Women in Peril: A Look at TV’s Disturbing New Storyline Trend
EmailABC's Tom Shine reports from Washington: "A woman is shown getting beaten before a perpetrator unzips his pants and says he's going to show her 'just how functional he really is,'" – a scene from the FOX TV series Prison Break which aired on May 15, 2009
"A young, half-dressed girl covered in blood is lying face down in the street. An investigator remarks that somebody hit her when she was already down and it flashes back to the crime which includes the victim (who appears unconscious) being undressed and kicked by a male and female perpetrator while blood flies in the air," — an April 30, 2009 scene from the CBS hit, CSI.
Just two of many examples to go along with a new report, released by the Parents Television Council that concludes, "storylines depicting violence against females are increasing and being shown more graphically and in ways that have not been seen in the history of television." PTC analysts looked at 209 hours of television programming during the February and May 2004 and 2009 sweeps and found the following:
"Violence, irrespective of gender, on television increased during the study period only 2% from 2004 to 2009, while the incidence of violence against women increased 120% during that same period."
"Cumulatively, across all study periods and all networks, the most frequent type of violence was beating (29%), followed by credible threats of violence, (18%), shootings (11%), rape (8%), stabbing (6%), and torture (2%). Violence against women resulted in death 19% of the time."
"Violence against women or the graphic consequences of violence tends overwhelmingly to be depicted 92% of the time, rather than implied (5%) or described (3%)."
According to the report there was an 81% increase in the incidence of intimate partner violence on television from 2004 to 2009 and FOX was on top of the heap when it came to using "violence against women as a punch line in its comedies."
PTC says every network with the exception of ABC demonstrated a dramatic increase in the number of storylines that included violence against women between 2004 and 2009.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
It’s not surprising that the most conservative of networks has the most violence against women. The Taliban are extreme religious conservatives and violence against women are one of their trademarks. Sickens me that this administration is actually considering negotiating with them. Hey, what are the lives of Afghan women afterall….
Posted by: Ellen Lincourt | October 30, 2009, 1:18 pm 1:18 pm
I certainly agree with those who point out that in the Muslim world many sects disfigure, chastise, blaspheme, beat, rape, kill, and sexually mutilate women. I am fed up with it in the movies. For my wife and I this means: We do not subscribe to any movie channels, avoid any show with an R rating and generally would rather see factual TV such as History, Nat. Geo., Discovery and the like come into prominence. We do not go to movies anymore, because this sort of thing is prevalent in them. Write us off in these areas and know that we will not watch this sort of programming. Oh yes, I am an old geezer, too and I like the old TV of the late 40′s and 50′s.
Posted by: Bubblechaser | October 30, 2009, 3:57 pm 3:57 pm
What about men being portrayed as violent thugs?
Posted by: Cabaret Voltaire | October 30, 2009, 4:58 pm 4:58 pm
Isn’t it amazing that throughout history, any period where women gain ANY sort of power (sexually, educationally, financially, socially, or spiritually) that the common media of the day becomes obsessed with promoting women as helpless, victimized, sized 0 “stick figures” (think Roaring Twenties and the 60′s) that suffer and/or die horribly- and tragically early. I think it says more about how afraid men are of women- on some cellular level they can’t even access, much less acknowledge. These themes are a bumbling Freudian attempt to ‘put us in our place’ using fear and, if possible; self-loathing. Because, if we ever stopped obsessing over our dresses and/or bra sizes (hair, nails, youth, fitness,shoes, or jewelry) we might realize that we’re not really “helpless”. And are, in fact, doing quite well in the Big, Bad, Scary World. The sad thing is that, because the images are so pervasive, we actually buy into this junk.
Posted by: PinkKitteh | October 30, 2009, 8:58 pm 8:58 pm
This is the graphical description of women in the world where they are controlled. If they dare have the recompense that they are equivelant too or better than Men, they will be subjugated into their fearfull lives of obediance and humiliation.
All major religions now teach this, esp with the incoming NWO of the 1World Government with 1Religion. Only method to control a population over 8Bn without the Oil producing food surpluses.
Boys are being trained through the advent of violence in shooting computer gamemes. The repetitive drum beat of music, which was orchestrated by MK Ultra brainwashing techniques.
Posted by: ban0ck | October 30, 2009, 10:29 pm 10:29 pm
I did notice that on t.v., what’s the message they are sending? It’s okay to beat up you wife, girlfriend, daughter because they are easy to manipulate? They message I get is thst women are the only people that get beat up. Are they condoning it? It doesn’t surprise me though, maybe the directors of these shows are angry with their mothers and hate all women.
Posted by: Stephanie | October 31, 2009, 12:01 am 12:01 am
Bubblechaser said, “What about men being portrayed as violent thugs?”
*scoffs* And your point is…?
