Television shows in this day and age are like food for our souls. We grow up with the ones that run for an extensive number of seasons, like Friends, or in many cases, binge-watch the ones like Criminal Minds that we’ve discovered through Netflix and its glorious ability to play consecutive episodes of every available season. However, because we’ve fallen in love with these television shows that can make us laugh uncontrollably with sarcastic dialogue or cry with emotionally tugging scenes, we tend to overlook the sexism laid upon characters that are often subtly presented, yet bitingly insulting.
Take for example, How I Met Your Mother. We’ve all made a special place in our hearts for this popular, nine-year-long sitcom where Ted recounts his epic tale searching for “The One.” Yet, as much as I have come to love this show, when I (shamelessly) watched it for a second time, it came to my attention how sexist jokes were such a prevailing part of the show. The most obvious character that will probably come to mind is the legen—wait for it—dary, Barney Stinson. It is important to realize that the reason why Barney is so legendary is his ability to manipulate an unsettling number of women into having sex with him.
A large part of the comedy that revolves around Barney is his “bro-ness,” or masculinity, and his well-known “Playbook,” which is a large collection of all of the ruses that Barney uses to trick women into sleeping with him. Because of Barney’s outrageous plays, like telling women at the bar that he’s Lance Armstrong or picking up women in strange costumes, we get a good laugh at how crazy Barney is, especially when the plays work.
Yet the thing that we overlook, whether unconsciously or not, is that in reality, Barney’s ability to succeed with such wild tools of manipulation for his own personal satisfaction and entertainment is based off of a generalized notion that women are simple, yet overemotional creatures that only need a stupid play to get them into bed. Ted’s interactions with the women that he’s dated emphasizes the overemotional facet of women more memorably with characters such as Jeanette, the psychotic cop who trashes and burns Ted’s apartment, and the several women who are described with “crazy eyes.”
While many of us will pass it off as a joke because we’ve encountered a few of those kinds of women, this kind of characterization in a television show only reinforces the sexist approach towards women that society believes is appropriate to make a punch line out of women stereotypes. Not only is propagating this image of female characters incredibly insulting, but also is projecting an extremely negative image onto women. This makes it extremely difficult for female audiences, particularly the younger groups, to find a decent role model or figure of inspiration because women in television are often simply the subjects of jokes based on their supposed emotional tendencies.
How I Met Your Mother of course is not the only example of a misrepresentation and generalization of women. House, for example, is known for its leading character of the same name, Dr. House, a medical genius that diagnoses patients with strange diseases or conditions. While his severely sarcastic remarks provide comedic relief in the rather grave situations that House and his team come across when a patient’s life hangs in the balance, House particularly picks on Cameron, the only woman on the team. Cameron is often criticized for being overly concerned about the ethics of the dilemmas they face or for becoming too attached to the patients because she fails to remove herself emotionally from the case.
Now, this is not to say that every single television show perpetuates women negatively through stereotypical characterization. There are plenty of examples of television shows that depict strong-willed, independent and intelligent female leading roles. For example, one of the more notable female leads in Once Upon A Time is the character of Snow White. While this modern adaption of the classic fairytales loosely follows the general storylines, this show depicts a different characterization, emphasizing Snow White’s independence, individuality, and quick wit while maintaining her well-known innocence and purity. Olivia Pope from Scandal is also one of the first examples that come to mind. While Pope is often recognized for her fashionable taste, more importantly, she is an extremely powerful, thorough, quick-on-her-feet, and strong-minded female protagonist, working as a highly esteemed “fixer” within the White House with her team of “gladiator in suits.” Although fictional, Pope represents an extremely well put-together individual despite the perpetual chaos that she’s placed within, in both her professional and personal lives. These women demonstrate perfect examples of characters that can serve as women that audiences look up to.
Ultimately, women and men are inherently different and will be presented differently when it comes to characterizing them in television shows no matter what. However, that does not make it acceptable for underlying misogynistic generalizations to be simply passed off as a simple joke that people need to “get over.” It’s the very fact that these kinds of things have become an inherent part of society that makes it necessary to reinforce the need for change. Making sarcastic jokes about sexism on a sitcom doesn’t take us in the right direction of recognizing that poking fun at it isn’t acceptable. The more it becomes normalized as a joke, the further society will be from understanding that sexism cannot be seen as a simple laughing matter. It’s time to recognize and acknowledge that women’s characterization in television shows should extend beyond the stereotypical image of being inferior to men, even though it is clear that society still has a long way to go before the media’s portrayal of women is just and not overgeneralized.