Punishing the woman for her abortion. Television helps determine how gender roles are portrayed in culture and vice verse. It’s a subject I’m particularly interested in regarding women and feminism. Abortion is a controversial issue that sparks debate and strong feelings. When it’s depicted on TV, all sorts of feelings fly. These feelings usually don’t sit along the seemingly rigid lines of pro-choice and pro-life.

Unfortunately storylines that feature abortions are portrayed in black and white ways. One storyline that is recycled concerning abortion is that women who have them are continually punished for having the procedure. Women who have abortions often find out they are sterile after having the procedure.

This pattern was revisited on last week’s Grey’s Anatomy when the character Addison discovered she couldn’t have children after a trip to a fertility clinic. It was revealed earlier this season that she aborted a pregnancy that the result of her relationship with an unreliable womanizer.

When another character on the same show, Christina, considered an abortion, she ended up having a tubal pregnancy that cost her one of her fallopian tubes and her chance to become pregnant in the future. Grey’s Anatomy is sending a mixed message to its viewers. It seems to unapologetically feature women who are not afraid to show their sexual sides yet when the consequences of sex are brought up, characters are permanently scarred.

Exploring a woman’s decision to choose is a realistic scenario, yet by not showing that a woman is unable to become pregnant after an abortion is medically unrealistic. Funny for a show about medicine but then again Grey’s Anatomy is known for its sex and drama NOT its accurate portrayal of the medical world.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the portrayal of single women on television these days. When I was in middle school, I would watch the Mary Tyler Moore Show religiously on Nick at Night (before TVLand existed.) I never got into Murphy Brown but saw the similarities between both shows.

I think the single women’s popularity on TV hit a new level with Allie McBeal, Sex & the City and even TV shows like Will & Grace and Friends.

My two favorite tv shows that predominantly feature women are the Gilmore Girls and Grey’s Anatomy. Last week I watched the latests Grey’s episode where they take the Addison character and set her up for her own show in LA. I always like the Addison character because she came across as professional but also personal but in the right areas. However, during the spinoff, they tried to McBealize Addison and make her act all wacky, not condfident and have her wanting a baby more than anything. I was thisclose to thinking they were going to pull out the dancing baby thing. So glad they didn’t. I still liked the idea of the show but didn’t like this light attempt at character assasination.

The NYTimes also noticed this in their article The New Modern Woman, Ambitious and Feeble. Writer Alessandra Stanley said:

Addison first showed up at the hospital as a coolly amused villainess who intimidated the show’s heroine, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo). Over time and plot twists, her character evolved into a more likable colleague, but for some reason, that change required her to become dizzier, chattier and very much like the ever confused and self-doubting Meredith — and, of course, Ally McBeal.

People complain that hip-hop stars use obscene lyrics and lewd music videos to demean women. Sometimes, so do even the most bourgeois women’s television shows.

I think this may deserve its own presentation paper!

All My Children is setting a new precedent for daytime television and primetime television with their story about Zarf, a male who wants to become a female. AMC broke ground several years ago when they turned the character of Bianca Montgomery into a lesbian. She shared the first daytime kiss with a female. However since then, daytime has shied away from portraying full-blown homosexual romances.

In an article from today’s Baltimore Sun, Matea Gold discusses all of the planning that went into the storyline including consulting with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The ultimate point of the story is to perhaps turn Zarf (aka Zoe) and Bianca into a couple.

The most interesting point of the article for me was the idea that even though soap operas are not afraid to portray storylines that include DNA paternity tests, advanced plastic surgery and other controversial storylines, they avoid storylines that involve homosexual relationships.
The best line from the article is:

Carol Dickson, who runs the official All My Children fan club, is excited about the story line.

“They’re not playing it safe, which is what I like,” she said.

(1) All My Children, the soap opera is going to feature a transgendered character.

The show will feature a character making the transition from male to female. The last time a transgered character was featured on a soap oper was in 1996 on the short lived show the City, a spinoff of Loving. All My Children claims they aren’t just grabbing this storyline for shock value appeal to gain viewership.

The show wasn’t interested in doing something just to be sensational…GLAAD and some transgenders were brought in as consultants in shaping the character, teaching the producers when it is appropriate to call a character “she” even before surgery….from article

Hopefully, All My Children will stand by its word and deliver a thoughtful storyline just as they did a few years earlier with the “coming out of the closet” storyline with the character Bianca.

(2) Lesbian jailed for “crying rape”. The most astonishing aspect of this article is the use of language from the title “Fake rape lesbian” to the comparison to crying wolf.

This BBC article offers a much more straightforward telling.

However, both articles find it necessary to identify the woman as a lesbian which sets her a part from the mainstream heterosexual population. It is another example of a woman’s sexuality being placed in the spotlight.

(3) Polygamist wives speak out in defense of polygamy.