Archive for the 'Politics' Category

Reese Witherspoon was in DC yesterday talking about the need to stop violence against women.  She represents Avon which came to town to give a $500,000 grant to the State Department’s Fund for Global leadership.

One of her quotes:

I think when you have strong powerful women standing up and speaking out about these issues, not to mention how many women represent us in the Senate and the House of Representatives, you’re going to start to see a major change in these areas,” stated the actress.

Here’s an interview she did with ET talking about the importance and the responsibility she has in doing this work.  She is in circus training getting ready to start her next film based on the best selling novel Water for Elephants, with Robert Pattinson and Christoph Waltz.

Angelina Jolie went on CNN’s Amanpour show this weekend from Haiti and talked about the issues on the ground there.  This is the best way for a celebrity to use his or her fame.  To make a difference.  I was impressed with her knowledge and her discussion of how trafficking is a big problem, and that people should be really careful about removing children from the country right now.

Her point is that in a crisis like this it is not prudent to try and take children out of the country for adoptions since many kids are separated from parents who are still alive but unable to contact them.  One issue in Haiti is that there are no birth records so now the UN and other authorities are trying to record people and reconcile families.  She also talked about an international children’s organization SOS who is trying to reunite children with their families.

Here are the interviews:

Connie Britton as Tammy Taylor

It’s been a couple of weeks since both Private Practice and Friday Night Lights had their pivotal abortion episodes and I wanted to give an update on the fallout.

Bottom line – Friday Night Lights (FNL) walked into the minefield with the storyline and didn’t shy away like Private Practice did.

The fallout on FNL has not been focused on Becky, the girl who had the abortion, it’s been on Tammy Taylor, the high school principal, who listened and gave Becky her options.

The baby daddy’s mommy got herself into a religious fervor and called the school board and tried to have Principal Taylor fired for encouraging Becky to have an abortion.  The school board had a hearing and both sides were heard and Tammy was cleared of any wrong doing.

But the issue did not go away quietly as the school board wanted.  Picketers showed up at her school, she started getting nasty phone calls at home, and she was basically told that if she did not release a statement of apology that she will lose her job.  She went to see a lawyer who was clear that she would probably win a wrongful termination lawsuit, but he also said that then she would be virtually unemployable.  The lawyer said: “there’s the law and there’s life.”

So she’s screwed.  She’s screwed for doing the right thing which I know happens to people all the time.  And the question the show poses so brilliantly is how is it that doing the right and legal thing can lead to such grave consequences.

The season finale is this week and in the preview it shows her practicing her apology in the bathroom mirror.  Can’t wait to see how it winds up.

As for Private Practice…I am embarrassed to say they took a big pass on the issue.  After getting all the medical issues so right, they handled it so wrong.  Fifteen year old Maya is going to have the baby, and get married to baby daddy Dink.  Of course they are going to   finish high school and live happily after ever.  They have parents with means, haven’t been kicked out of the house, and could probably even get a nanny to raise the kid while they finish high school.  I’m sure she will have a miscarriage soon and the whole ugly thing will be over.  I just don’t understand why they went to the precipice and then just backed so far off.  Makes no sense to me.

Those of you who don’t have Direct TV can see the full season of Friday Night Lights on NBC beginning on April 30.  Please watch.

Today is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  While I don’t know if this is coincidental, two shows this week — Friday Night Lights and Private Practice — both had major storylines that tackled abortion worthy of a look.

The stories were about two very different young girls both about 15 and in high school:

One white, Friday Night Lights; one black, Private Practice

One rich, Private Practice; one poor, Friday Night Lights

The outcome (spoiler): one abortion, Friday Night Lights

I’ve said many, many times how big a fan I am of Friday Night Lights.  It is one of the best shows on television, hands down.  If you don’t watch the show because you think it is about football I say you are an idiot.  This is the second season that the show has aired on Direct TV first and will run on NBC in the spring.  I beg you to watch it.

