Violence Against Women On TV Is Increasing
Posted by: Jessica Wakeman
Filed in:
entertainment
12:20PM, Thursday October 29th 2009
Do you scratch your head when people shriek about sex being too graphic on TV when someone is getting punched or shot before every commercial break? Yeah, me too. A new study by the Parents Television Council (granted, a conservative organization) should have everyone concerned. It counted over 400 acts of violence against women and female teenagers on prime-time ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox shows from February until May of this year. When the group conducted the same study five years ago, they counted less than 200 acts of violence against women. The PTC clocked an increase of over 120 percent for beatings, murder, threats and rape of adult women, as well as an over 400 percent increase against teenage girls. I don’t even know what to say about these stats.
My educated guess would be that most of this violence happens to women (often young, often attractive) on detective/cop shows, like “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” My roommate’s a big fan of that show and it seems like every damn episode involves a naked, dead 20-something.
While I’ll concede there may be instances where violence on TV is respectfully instructive—like on AMC’s “Mad Men,” when Joan Holloway’s fiancé raped her—by and large, we know the lurid tales of beaten or murdered women in NYC warehouses on cop shows are the lowest common denominators for plots. It’s terrible these shows are only getting more popular. You can’t tell me violence against women doesn’t become more acceptable to viewers who see it as often as prime-time TV viewers do. [Yahoo]
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ltykr
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 11:31 am: [report]
I could understand if you were talking about violence against women in random shows but you are referring to a show (Law and Order:SVU) that is based on crimes against women (and children). REALLY?!?!?
bogart4017
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 11:37 am: [report]
Its probably writers acting out their sick fantasies. We all (men) know how much easier it is to become a guest of the county behind committing any act of violence against women.
Riley
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 11:51 am: [report]
Law and Order: SVU is about sexual crimes. Turns out women are sexually assaulted on a more frequent basis than men; I don’t think they are condoning that. Rather the writers are being a little more realistic in a fictional show.
Networks will not stop making Law and Order or CSI-style shows until every last dollar is wrung from the trend. Intricate plots and character-driven shows don’t have the staying power or the low-production costs. Violence, simple stories that can be wrapped up in an hour and reality TV; that is 2009 television.
C.Munro
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 11:52 am: [report]
I don’t see television violence making real violence more acceptable at all. If anything, these shows are playing on the warped perception in our culture that it is somehow a larger crime to victimize an attractive young woman than, well, someone who is not an attractive young woman.
spatula
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 11:59 am: [report]
So how many instances of violence against men did the study find? How do we know that it’s not just violence on TV in general that has increased?
Scooter
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 12:09 pm: [report]
I’m not sure that Law and Order SVU is a great example to use. It’s a show ABOUT cases of sexual abuse and violence. How is this topic the “lowest common denominator for plots” if that’s what it’s about? Maybe you’ll think me silly because I enjoy watching this show but the fact that it shows so many different stories is what makes it a great show. Guess I’m in the lowest common denominator of viewers?
Simcha Whitehill
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 12:17 pm: [report]
@spatula
This is not talking about any old kind of violence….Violence with men involved on tv is typically not a sex/relationship crime, more of a big fight sequence/explosion/etc…bravery bs. Violence again women is usually personal- a wacked out stalker, crazy ex bf, etc….and, as Jessica pointed out, it often exploits their naked bodies for ratings. When’s the last time you saw a naked dude on TV?
riensept
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 12:23 pm: [report]
I just can’t stand to watch it. I don’t want to watch a woman get raped. I’ve been raped before and watching it on tv, is just a reminder. It’s just getting out of control. Violence should not be the main focus of a show. It’s getting to the point that I can’t even have my son watch tv past 8 unless it’s a cooking show. I think that some children might watch it and not think that it’s a problem. Some parents might not think it’s a problem but if you play at violence, I think it becomes easier to do it. I would rather see something smarter or funnier on tv than random rapes and acts of violence. People would only get offended if they portray acts of violence against children, when they go numb to that, that’s when you know we’ve become the epitome of a sick souless society.
*sam*
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 12:41 pm: [report]
@Simcha
the last time I watched the “Real World”
spatula
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 12:42 pm: [report]
@Simcha I was unaware we were talking about sexual violence or a sex/relationship crime, because the article makes no mention of either of those. It simply refers to ‘violence’ which i certainly did read as ‘any old kind of violence’.
spatula
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 12:46 pm: [report]
Again @Simcha, my theory on the nudity is simply that dudes don’t look nearly as pretty naked as we do, but thats a whole other topic
@C Munro I totally agree
bumbler
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 12:48 pm: [report]
I have been waiting through 2 seasons of True Blood for Eric to show the goods. Instead I get a naked host of Bon Temps’ most beautiful women and one over-weight, middle aged, flaccid, drunk dude. This is WRONG!
bumbler
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 12:54 pm: [report]
About the actual article: rape, incest and abuse are important topics that need to be discussed and brought to mainstream attention. However they also should be dealt with in a non-exploitative way. Some shows have dealt with it well including Mad Men and the Sopranos (remember Dr. Melfi’s terrifying garage rape?) but I’m not convinced that the majority do. It’s a difficult line to walk.
Riley
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 01:01 pm: [report]
@Simcha - Naked dude; Nip/Tuck, Sons of Anarchy, Rescue Me, Dexter, True Blood. As naked dude as you can currently get on television. These shots are actual nudity, whereas most “nudity” that Jessica is referring to isn’t actually shown.
