Male Bashing on TV

The Simpson’s, Everybody Loves Raymond, My Wife and Kids, what do these shows all have in common? One word: male bashing. Male bashing is the “stereotyping of men as brutal, stupid or otherwise objectionable” as defined by Fox news.# It has turned into an epidemic these days where it could found everywhere from songs to commercial ads to television shows. Although male bashing has spread into our televisions, workplace, communities and minds, the ongoing belittling of the men in our society needs to come to a halt.

Why has it become so culturally acceptable to bash and mock men? Although this is not generally a good idea-take a look at TV. Stuff like The Simpson’s– King of Queens–Everybody Loves Raymond. The one thing all these shows have in common, is every father is an idiot, moron or self-centered jerk. The only more prevalent character in situational comedy is the smart, whiney child totally in need of a paddling. The way these men are portrayed is, if it were not for the level-headed wise wife, the whole family would fail with the dad on the streets, the kids in foster care and Mom in a shelter.

Males bashing is something that has bothered me a long time. Why is it acceptable and actively depicted on television programming and commercials for women being shown hitting, punching, shoving, physically disrespecting men? Why is it okay for women to physically assault men—when no way it would be reversed in the commercials, showing men doing the same to women? Something is warped in our society when it’s considered acceptable and even amusing for one gender to assault another in ways that would be looked upon with shock if reversed. The writers and producers of this male-bashing, male-disrespecting, and the commercial sponsors of it are not doing our culture a good service. This should to be watched actively by someone or some group—make note of every hit, punch, shove, slap, rude disrespecting of a woman to a man on prime time TV—and find out in more detail who is presenting this to the American people and why.

Turn on the radio nowadays and you’ll expect yourself to hear songs from various famous singers singing songs about women empowerment and how they don’t need a man to satisfy them. These songs have somewhat hypnotized us to believe it is alright to bashmen because we continuously listen to them over and over without actually paying close attention to the lyrics. For example, in Ciara’s song Like a Boy, she says, ” What if I? Had a thing on the side?Made ya cry? Would the rules change up? Or would they still apply? If I played you like a toy? Sometimes I wish I could act like a boy.”# Lyrics like this indicate that acting like a boy means cheating, playing games and making a girl cry. Many other songs project the same kind of meaning about all men.

In Michael Abernethy’s, “Male Bashing on TV”, He discusses the role men play in a feminist society. In his opening statement, he says “Warning for our male readers: The following article contains big words and complex sentences. It might be a good idea to have a woman nearby to explain it to you.”# In my opinion, this quote is very degrading because in simple terms its calling every man an idiot. Male bashing seems like it originated from a bunch of lonely women who probably got dumped by their husband/boyfriend and this is how they get their payback. You would think that the men would have done something about it from a long time ago, but in reality they are just the silent victims. They have no say and can do nothing about it because the media and our society evidently agrees with what the women have to say.

Male bashing is everywhere we turn our heads. As much as people try to avoid it, it is truly unavoidable. Depicting men as a form of stupidity and targeting them as a form of laughter is embarrassing. Many groups have faced a lot of tormenting in the past and still do today but we, as a society, are trying to stop it. So we are in the 21st century and still at it again. Why torment men if many of the women can’t live without them? Male bashing is just gossip amongst women that has gone above and beyond.

Work Cited

http://www.answers.com/topic/stereotype. 8 Nov 2008Brent Staples. “Black Men and Public Space”. The Bedford Guide for College Writers. 8 Nov 2008. 4793. “Stereotypes of African Americans.” Wikipedia. 31 Oct. 2008. 08 Nov. 2008