIDE-IT-FAST." *huffs*
Is it a demeaning job? Ehhhh, maybe. I'd hesitate to call it "empowering," and don't think all the women doing it are there because they're proud and sexually liberated. It's just that there aren't a lot of jobs open to women at the time. Pan Am isn't really much better, in terms of that. Heck, even Mad Men shows a lot of sexism.
So are there parts of these shows where women are degraded? ABSOLUTELY! It was part of the time and something women really had to go through, and you can't just sweep that under the rug! I loved the way all three of these shows dealt with it honestly and show the women having to overcome those obstacles. And I think it's important to show that honestly and see where we were, so we know how far we've come.
I think you said everything else a lot better than I would, so I'll just say ditto. :) And also, this bit was brilliant and really just sums up the whole thing perfectly:
I want to know why it's not sexist and degrading to portray a woman who has to act and dress in a stereotypical 'male' fashion in order to get respect but it's degrading to portray women who are proud of their gender and their sexuality?
Grow a freaking spine, NBC! ARGH!
Also, do you mind if I link to this on my Tumblr? I want to post a rant but you already said it so beautifully.
ReplyDeleteI didn't call it an 'empowering' job, because honestly? I don't think any job is empowering in and of itself. A person, man or woman, has to empower themselves. Do they have the confidence, the skills and the opportunities to attain whatever job they aim for? That's what matters, imho.
ReplyDeleteYou're right in that not all of the women on PC were there because it made them feel strong. There was one who said during the little 'interview' with Heff for who got to be the Playmate on the cover that she was there because it made her feel pretty. Is that a strong, noble thing? Eh. I don't think so. It's good that it makes her feel pretty, but I suspect that there's deeper issues along the lines of the whole self worth tied into men thing going on there.
My point is really that it's not all black and white one way or the other. Not all the women are there because they feel like it's what they deserve and not all of them are there because it's a stepping stone or they own their sexuality and that their sense of self worth isn't tied to sex. NBC and the people who were immediately down on the show because it was 'Playboy' and automatically 'degrading' didn't give the writers the chance to tell their story. We won't ever know if it was going to be a terrible cliche or if it was going to try to be realistic as it could be. I lean toward the later, but that absolutely could be wishful thinking on my part.
All three of the shows, like you said, they're portraying a different time. There weren't job opportunities like there are now. Women were limited in their choices. Was that wrong? Hell yeah. That doesn't mean that a show set in a historical setting can just rewrite reality. It was what it was. Deal with it and be thankful that you live in a time where your only choices *aren't* housewife, stewardess, secretary or dancer.
re: tumblr - go for it m'dear.
Oh, that actually wasn't aimed at you. :D Oops, sorry. I was just trying to take the opposite. Like, is it empowering? No. Is it demeaning? No. Like you said here, I was going for a middle ground, neither one or the other is inherently true. It matters more how it's handled, and in my opinion the show handled it well.
ReplyDeleteIt may be wishful thinking, but even in the one episode I saw, I saw it leaning towards the latter as well. They were doing a great job of telling the characters' stories, and that got a much greater focus than the supposedly demeaning job. The job is only there because it's what they do, it's part of their lives. Why wasn't Desperate Housewives banned if people are concerned about demeaning environments? It's life, it happens. It may not be the ideal, and maybe I'm not thrilled with the lifestyle shown in DH, but it's there and I don't get to demand it get taken down because it's not what I want for myself or what I want my kids to see one day. Just change the channel!
Thanks! :)
I wasn't sure! So I figured I'd just clarify in case it seemed like I was saying it was all sunshine and kittens or anything like that.
ReplyDeleteYou know what else annoys me on top of everything else about this? I was just about to talk about how great it was that they had a gay actor playing a gay character on a mainstream tv show and not playing it for laughs and then they go and cancel it the asshats.
Also, I'm going to be a terrible parent. I will let my kids watch/read *everything* and they will be traumatised by it I'm sure. Bed time story: Dracula. No lie. Terror will keep them in their beds!
ReplyDeleteHahaha...Awesome. See, I don't think that makes a bad parent. A couple of friends of mine got to watch all kinds of crazy stuff when they were in pre-school that I still wasn't allowed to watch in high school and for that matter had to hide from my parents in college. It didn't hurt them. I'm sure there's a balance to be had in there, but I still think keeping it open is preferable to "AHHH, IS THAT A MONSTER? DID HE JUST SAY 'DARN?' TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF!"
ReplyDelete:D
ReplyDeleteI was totally the kid who wasn't supposed to see anything with sex or violence in it. Like, I wasn't allowed to see Interview with the Vampire until my parents had 'reviewed' it. Which just meant that I watched it at a friends house and was all disappointed when there was only the one scene with the breasts.
And my parents had no idea that I was watching de-scrambled porn channels all day (I was homeschooled through most of high school) and reading terrible, filthy things on the internet. :D And they never checked my *books* for sex and/or violent content.