Comments on: “We Saw Your Misogyny”: The Oscars & Seth MacFarlane

By: Susan Lucy

Susan Lucy — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:18:14 +0000

Seth MacFarlane’s oscar hosting was textbook sexual harassment. These women had a business stake in the outcome of that night and were therefore held hostage to play along with their humiliation to be accepted in the workplace. This was all done during an international broadcast, while others laughed and cheered. Had they not had so much at stake they should / would have walked out. But that’s how sexual harassment works. You are held hostage by your harasser. Maybe next year women can just go to a business gathering without being humiliated. Maybe.The fact that no one, including major media outlets, will not call it out tells you something about the boys club being still firmly in place.

By: On the most recent Oscars | English 110

On the most recent Oscars | English 110 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:03:53 +0000

[…] For more: http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2013/02/27/we-saw-your-misogyny-the-oscars-seth-macfarlane/ […]

By: Tim Anderson

Tim Anderson — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 02:04:14 +0000

Of course I meant to say ” you couldn’t make that joke”

By: Tim Anderson

Tim Anderson — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:53:35 +0000

I tink this post points to one of the most pernicious and despicable claims made in our culture: women are not funny. We all know the counter examples from Lucille Ball to Melissa McCarthy yet it still exists, particularly as part of the stand up world. The issue about someone not being able to “take a joke” is all too often followed by “just isn’t funny”. Women almost always suffer in this formulation because women’s bodies go through the daily scrutiny that allows a comic to leisurely talk about seeing someones breast in a movie. A similar dick joke at the oscars is unthinkable because that kind of scrutiny is both technically and culturally off limits. In other words, Male full frontal nudity is such a rare occurrence that you could make that joke on an annual basis on a Globally televised event and even if you could some producer would probably stop you from doing so, which I think is also the point of your post.

By: R. Colin Tait

R. Colin Tait — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:59:33 +0000

Hi Erin, really like this piece, especially the call to examine, call out and talk about everyday misogyny. I say one place to start is the Huffington Post, which only masquerades as a liberal news aggregator, but mostly trades in exactly the hateful policing of women’s bodies that you speak about.

By: Lindsay Hogan

Lindsay Hogan — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:30:18 +0000

Excellent post, Erin. I couldn’t agree more that this is a particularly important moment for conversation and dialogue. This was something I was especially thinking amid the slew (sp?) of reports that ratings for this year’s Oscar broadcast were up 20% over last year (in 18-49, 3% overall), leading outlets like The Atlantic – who had some of the better critiques of the misogyny/racism/anti-semitism/homophobia in his schtick – to declare “Well, you win, MacFarlane,” as if that’s the end of it; as if the “ratings upgrade…among advertisers’ favorite people” deems any continued critique and/or calls for change completely pointless and futile.

There are, of course, a number of ways to read the ratings bump (including critique of the ratings system itself), but even if one does take the ratings to mean that MacFarlane’s brand of humor “worked,” to use the NYT’s words, it illustrates an even greater opportunity (and need) to delve into conversations about the machinations of hegemony. So, thanks for taking the time to get such a conversation going here at Antenna!

Oh, and p.s. here’s the link to that Atlantic piece, “Seth MacFarlane Is Oscar Ratings Gold” – http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/02/seth-macfarlane-oscar-ratings-2013/62503/.

By: Anne Helen Petersen

Anne Helen Petersen — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:07:57 +0000

Great post, Erin. I’m excited to have these conversations with my students today — and to have had them as well over Twitter over the last few days. Teaching moment indeed.