The storyline revolved around Becky (Madison Burge) a beauty queen singer desperate to be loved realizing she is pregnant from the first time she slept with Luke (Michael B. Jordan Matt Lauria) one of the football stars.  She does not want to have the baby, especially because her mother had her when she was very young and she believes that she is her mother’s mistake. Continue reading ‘Roe v. Wade Anniversary: Friday Night Lights and Private Practice Tackle Abortion’

Mo'Nique in Precious

During a recent episode of Oprah: Fridays Live, two seemingly unrelated stories about black girls and their mothers were (un)intentionally juxtaposed.  First, Winfrey interviewed the white father and aunt of Shaniya Davis.  Following that segment, Winfrey introduced Gabby Sidibe, star of Precious, the film Winfrey executive produced.  A friend of mine had previously mentioned Precious and Shaniya in the same breath, but it wasn’t until I saw these segments that I paused long enough to make a connection. Watching a story on Davis, the 5-year-old girl allegedly sold into sexual slavery by her black mother only to be found dead days later, succeeded by scenes of Sidibe as Precious Jones, an illiterate, fat, black girl twice-pregnant by her father, whose value was similarly determined as something more tangible—and much less valuable—than Precious, was disheartening yet illuminating.  The similarities between a little North Carolina girl and a fictional Harlem teenager, though not immediately apparent, exist below the surface nonetheless.

Antoinette Nicole Davis

What the flurry of debate surrounding Precious and Shaniya Davis’ death reveals is a particular public fascination with and unequivocal condemnation of black women who represent a pathologized version of motherhood, an image that perpetually manifests itself in our public sphere.  It seems that turning our collective attention to the lives of young black girls requires that their mother either serve as First Lady or represent a stereotype, such as a welfare queen (Precious’ mother, Mary Johnston) or (former) drug addict (Shaniya’s mother, Antoinette Davis).  A recent article about the continued violence in Chicago Public Schools, for example, concludes with an interviewee implying that single black mothers are the reason for such decrepit (educational) environments, making them solely responsible for black children’s violent behavior, never implicating the larger social constructs.

I defend neither mother’s actions.  Our view of them, though myopic, is not unwarranted.  Indeed, what Precious and Shaniya experienced at the hands of their mothers—like so many black bodies before them—is a trauma tied to an appraisal of their monetary value: Precious is worth a welfare check, while Shaniya’s price equals her mother’s drug debt.  Yet, despite both Mary Johnston and Antoinette Davis serving as the latest examples of well-worn images of black women, the abuse that these dark-skinned, natural haired black women enact upon their daughters is understood as unique and alarmingly monstrous.  Though the penultimate scene of Precious shows Mary explaining to Ms. Weiss (the social worker) her reasons for allowing Precious to be abused by her boyfriend, by then the viewer has become accustomed to quietly judging Mary.  An earlier scene featuring Precious’ grandmother—appearing onscreen just long enough to shake her head disapprovingly at her daughter—not only validates our negative evaluation of Mary, but implies that she became monstrous and abusive on her own, without precedent.  The lineage of abuse remains unseen, comforting viewers into believing that such people are mere anomalies.

Continue reading ‘Guest Post: How Did She, How Did We Get Here? Reflections on Precious Jones, Shaniya Davis and Black Motherhood By Summer McDonald’

Seems that facing the music in a courtroom will most probably not be happening for Roman Polanski.  From his house arrest in his Swiss chalet Polanski had his lawyers ask that he be sentenced in absentia.   This looks a serious option and I’m betting he won’t get any more jail time.  This is all based on the ruling from the state appellate division who laid out the potential options to get the case resolved.

Lawyers are going to submit briefs and a hearing on the potential sentencing in absentia will be argued on January 22.

If he is sentenced and gets no further jail time he will be allowed to return to the US unfettered.

Bet they’ll have a big welcome home party for him.  This whole thing is such bullshit.

Polanski asks to be sentenced in absentia (Variety)

Polanski asks to be sentenced in absentia in 1977 sex case (LA Times)

Nixon is speaking out about the anti-choice restrictions in the health care bill.

“It’s a very basic female right that we need to protect,” Nixon said. “What’s so frightening about this Stupak ban is that he’s found a backdoor way to basically not cover abortion for the vast majority of American women.”

No one wants to encourage anyone to have an abortion. One wants to encourage that if you have to make this very difficult decision, that the difficulty of the decision isn’t compounded by having to hide it from people, and having to find a way to pay for it and having to go across state lines to get it.

It’s hard enough. It’s a hard enough decision and we don’t need to make it harder.

Way to go Cynthia.  She is out there on gay marriage, public school issues and now abortion.  Other women should follow her lead.