Posted by: Sharon | October 31, 2009, 2:20 am 2:20 am
Finally, someone has written a report detailing the disgusting extremes of violence on US television. I lived there for a few years until recently and was constantly amazed by the levels of violence against women not only by prime time TV shows, but also in movie plots.
Every second film or TV drama seemed to be about ‘women in peril’ and it sickened me to the extent where I stopped watching.
In these stories, the aggressors are nearly always male, the women almost always can’t fend for themselves and if they live thru the storyline to tell the tale, their character is more often than not ‘rescued’ by a male – be it a policeman, a lawyer, a doctor, a surgeon, a shrink or crime fighter of some sort.
It would not surprise me if young men in America were growing thinking that if this type of violence is acceptable on television, then surely, it’s to be tolerated – if not made accetable – in everyday life.
My case in point is the extraordinary violence perpetrated by young men against a defenceless young woman in Richmond, CA, recently. Add to that the number of other men who stood by and either watched the woman being beaten and raped and who either participated in it or recorded the event on their phones and I rest my case.
Women in peril is a sickening storyline both in fiction and in real life. It is a crying shame it has become the default narrative for drama writers.
Posted by: About Time | October 31, 2009, 2:22 am 2:22 am
Take away sports and women are by far categorically the #1 group for prime-time TV-watching, aside from any other group that can be defined. Across the board for age, religion, ethnicity, you name it, women v. men (or more generally females v. males), women are the #1 consumers of prime-time TV shows.
So the nets air what gets viewers and most viewers are women and girls. They air what these people mostly tune in to watch. And so what are they tuning in to watch? You guessed it.
Human beings are adrenaline junkies. Men are the #1 viewers of sports because that’s what gives us the adrenaline charge – fear of loss of a game creates adrenaline and anger at a bad play or bad call also create adrenaline. To create the adenaline for the upside of things, that is why fantasy leagues, rivalry and (alas) betting pools are for. This way, he gets the rush no matter what happens. The winning and losing is actually just a side-effect. If that is what mattered no one would watch the games; they would just check the scores the next day.
And for women, the adrenaline charge also comes from fear and anger, but via TV sports? Not typically (though I have met a few die-hard female sports fans in my life). But how about drama? Yes. Now, ordinary soap opera drama is fine but is not enough to hold attention in a competitive market since the kick isn’t enough. No, but fear really kicks it up a notch (or ten). Add that the viewer always likes to see his or her stereotypes/preconceptions/fears reinforced and acted out and you got the magic formula: Rape and beatings from men. There’s your plotline. Put that on the tube and you get viewers. More of it, the more viewers. Add a few knights in shining armor (how many “cop shows” do we have on prime time? I’d say they may well make up one in every three at this point with the ratio only creeping up) to rescue and mete out justice and the whole thing is sealed.
The only thing stopping networks from airing a constant stream of sports, full-blown (no pun intended) uncensored pornography (yet more adrenaline) and violent assaults/rapes against women depicted over and over again is the FCC and a few religious reservations.
That all said, I will say I agree with the poster’s comment that there is no mention of how badly men are being portrayed in these shows. But of course justice and fair portrayal are not what TV is about. It’s about ratings, which equate to money: higher the ratings, the more the network can charge for commercial time. It’s that simple… and that soullessly nasty, too.
So what explains the article getting written in the first place? Simple nymphotropism with an added opportunity to give the reader/viewer (who is assumed to be female) another kick of adrenaline from the anger she is likely to feel upon reading the article. She feeds her own need for adrenaline by watching TV shows using violence vs. women as the core theme and also supplements it with outrage against the fact that they even exist.
Nice little system at work here, huh?
Posted by: Matt | October 31, 2009, 2:48 pm 2:48 pm
Life is tough enough without graphic portrayals of humanity at its worst as entertainment. However, if we didn’t pay to see it it would disappear.
In CBS’s favor so far its program “Three Rivers” has avoided sex and violence and has mostly happy endings.
Posted by: Ed Taylor | October 31, 2009, 9:31 pm 9:31 pm
I read this slop with amazement. I see shows on all the channels (far too numerous to mention all) depicting females going toe to toe with males twice their size and in most cases coming out the winner. For instance the FOX show Fringe depicted the main female character (Olivia)being punched twice thrown around and kicked two or three times by a male attacker, yet she manages to pick up her weapon and shoot him to death. Her ensuing bodily damage is totally negligible. Another show on CBS’s, Criminal Minds shows a leader of a cult who punches a female lead severely, yet on their private jet flight back to Washington she barely has a red spot on her left cheek.
Lets get with it people, it’s all for politically correct propaganda. In reality that’s all the mega buck Hollywood and News media is these days, being propaganda artists. Then ABC news will come along with a story of how female soldiers are doing the same combat jobs as their male comrades. It all looks and sounds like when they start drafting your daughters you will only have the feminist and the mega buck media to whine about.NO-NO! I’m sure that will be made the fault of males as is every thing else.
