Demonized Women and Emasculated Men: Changes in Gender Role Portrayals in Sitcoms in post-World War II America

Whether America has realized Hoover's vision of a chicken in every pot, there is a television in every home. Powerful and accessible, television possesses the ability to persuade and, thus, reify the status quo or affect social change. It is no surprise, given comedy programming's roots in radio and Vaudeville, that a recurrent theme in sitcoms is the war between the sexes. Despite a surfeit of studies examining specific programs, there exists no comprehensive study exploring how gender depictions have changed since television's proliferation in post-WWII America. This time span is especially important because it is bisected by Second Wave Feminism. While sitcoms have been a steady source of entertainment since Ricky loved Lucy, the hegemony of this genre is no laughing matter. Prime-time programs often — whether explicitly — “convey ‘messages' to their viewers . . . and portray certain values as more desirable than others.” This is particularly true with regard to gender, although TV shows need not fortify traditional ideals. But how far has television come? A pilot study employing a Grounded Theory analysis of sitcoms from 1952 to 2004 reveals that, regardless of the progressive nature of some programming, the most watched sitcoms reaffirm mainstream stereotypes of women. What has changed, however, is the hierarchical relationship between the sexes. Ironically, Second Wave Feminism did not bring equality to television's men and women but rather role reversal. Where once television women were childlike subordinates to their male counterparts, now men are depicted as irresponsible children women must mother and discipline.