Cynthia Nixon: Abortion debate’s new voice (CNN)

Just as I was reading the story about how Roman Polanski’s attorney are arguing that his rape case should be thrown out because of a “a remarkable, astonishing record of misconduct” by the judge, I got an email alert to a story reporting that his film Ghost Writer had gotten a US distributor.

Not just any distributor, but Summit who is released New Moon and Twilight and is now loaded thanks to all the money that women and girls have spent on the film over the last couple of weeks.

Do you see my problem?  It’s not like Roman Polanski’s movie are money makers.  His highest grossing movie was Rosemary’s Baby in 1968 with $33 million which New Moon made in less than one day (more like ten minutes.)  His Oscar winning movie The Pianist grossed only $32 million.  So unless Summit believes this is a huge money making venture (which is contrary to his track record) it is unclear what they get by getting into bed with a rapist.

These folks at Summit have at least two more films in the making based on the Twilight saga, and I for one am pissed that a man who is now under house arrest in his Swiss chalet for RAPE can now be seen as benefiting from a movie that had primarily a female audience.

It may be a brilliant movie, but still, what message does it send?

I watched every single episode of Family Ties when I was growing up.  It was such a great and smart show.  I knew I was a liberal because I believed everything Elyse Keaton said and even though I loved Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton, I hated his politics so much.  That show, created by Gary David Goldberg, was one of those shows that helped shape my generation.

We all watched it because in the 80s you really didn’t have a lot of other options, and that was when NBC and their Thursday lineup rocked.  We even watched the commercials in those days.  It was one of those shows that kids and parents both watched -- together.  Does that even happen anymore?

So yesterday, on the day when New York, one of the most liberal states in our nation — the state that made abortion legal before Roe v Wade — shot down gay marriage, Mama Keaton came out on national TV in a very honest and moving interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show.

She also gave a great interview to The Advocate.  I know she’s made some crazy Lifetime women scorned flicks but she was so great as Lily Rush’s mom a couple of years ago on Cold Case.  I’d love to see her on TV more.

Today marks the first anniversary of the Obama election.  Has the country changed?  Hell, yes.  Have things sucked in so many ways over the last year – duh.  Are we having some really important debates.  Yeah.  I for one am psyched to get rid of my underinsurance that I pay a fortune for each month and get me some real health insurance.

But lots of things have still not changed and the behind the scenes documentary of the Obama campaign By the People directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams airing tonight on HBO reminded me how far we still have to go regarding women’s leadership.  Yes, Obama has appointed a lot of great women to his cabinet and to leadership positions which is awesome, but when I watched the movie the thing I noticed most was the absence of women in his campaign.  Over the last couple of weeks Obama got a bit of an ass whooping for the male sports focused attitude that seems prevalent in the White House, but once you see the documentary you will understand that it is just an extension of the campaign.  There are a couple of very cute scenes with Michelle and Sasha and Malia at home in Chicago, but aside from those scenes the only female voices I heard were the directors asking questions.  I saw Valerie Jarrett a couple of times, I saw Anita Dunn in the background once or twice but neither of them featured prominently in the film and neither of them said a word.  We have all been told that they were crucial advisers, so how come they weren’t more visible and heard?

The film was fine substantively especially because they were able to uniquely capture Obama speaking in the rain on the day his grandmother died and his emotions were all out there for everyone to see.  The film also showed the dedicated commitment of the worker bees on the ground (most all boys again) who worked their asses off to get Obama elected.

But for me the film illustrates how even the most progressive guys (and I am not just singling out Obama, this is about all the men in leadership of his campaign) who care about women’s issues, who live with and love strong feminist women JUST DON’T GET IT.   Women need to be everywhere.  Seen and heard.  It matters.

We need more women in leadership.  Bottom line.  Commerating this anniversary here are some reflections from the Double X writers on what this year would have been like had Hillary won.

Prior to the airing of last Friday night’s Law & Order episode entitled “Dignity”, newsday.com presented it as providing an “intelligent hearing” on the late-term abortion debate.  What can be determined after watching it however, is that the episode is rife with medical inaccuracies and anti-abortion propaganda.  And the true experiences of women who face complex decisions of whether or not to continue pregnancies with serious abnormalities are severely undermined.

The episode began with the point blank shooting of Dr. Benning, a doctor that performed third trimester abortions, while he was praying with his wife in church.  Regardless of Law & Order’s disclaimers to the contrary, this is a direct reference to the murder of Dr. George Tiller, who was shot and killed while ushering in his church on May 31 of this year.

