The View from a Drawbridge

The three most sexist American TV shows, in my opinion, were Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie, and Bewitched. I’m often treated to their reruns at work. My coworkers seem to love them. They only seem to nauseate me. But hey, I’m getting paid to watch television, so who am I to complain?

The premise of Green Acres is that the husband wants to be a farmer while the wife loves the big city. So naturally the wife has to sublimate her wishes and desires to fulfill the dream of the man. I’d love to say that this show was a product of its time, but you still see this happening with couples today. It was much more justifiable when the husband brought in the bulk of the income. After all, you have to go where the money is to survive. But in this day and age women are also working more often than not. And I’m sorry, but no man is dragging me off to live in some shack so he can play around on a tractor while wearing a tie and a sweater vest.

I Dream of Jeannie, on the other hand, was all about power. Clearly she had much more power than he did, so naturally the show was all about keeping her in check. She called him “master”, for cripes sake. That makes me cringe. When Jeannie would get feisty, “Master” would simply stuff her in her bottle and cork it. No wonder she fell in love with him. Ick.

Bewitched was another case of a powerful woman being held back by her man. I never understood why Darrin was so hell-bent on Samantha not using her witchcraft. I mean, come on! She had the ability to make their lives extraordinary, but he used guilt, anger, and intimidation to prevent her from doing so. Why would she stay in a marriage in which her husband was perpetually pissed off at her? It makes no sense. This is one time when the stereotypical obnoxious mother-in-law had a point. Why would you put up with that level of oppression?

I hate the lessons these shows taught us. And yes, I watched them religiously when I was growing up. I’m sure my psyche will never be the same. It was even worse for my mother’s generation. She was a contemporary to these actresses, and in many ways she marched to the beat of the very same drummer. I got to watch her defer to my stepfather in spite of the fact that he was one of the most stupid men on the planet, who did nothing but make poor decisions for our family.

We are all products of our environment. We tend to assume the norm is also the appropriate. Question reality. That’s all I’ve got to say.