Women not making much progress on TV

"For many decades women have struggled to overcome past stereotypes that narrowly define what it means to be female. Similarly, males have struggled to correctly position themselves in light of females’ newfound identify and empowerment. In many ways identity continues to be reshaped; and few forums are more public and more fraught with pitfalls than reality television, where outlandish behavior from both genders is encouraged, rewarded, branded, and packaged as lifestyle. The overwhelming popularity of the genre leaves many to wonder, “Where have young men and women arrived?” This study takes an in-depth look at language to examine gender portrayals in the most watched reality cable shows among children and teens ages 12 to 17. The findings paint an unfortunate picture of questionable progress for males and females.

Based on Nielsen data, four MTV shows ranked as the most-watched during the 2011 television season. They included: Jersey Shore, Real World, Teen Mom 2, and 16 and Pregnant. Analysts conducted content analysis on the most recent full season of each show. Study variables for this examination were designed to track and reflect the language as well as the context and tone of that language." From Executive Summary, Reality on MTV; gender portrayals

See full report by Parents Television Council here.

"Females talked about sex acts more than men, talked about sex more graphically than men, mentioned sexual body parts more than men, and talked about intercourse and preliminaries to intercourse more than men."

Apparently, this is a real turn-on for the male writers and producers, who are making a lot of money from turning these women into sluts.