The dialogue of the officers who investigate the murder initially appears to reflect stereotypical pro-choice vs. anti-choice rhetoric, which seems to be the writers’ attempt at presenting a “balanced” viewpoint.   But the recurring messages throughout the program are clearly anti-abortion biased.

More often these days when (it’s usually more like if) a female character in primetime contemplates abortion, she is portrayed as contemplating her own moral failure.  And ultimately, she usually either continues her pregnancy or has a miscarriage – she will almost never have an abortion.  More importantly, if she does cross that forbidden media barrier, she will never feel good about doing so.  This is what we see here – in the character of a young woman who is denied her abortion because her father confided in a protester who ultimately murdered her doctor.  In this young woman’s case, her fetus was diagnosed with a rare skin condition that is potentially fatal and requiring constant medical care.   She is presented as a helpless and selfish woman for not wanting to care for a sick baby on her own, while her father is portrayed as a hero – willing to work 3 jobs and find the money to provide the round-the-clock medical care his daughter’s child would need.

The writers created an even less balanced plot by throwing in an unrealistic and medically inaccurate story of a doomed baby born alive in the process of an attempted abortion, who was then (according to the assistant D.A. on the show) murdered by the doctor.  Thus the plot shifts away from blaming the anti-abortionist who murdered the doctor to placing blame on the doctor who was murdered, and suggesting that he deserved it.  This throws the female assistant D.A. into confusion about her belief in the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.  The fact that the jury ended up convicting the man accused of murdering the doctor was completely lost in this extremely dark “Law and Order twist”.

So we are left with a message that the woman who decides to continue her pregnancy, go through labor, give birth and watch her baby die is noble and good, but the woman who ends her pregnancy when she realizes it will not have a viable life outside the womb is immoral and selfish.

There were so many opportunities for the writers to present the humane side of women faced with complicated pregnancies.  But instead we see respected characters on a beloved TV series cast aspersions on women.  This is deeply stigmatizing, even worse than how anti-abortion protesters shame women in front of clinics every day in this country.  This show did nothing to enhance the complexity of depth of women’s true experiences and only added to the sensationalism and stigma that already exists for women facing these decisions.

NBC should be ashamed for dishonoring the memory of Dr. George Tiller, a man who embodied principles of goodness, kindness, respect, and faith; and for dishonoring the women he helped, whose values told them that the best way to honor themselves and to spare suffering to the doomed life they carried in pregnancy was to end that life.   There was no dignity for either of them in this program.

Jennifer Boulanger, M.Ed., the Executive Director of the Allentown Women’s Center, an independent abortion and reproductive health care center in Pennsylvania and member of the Abortion Care Network.

If you want to make a complaint here is a place where you can lodge one.

Here are the women’s voices I promised.  Please send me more:

This is director Sue Kramer’s comment that appeared on a NY Times article from Oct 1.  It is reprinted here with her permission

I am a Hollywood screenwriter and director and must confess I am appalled at this “out pouring” of support for Roman Polanski by my Hollywood colleagues. He committed a crime, pleaded guilty and was found guilty. Instead of taking responsibility for this crime, he fled the country and has since been served up a lavish life in France, making movies abroad. Rape is rape people! This girl was 13 years old, drugged and molested. Mr. Polanski is an incredibly gifted artist–that does not mean he is not a criminal. We must separate art from life. The fact that France has protected Mr. Polanski thus far is a crime in itself. This being said, not all of us in the Hollywood community have signed this outrageous petition for his release nor do we diminish what he did and is accountable for. Many of us believe there is a large price to pay when you commit a crime and celebrity nor talent warrants freedom.

Sue Kramer

Free the Pedophile

I read Josh Olson’s rant in the LA Times yesterday. He brought up the point that the truly great Hollywood director’s names (like Michael Bay), were not on the petition and frankly that has been what’s bothering me. Why is every legendary auteur in the world on that list, but not a crapmeister like Michael Bay?  Does Michael Bay have better judgment or higher morals? Then I realized the e-mail came indirectly from Thierry Fremaux, the Artistic Director of the Cannes Film Festival. Who else has Martin Scorsese, Wong Kar Wai, Michael Mann, Wim Wenders, Wes Anderson and Darren Aronofsky’s e-mail address? Michael Bay isn’t on the Cannes distribution list and neither is the guy who directed “Porkys”. Now you know this e-mail went out to a bunch of famous women directors as well, but they thought twice about signing the “Free the Pedophile Petition”. But the men, being the idiots that they sometimes are, signed the damn thing. So every director an actor ever dreamed of working with is on that list and no filmmaker can say anything, because who can afford to piss off the Cannes Film Festival. Hence the silence.

