What characteristics are assigned to the female characters and what messages are being relayed about women?

Question

Thank you all for your imput it has really opened my eyes!!

I wish Ipick you all!

Answer 1

Frequently women are assumed not to know answers and to require men to tell them. We still have never had a female D.A. on Law & Order, and only recently have we had a female detective. Women are assumed to require intellectual assistance. We are also assumed to be devious creatures too cowardly to engage in rational, productive conflict resolution (Desperate Housewives).
The television shows "Charmed" and "Buffy" were a bit more elevated than most, but even they made it clear a woman's life couldn't withstand relationship troubles.
Oh, and the game shows. We are accessories for briefcases (Deal or No Deal), the equivalent of laser-pointers (Wheel of Fortune) and worse.
We'll see what happens, but I don't see teenyvision making it too much better.

Answer 2

dissertations have been written on the subject. recently we have been seeing more empowered and positive roles for women, but it seems almost impossible to escape stereotypes... even the positive roles always seem a little... held back. like you can have a strong woman as a side kick but not the lead. unless she's a babe that is...

one thing i've noticed; unless she's really old or comic relief, you will NEVER see an unattractive woman in movies or on TV. there are plenty of ugly male celebrities, like jack nicholson and owen wilson (you think a woman with a nose like that would be considered attractive?), but you never see a famous, truely unattractive woman. it belies this notion that we have that no matter what great things a woman wants to do and no matter how unrelated they are to looks, she won't get anywhere unless she's hot. and people don't seem to think she deserves to get anywhere unless she's hot.

hell, what's the first thing people who don't like hillary clinton say? they will call her ugly, or a lesbian, or say she has a shrill voice, or she dresses badly... it's never about anything relevant to what she's doing, only what she looks like.

Answer 3

female characters are objectified.

In terms of television, look at the show BONES. It used to be about a female who looks at bones of dead people to give them a face and learn why they died.

Now they throw in this dude and it becomes whose in charge here and whose the new love intrest. It seems they took the emphasis off of what she does for some romance or whatever.

Bet the show will skyrocket after this!