Apparently I'm on a mission to out bad upcoming TV shows. Via Feministing, a new Fox show called When Women Ruled the World.
Full stop.
Feminism isn't about women ruling the world. Well, most feminism, anyway. There are a few strands....but I digress. Let me repeat that:
FEMINISM IS NOT ABOUT WOMEN BEING IN CHARGE OF MEN.
From the Fox website:The unscripted series will reveal how women and men react in a world where women are in charge and men are subservient, and each gender’s ability to adapt to a new social order will be put to the test.
Is that an admission we live in a patriarchy? It sure sounds like it to me. Quick - some body tell Fox News! It's true - hordes of old white guys actually does count as a society where men are in charge, no matter how much they complain!
Sorry about that. It's early, and I'm tired and cranky. No coffee yet.
Anyway, I get the feeling this is all a giant platform from which to bash women. Why would I say that? Well, here's another excerpt from the Fox site:How will the men react? How will the women treat the men? Can women effectively rule society? [emphasis mine]
And since Fox will undoubtedly pick a bunch of folks for whom it will be impossible to get along - it wouldn't really be a show if it worked, now would it? - the answer will inevitably be no.
UPDATE: A comment on the show from Echidne of the Snakes:
Feminists are all about equality, not about reversing the power relationships. But Fox is all about male dominance, and this show is intended to prop that up.
...
I'm the polite blogger, yanno. Well, I've just had my fill about politeness today. Fuck those Fox assholes. Fuck them for making fun of the real injustices and troubles the majority of women have to endure in this world. Fuck them for making it into a game to prop up their own petty feelings of threatened masculinity. Fuck them for their disgusting slimy bias and their silly little commercial brains. Fuck them for having the empathy of a toe cheese.
And most of all, fuck them to the deepest hell for suggesting that the only alternative to the current system is some perverse upside version of more of the same.
I think she captures how I feel pretty well.
2 comments:
Wow. Thanks for sharing this. I can't even believe this is true... I will have to watch it just to see how painfully bad it is. I totally agree with your analysis and the added comments by Echidne. I looked at the Fox webpage- notice how all the producers are men? I wonder how many women they actually consulted. None? Or maybe a token one or two.
On one hand, it is interesting because they are blatantly admitting that men rule the world and that inequalities still exist. BUT they are suggesting that if women were to become true equals, that they would be power-hungry and dominant, just like men. SO we might as well keep them subordinate... right? Another interesting thing is that they make the men seem helpless... they way they talk about the men is very sympathetic. Like "look what these poor men are going to have to endure... poor babies. It's going to be so rough..." haha
In a lot of ways this show can really back fire and make a lot of people think that women are incapable of handling the same things that men are. This could be bad... really really bad. And I can't help but think that this might be the underlying motive- to prop up patriarchy and show that it is the one and only way to have stable societies.
Ugh. This makes my stomach turn: "And in the end, who will be man enough to succeed in the new social order?"
I've been thinking about this a bit more, and here's another mechanism that might serve to uphold patriarchy:
In most reality shows, the successes of the participants are either at the individual or small-group level. The participants themselves are usually at least somewhat diverse in terms of race/ethnicity and sex/gender. Given those two factors, it's easy to see the results as individual triumphs or failures, and ONLY individual triumphs or failures.
With a show like this, where the entire cast is female, I'll bet anything that femininity/the female gets tarred as a class for all the drama and infighting that happens on every reality show, regardless of the nature of the participants.
It's a frackin' evil trick.
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