Jessica pointed out the sexual violence in one show. A show that has the basic premise of sexual crimes, it is a foregone conclusion that most of the violence in a show about sexual assault is going to be sexual in nature.
bethlynn00
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 01:06 pm: [report]
Wait I don’t get how a rape on one show is “respectfully instructive” and on another show is just for plots? That makes no sense, especially since L&O generally base their plots on real life crimes, while Mad Men is a generalization of a period of time. So the violence on that show is better, because they wear cool suits and cocktail dresses? I don’t think so. These things could only be “lurid”, if they were not based on actual crimes, but they generally are. And I don’t think those shows glorify violence or make it more acceptable to viewers, that would only be a valid argument if they could show a correlation between an increase in violence with a rise in popularity with these shows, which they couldn’t, because in the past several years (5) most major cities have reported a decrease in violent crime rates.
william.paul
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 01:16 pm: [report]
You want to include a link to the study next time?
To use the same report: The PTC recorded 429 incidences of violence against women out of a total of 3929 incidences of violence. Would it not be fair to say then, that violence on TV involves a man 90% of the time?
Also, I fail to fully understand your qualm with SVU (which isn’t mentioned in the report btw.) Yes, there are a great deal of female victims on the show but the crimes against them are rarely, if ever, shown. It’s true that women are more likely than men to be victims of sexual assault or rape, but I would think that you would laud a show about bringing their assailants to justice.
lewomack
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 02:02 pm: [report]
@bethlynn00 - What I was thinking = what you said, quite eloquently too.
impoddity
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 02:18 pm: [report]
You would think will all those beautiful men prancing around northern Louisiana, I’d get more than a flash of Sam’s ass. Not that I haven’t appreciated those scenes. But I mean, c’mon, we’re all waiting for Eric in pink spandex.
bumbler
wrote on October 29 2009 @ 02:23 pm: [report]
@impoddity Exactly. I would wager a large part of True Blood’s audience are women but there is a drastic difference in the amount of female nudity versus male nudity. Between Jason, Eric, Bill, Sam and Lafayette it’s an eternal tease.
papayalily
wrote on October 30 2009 @ 09:59 am: [report]
I’m not quite sure what your beef with SVU is, but it’s actually been really therapeutic for women who have been the victim of violence to see justice happen, even if it’s just on tv.
Amarie21
wrote on October 30 2009 @ 03:06 pm: [report]
I would agree that there is way too much violence against women on TV nowadays, however, I don’t think you can really call Law and Order:SVU out on it, because thats the basis of the entire show. The opening credits state “In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are there stories.” Right in the opening sequence, they let you know that the crimes are going to be sexual in nature, and since the overwhelming majority of sexually-based crimes are committed against women, you can’t fault the show for portraying what it says its going to portray right in the opener. Also, they refer to these crimes as both heinous and vicious, clearly indicating that they’re not trying to condone these crimes in any way, shape, or form. Not only that, the show does portray sexual-abuse crimes against men, gays, children, etc. The overall point of the show is to raise public awareness of these issues, while providing an entertaining medium. And although there is way too much violence on TV, I don’t believe SVU is to blame. The detectives on SVU almost always manage to get the “bad guy” and bring justice to the victim, which is the most important part, and what the show is working towards.
Shriekback68
wrote on October 30 2009 @ 03:17 pm: [report]
Violence against *both* men and women on TV is increasing. Look at those disgusting “Saw” movies.
We love violence in film, but god forbid a film shows two people have sex. OMG!!!!
C.Munro
wrote on October 30 2009 @ 03:21 pm: [report]
Well, in defense of fictionalized violence, I find it less uncomfortable to watch than gratuitous sex. Why? Because the violence is fake. Fake guns, fake blood, fake gore. But when two actors are naked on-screen, it’s all too real. Oh, I know they’re (probably) not having sex, but I can still see the actors naked and that causes me to feel embarrassed for them.
Kakshi
wrote on October 30 2009 @ 11:20 pm: [report]
Since you have a picture of Elliot Stabler from Law and Order:SVU in your article, I get the feeling you’re missing the whole point of shows like that. Among people who work in domestic violence, like myself, educating is widely understood to be the most useful tool against violence—the shows let people know the realities of what happens to women, and accurately portray how women react and cope…it can actually be therapeutic for victims, as well as educational for people who may eventually want to do something about it (volunteer, donate, be more willing to report crimes they see to the police, etc.). I think the incidents of violence in shows like SVU has increased because we actually live in a world that doesn’t try to hide violence against women under the rug like people used to. I think SVU is a fantastic show that educates us about the world we live in, and helps us figure out what we can do to help women. It’s not right to ignore violence against women like it doesn’t happen. Complaining about shows like that just makes it seem like you want to live in a bubble where there’s no positive change.
aminata
wrote on October 31 2009 @ 10:52 am: [report]
There is a lot of violence against women on television because there is a whole lot more violence against women in the world. We don’t talk about that. We don’t want to be confronted with that. It disgusts us. Maybe one of these days it will disgust us enough that stars will stop taking up for the Roman Polanski’s of the world and start building up the Mackenzie Philips’.
(Side note: I am still pissed her FAMILY does not support her at all and said the woman is crazy. Of course she’s crazy… her father gave her heroin at age 12 and raped her repeatedly!)
Taking violence against women off of tv won’t decrease the violence. We have to get at the root cause and confront it in reality. We have to stop looking away.
moonblossom
wrote on November 3 2009 @ 10:34 am: [report]
Maybe the violence against women on TV is just increasing to match the actual levels of violence against women in the real world???