Add into the mix, an industry with a long history of discrimination against women, a “spread your legs to get ahead” career path that has yet to change and an American public fed up with the soul destroying garbage coming out of Hollywood…and it’s a powder keg.

I assume the publicists have clamped down on their clients “Don’t say anything to anyone”, but it’s going to be a long drawn out legal battle and Polanski’s going to jail. As a filmmaker, the last thing we need is all of America boycotting independent films for the indefinite future and going to see “Transformers 3” instead, because Michael Bay isn’t on the list. Can someone with clout just call Thierry Fremaux up and tell him “No offense, but the “Free the Pedophile Petition” was a really bad idea”.  And for your penance…say five Hail Marys and hire some women.

Signed Anonymous.

Anonymous is an independent filmmaker and screenwriter based in New York. She has directed narrative shorts and documentary films.

Jay Smooth hits this one out of the park.  (It’s long but worth it.)

So much has been written about the Roman Polanski saga of late.  The lingering questions of why after 30 years did the prosecutors decide now was the time to arrest him.  The fact that the victim wants to move on.  The amount of resources being spent on a way old case when more pressing things are clearly on the agenda of the broke state of California and so on.  But when I saw Debra Winger get up in front of a microphone and defend him on top of the petition that artists and actors have signed  calling for his release I got pissed.

It made me pissed for victims who have never gotten their day in court and for victims who have to fight the system to be heard and believed. The thing that people who are standing up for him don’t want to remember IS THAT HE IS A RAPIST.  It’s not even a story of miscommunication or a he said/she said date rape (not that those aren’t rape either).  It was the statutory rape of a 13-year-old.

The last time this story became a big deal was in 2003 when his film The Pianist (a great movie) was nominated and won several Oscars, including an Oscar for Polanski for best director.  Of course, he couldn’t attend the ceremony because he would have been  jailed for the rape.  Here’s what his victim (her name is Samantha Geimer) said at that time to ABC:

“I would love to see him resolve it,” Geimer said. “And I think we’ve always had the position of, you know, the sooner the better. For the whole last 20 years, if we could just put this to rest that would be great.”

“We did photos with me drinking champagne,” Geimer said. “He was friendly and then right toward the end it got a little scary, and I realized, you know, he had some other intentions and then I knew I was not where I should be. I just didn’t quite know how to get myself out of there.”

And whether or not it was consensual:

“Just by saying no, you know, several times, and then I just kind of gave up on that,” Geimer said.

Why does Roman Polanski get a different set of rules?  He is a convicted rapist who lured his victim a 13-year old girl (now in her 40s with three children) under the guise of taking pictures to help her career and then gave her champagne and quaaludes before raping her.   He also denied the rape at first by saying it was consensual and then he dismissed it by saying it just happened.  Geimer and her mother were also called liars by the media believing that she was going after Polanski to further her career.

I’m not doubting his talents as a director.  He could have put this thing behind him decades ago.  His lack of understanding and caring about how his actions effect his victim is so self-centered.  The thing about this story is that while the perpetrator is a world renowned director the crime is sadly familiar and common.

Roman Polanski Rep Says Justice Has Already Been Served (ABC News)

Polanski Child Sex Victim Speaks Out (ABC News)

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is clearly trying to gin up some talk to get his show some heat as the Emmys approach (the show is nominated for best comedy) so he held a public table read for the now infamous abortion episode. The episode will not air on FOX, but will be included in the DVD of the season.

Here are some clips from the table read which took place at the Academy of Arts and Sciences with an audience and an orchestra.  Very different from a normal table read.  For what it’s worth they actually use the word abortion in the script which doesn’t EVER get said on TV.

The premise of the episode is the Lois agrees to be a surrogate for a friend and her husband and then the couple dies in a car crash.  She then has to decide what to do about the fetus.

