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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
Since the 1960s, women have been portrayed on television in a number of different ways, from brash and empowered heroines of shows like 'The Avengers' to demure and careful familial serial depiction. More than any other decade since the advent of television, though, the 1990s have marked definitive trends in the representations of women that are perhaps the most offensive in television history. This 8 page paper considers the issue of the depiction of women on television, particularly women in television situation comedies, and considers the implications for a societal view of women. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
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8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Womentv.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Since the 1960s, women have been portrayed on television in a number of different ways, from brash and empowered heroines of shows like "The Avengers" to demure and careful
familial serial depiction. More than any other decade since the advent of television, though, the 1990s have marked definitive trends in the representations of women that are perhaps the
most contradictory in television history. While Emma Peels heroine in "The Avengers" and Ertha Kits Catwoman on the series "Batman" demonstrated that women could break away from standard stereotypes
(DAcci and Smith, 1994), the situation comedies of the 1990s have not only placed women back into a position subjugated to men, but have actually systematically promoted the view of
women as sexual objects, placing a higher value on their breast implants than on their capacity for rational discourse. Though many situation comedies also depict working women in
successful careers, career women on a number of prime time weekday situation comedies are rarely portrayed as simply smart, or career-minded or enthusiastic; these characteristics are almost always complemented with
overactive sex drives, a lack of understanding for behavioral consequences, and unrealistic views on society and human interactions. Even in family situations on evening sitcoms, the depiction of
men and women and their roles in the family are clearly defined by social stereotypes. In general, gender stereotypes have been sustained within the television industry and in general,
only 3% of men are assigned household chores on television, while 20% of women must participate in some kind of familial or household activity (Media Report to Women, 1993).
In addition, "14% of adult TV characters are over age 50, compared with 38% of the nations adult population and just 26 of 820 adult TV characters had children over
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