Matt has it right as these type shows are consistently the highest rated on the tube.
Posted by: vigilant | November 1, 2009, 2:21 am 2:21 am
There’s a rush to judgment that this trend is an expression of misogyny on the part of the network and program producers. And maybe it is.
But there’s also the possibility that it’s part and parcel of _pandering_ to women’s tastes, who are, don’t forget, the majority of television viewers. It’s no secret that people enjoy watching their fears acted out as much as their hopes, nightmares as much as dreams. I’ve seen statistics that suggest women are now the majority consumers of “torture porn” films like the Saw series.
I’m not defending the trend, but I am pointing out that women aren’t made of glass, to shatter at the slightest knock. They may also be in many cases the willing authors of this trend, as well as the avid consumers.
Posted by: Timber | November 1, 2009, 4:10 pm 4:10 pm
I am worried about people allowing the violent in their home. Violent is not the norm. Your home should be the place to get away from all the ugliest of the world. Your home should be a haven for the whole family.
Posted by: matt Wood | November 2, 2009, 9:24 am 9:24 am
If you grew up watching television in the 70′s and 80′s you will recall that violence against women has always been there. It’s more graphic now, but it’s the same themes over and over. And we wonder how it gets into the culture. Look, if you’ve seen something every day of your waking life since childhood, those images and the ideas behind them are going to get in…
And it IS all about ratings.
And we ARE adrenaline junkies.
Or maybe more accurately, conflict junkies. We really don’t want to all get along. We like the stress and the struggle. We don’t want it to be that men and women think differently. Oh no. We want “the battle of the sexes”. A man and woman can’t just have a divorce. Oh no. We have to have one of them beating the other to a pulp or setting fire to their possessions, or worse setting fire to the children. Not sure what that says about us, except that the purveyors of heart medications are going to make a fortune. Our bodies pay for all this stress after all.
For my part, I have managed to stay away from most of the shows on now, but then that has more to do with burn out than anything else. After a while you just get sick of it. Thank the Lord for Science Channel and Nat Geo.Oh and BBC America. Though even then you have to be careful. How many times can you watch lions tearing into antelopes?
i am not a Pollyanna, and I know darn well there is violence in the world. But I am very glad about that little knob on the tellie that lets me keep it from coming into my living room….
Now here is the thing: how many of the people who complain about the violence will actually be willing to turn off the television for even just one week. This is sweeps month. WE could make a difference here….
Posted by: eva banks | November 2, 2009, 10:43 am 10:43 am
Considering there is still far more violence against men, this isn’t surprising: women have a lot of catching up to do. I now routinely turn off programs that portray more violence against men vs. violence against women. Women (and the men who love them) fought for women’s rights. Part of that fight is being portrayed as men have been portrayed since the dawn of time: as disposable. As they say, if women can’t stand the heat, then perhaps they weren’t as equal as they thought!
Posted by: LanceSmith | November 2, 2009, 2:02 pm 2:02 pm
I should also add that as women are portrayed with greater power in movies/shows that this increase in violence against them should be seen as a GoodThing. As an egalitarian, I find it offensive how many people would see it as otherwise (and this sexism may indicate why I don’t watch much ABC if they are “top of the heap”).
Posted by: LanceSmith | November 2, 2009, 2:55 pm 2:55 pm
The increase in violence against women on TV and Movies may directly correlate to the increase in violence against women in the real world. If you haven’t noticed, Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Violence, as well as, Rape, Assault, and Battery of Women and Young Girls has increased significantly in the past 10 years.
Women are ten times more likely to be attached by a man, out of 2 to 4 million battered women, 177,000 are hospitalized, 66% of assaults are sexual with 6% of rapes not being reported and 15 out of 16 rapists walking free – and the list goes on…
I understand much of what we watch on TV and in the Movies is purely a form of entertainment, but there are those who distort what is ‘fictitious’ and purely entertainment with a behavior they are permitted to copy – or so they believe it is okay for them to copy.
It goes beyond eliminating these programs. We really don’t want to go back to the ‘book burning’ days of ignorance. However, we do need to be aware of what our children are watching and educate them. They need to understand what is real and what has been created from a storyline. We also need to make sure the women and young girls (and boys) in our lives are protected – educate them, teach them how to be aware of their surroundings and how to defend themselves. Aide those in need of assistance – don’t ignore a potential crime, get that person help… After all, it may be you needing the help one day.
Posted by: Stingergirlz | November 4, 2009, 12:05 am 12:05 am
This article is a typically misleading bit of mainstream “news.” What world are you living in? There has been a steadily increasing trend, for more than a decade, where t.v. and movies portray men as stupid and weak, and women (or at least the super model types Hollywood is full of) as smart, successful and strong. The single most prominent theme in our popular media now is the small, “hot” female punching out the much larger male.
Posted by: Donald Jeffries | January 8, 2010, 3:17 am 3:17 am