‘Family Guy’ Channels Controversy Onstage (Washington Post)

I haven’t written much about politics lately but these three events warranted an acknowledgment.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was awarded the Alice award named for Alice Paul the suffragette.  Via Bust here is some of her acceptance speech:

‘’there is so much work to be done to improve the status of women and girls in many parts of the world. Every single day, you can pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV or log on to a website and see the reports of terrible assaults on women’s progress. We have to fight these attacks on women’s rights, and we have to address the conditions that hold women back and continue to make them the majority of the world’s poor, hungry, and unhealthy.’’

Full post

Wellesley College is creating a school of international affairs and naming it for alum Madeleine Albright.  She will be the first visiting professor when the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs opens in January.

Wellesley creates school named after Albright (Boston Globe)

Melanne Verveer will get sworn in today by Secretary Clinton as the first ambassador for global women’s issues.

Here’s what she had to say about her job to The Daily Beast:

“Investing in women is one of the most powerful forces we have for improving standards of living and developing vibrant civil societies, but it’s a resource that’s still significantly untapped. We’re working to change that dynamic and to unleash the power of women’s global participation–it’s hard to imagine a more exciting enterprise.”

Hillary’s Secret Weapon (The Daily Beast)

So glad these women are on our side.  A big Friday feminist thank you to Secretary Clinton, Secretary Albright and Ambassador Verveer for all their work.

Sally Hawkins

Every time I read about this film I get so excited.  We Want Sex is the true story about women from the Dagenham Ford plant who struck for pay equity in 1968 England.  It was announced at Cannes with some fanfare.

The film stars Sally Hawkins and Rosamunde Pike.  Bob Hoskins plays a union Steward who advises the women and Miranda Richardson (not Imelda Staunton as initially reported) will play cabinet minister Barbara Castle who negotiated with the women. (I would imagine there were not too many female cabinet members in 1968 and I bet the pressure was on Castle from all sides.)

Miranda Richardson

The result of these 300 women’s action was the 1970 Equal Pay Act.  A big moment in British feminist history.

Here’s what Sally Hawkins said about the film:

I am quite passionate about equal pay…It is still such a fight and it is still relevant.

Film will be release in the UK next summer.  I really hope it makes it to the US.  Can’t wait.

British film adds glamour to 60s equality struggle (The Guardian)

Last week I moderated a panel on abortion and popular culture at the National Abortion Federation annual meeting.  It was amazing and humbling to be in a place with people who put themselves on the line each and every day when they go to work because they believe in preserving a woman’s right to her own autonomy.

Some people had to leave early and couldn’t attend the panel and asked me to post my remarks.  Keep in mind that we showed a bunch of clips from TV shows and movies that deal with the issue.  (I’m not posting them due to permissions issues.)

Here is my introduction to the panel:

The objective of this panel is to leave you with some thoughts about popular culture because popular culture is the way that most people outside of this room are exposed to abortion.  Those images reflect choices that are made and values that are formed whether we want to believe it or not.

One of the big questions I wrestle with about pop culture is whether it affects the cultural conversation or reflects it.  As a person who spends a lot of time absorbing pop culture, particularly TV and film, I would venture to say the answer is both.  There are times when pop culture – particularly TV- effects behavior, values and sets an agenda.  Examples I like to use are the 1984 film There’s Something About Amelia that dealt with incest, An Early Frost from 1985 that dealt with AIDS or the 1992’s Doing Time on Maple Drive about a gay teen who tried to commit suicide.  Keep in mind that these examples are from a time when network TV movies were more dominant.  Also think about the cultural conversation that the film Thelma and Louise started several months before the Anita Hill hearing.  It touched a raw nerve and helped create a potent conversation.

The culture has softened and shifted on issues that were taboo only a short time ago and the best example is sexuality.  Until recently gay people were pretty much invisible, and if they were seen they were alone and silent.  But things have shifted on this issue as more people – particularly young people, a much desired demographic in the entertainment business – have grown more comfortable.  While there are very few – if any- shows with gay leads, gay people are interwoven into many shows.  A great example of that is Brothers and Sisters which I call the gayest show on TV.  The gay rights movement has been very smart in how they have used the culture and the pro-choice movement could learn from them.

