A question about gender portrayal in the media...?

Quite frankly, television doesn't make either gender look so well... Take King of Queens, for example... Carrie is beautiful, but she's also b*tchy, controling and self-centered... Doug is chunky, loud, funny [has his moments...], he's a liar, manipulative [to get out of doing things with Carrie]...

Media doesn't do any of us any favors...IMO.

I think about Everybody Loves Raymond whenever that topic comes up. He's an idiot and his wife is always right about everything. The flip-side to that is,his wife is a nag so both genders are stereotyped there.

On Two and a Half Men,we have Charlie as the lothario who drinks and gambles and we have his brother Allen,who can only be described as a mangina. However,the women on that show are often stereotyped as well. For instance,Allen's castrating ex-wife Judith and the sweet but ditzy Kandy. Berta is the only woman on that show with a brain and personality that isn't a female stereotype.

All in all,television makes everyone look stupid.

The Simpsons and Family Guy are perfect examples, and they are examples that are influential to youths of both genders.

I love the Simpsons, but just take a look at how sexist it is. Both men of the family are dumb losers while the women are highly intelligent. Granted, Marge is a housewife, but Lisa is a genius and in one episode they bring together all the Simpson men - who are all failures and losers - but when they bring together all the Simpson women they are all major successes, highly intelligent big achievers.

Now, if that was the other way around, I'm certain we would be hearing outraged cries of sexism.

Depends really. I've been watching some sitcoms that portray women as hopelessly incompetent when it comes to technical stuff and PMS-ridden. Sexist? Sure. Does it bother me? Not really, there are plenty of other sitcoms should I find these ones unfunny. Other ones I watch show men as the fools and women as neurotic, nagging ogres ... really, there are whatever kind of stereotypes you want to find on TV. Some series do, happily, find a kind of balance. Peep Show and Spaced are two of my favourite comedies, and they're not ridiculously stereotypical or sexist.

I agree that the men are portrayed as bumbling fools. But they are also portrayed as happy and laid back. Although the women are portrayed as saving the day, they are naggy and annoying and always have to be thin and pretty. The men can be fat or thin.