But abortion is different.  And as you can tell from the clips you just saw (with film clips to come later in our discussion) we started at the top of the mountain with Maude.  I just want to acknowledge Bea Arthur as Maude and Dorothy from the Golden Girls who died this past weekend for her groundbreaking characters.  Maude aired on November 14, 1972 several months before the passage of Roe v Wade.  CBS was not happy at all that it was taking on abortion in its first season, but Norman Lear threatened to pull the show and the network was forced to air the episodes.  65 million people watched it.  (Remember that there was no cable then and very few channels)

Here’s a recent homage to the show from Entertainment Weekly on the occasion of the DVD release:

“On those rare occasions when TV dares to deal with the volatile issue of abortion, it would be unthinkable to play the subject for laughs. But then, to paraphrase the All in the Family spin-off’s theme song, there was Maude. In its second month on the air, Maude grabbed headlines as the first sitcom that dared to deal with the subject, setting a caustic, politically charged tone for the CBS series that would endure throughout its six-year run.  Creator Norman Lear denies his motivation was political. ”We weren’t trying to make a statement,” he insists today. ”(At first) we asked, what’s a good, funny story and pregnancy was a great comedic idea.…”

When the show was rerun in the summer of 73, 39 of CBS’ 198 affiliates refused to air it and it ran with no ads.  I can pretty much guarantee that Maude as it was written in 1972 would not make it on the air today.

Continue reading ‘Presentation from Panel on Abortion in Popular Culture’

Since the L Word ended last month, the glaring absence of gay women on primetime TV has been thrust into full view.  Daytime TV has taken up the issue in multiple ways, but primetime TV is seriously lagging behind.  Remember it’s been 12 years since Ellen came out on her show, and then it was pretty quickly canceled.  Now all that’s out there is Callie and Arizona on Grey’s Anatomy and the show seems to have backed off developing their relationship in a big way.  You gotta give props to Brothers & Sisters which has integrated gay issues into the show through the characters of Kevin and more recently Saul.  But women…missing.

So I was really interested when I came across this piece on the site Greg in Hollywood: Liz Feldman tells the frustrasting tale of trying to sell a lesbian sitcom to the TV networks.  Greg reported from a recent Writer’s Guild event where Liz Feldman (a writer/producer on Ellen) talked about her experiences trying to get a sitcom made:

I really wanted to develop a show with a lesbian lead character. I wrote a spec script about me and my straight guy best friend, kind of the reverse of Will & Grace

They read the gay script, they liked the gay script but they were like, ‘What else do you have? We think you’re a little bit ahead of your time.’ This is about a year ago (laughter from audience).”

“So I pitched them a very mainstream show about a straight single girl and her group of married friends. Yawn. I was bored with it myself and sort of thought I could sell it and I did.

About five days after the election, I get a call from a lovely executive who actually really do adore and she said: ‘I have a radical idea. What if we made the lead character a lesbian?’  At this point, I said, ‘Remember six months ago when you said I was ahead of my time? Was I six months ahead of my time?’

So I revamped the entire show, threw out the entire show and created a very sort of down-the-middle half-hour sitcom about a lesbian and her homophobic mother who has to move in with her because her third husband has left her and taken everything. It’s called Get Used To It.

It got great feedback from the studio and would you know, ABC the network passed.

Then they sent it over to other places – I won’t name names – and everybody passed. Nobody wants to make that show

I’m determined. It might take a really long time but I promise you that there will be a sitcom or a half-hour single-camera with a lesbian lead character.

So what’s up with primetime TV and gay women?  Will & Grace even seems so long ago and I’m wondering, would that show even be on the air today? Why are lesbians on primetime TV so taboo?

Greg in Hollywood

Gloria Steinem turns 75 years young today.  I hope to be kicking as many asses as she is when I’m 75.  She, like all of us still have a lot of work to do, but today we give thanks for Gloria’s inspiration and perseverance.

Here’s a quote from an interview with the NY Daily News (h/t Jezebel)

“Women and girls no longer feel crazy, alone or flying in the face of nature if they have the outrageous idea that they should be treated as full human beings,” the feminist leader and social activist told The News Tuesday. “Knowing that the system is crazy, not you, is a huge leap forward.”

“We’ve demonstrated that women can do what men do, but not yet that men can do what women do. That’s why most women have two jobs — one inside the home and one outside it — which is impossible. The truth is that women can’t be equal outside the home until men are equal in it.”

The Gloria Steinem Factor: On feminist icon’s 75th birthday, she has much to celebrate, as do we (NY Daily News)