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Quote of the day: “We’re approaching peak vagina on television, the point of labia saturation.”

Ladies, please! We don't need to see THAT.

Quiz! Who said the following, in reference to the presence of women on television?

Enough, ladies. I get it. You have periods. … [W]e’re approaching peak vagina on television, the point of labia saturation.

Was it?

  1. W.F. Price of The Spearhead
  2. Christopher in Oregon, legendary vagina-hating Man Going His Own Way
  3. Reddit commenter VjayjaysAreIcky69

Trick question! It was actually Two and a Half Men co-creator Lee Aronsohn, complaining to The Hollywood Reporter about the female-centric sticoms that have popped up of late. (There’s plenty to complain about when it comes to shows like Whitney and 2 Broke Girls, but “the main characters have vaginas” ain’t it.)

In a keynote address at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference, Aronsohn also defended his show’s tendency to portray women in a less-than-flattering light:

Screw it. … We’re centering the show on two very damaged men. What makes men damaged? Sorry, it’s women. I never got my heart broken by a man.

So brave, Aronsohn, so brave, standing up to the Matriarchy like that!

On ThinkProgress, Alyssa Rosenberg lays into Aronsohn:

[H]aving to hear that ladies have menstrual cycles, take birth control pills, and enjoy sex is just unbearable, right? Because even though the number of female characters on television tends to hover in the low 40 percent range, we’re just saturated with vaginas, because god forbid stories about men and their ish don’t absolutely dominate the media? Because even though those shows Aronsohn’s complaining about have actually created more writing and directing jobs for men than women, and resulted in some really awful portrayals as a result, we couldn’t possibly let women come to expect that they’ll have access to stories both about them and by them, could we? Because where would that leave poor, suffering, disadvantaged American men?

And then she takes on the entertainment industry in general, for tolerating his troglodyte views:

[T]hat Aronsohn is dumb and woman-fearing enough not just to believe this, to blithely admit he believes it to a major publication tells you everything about how cosseted Hollywood’s disgusting sexists are. You want to know why we get what we get on movie and television screens? …  Because there are, apparently, no consequences in Hollywood for being perfectly open about how much you despise women’s bodies and the contours of women’s lives.

Maude Lebowski, what do you have to say about all this?

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Lady Zombie
Lady Zombie
12 years ago

Sorry to derail but I <3 Patrick Stewart so much right now. It's 4 years old but I just now saw it. Don't read the comments though. Ugh. There's a bunch of "but women are just as violent as men and initiate domestic violence at the same rate as men and…"

ostara321
ostara321
12 years ago

Kyrie, I’ve never had my heart broken by a toothbrush either! Clearly we need more shows focusing on toothbrushes.

ostara321
ostara321
12 years ago

Cuz gay men don’t exist, amirite?

Either that or he’s convinced that they never have sad, messy breakups that they sometimes regret years later. Or have misunderstandings that go unaddressed which evolve into deeply rooted relationship issues. Or have disagreements that result in painful shouting matches. And they never pine for someone who doesn’t return their feelings.

I’m not sure what planet he lives on where this is the case, but here on Earth, I know plenty of men and women who’ve had their hearts broken by men.

abeegoesbuzz
abeegoesbuzz
12 years ago

When was the last time you saw some genitals on U.S. TV?

Mad Men. Enough, babies. I get it. You have diaper rash. We’re approaching peak baby ball on television, the point of teeny tiny testicle saturation.

Bostonian
12 years ago

I think it is time for Bostonian to be a pedantic asshole! No one can see a vagina on television! The vagina is an internal organ! You can see a vulva, but not a vagina on a naked woman.

Now if you are a total jerkface and use the word vagina to mean woman, then you are just simply too stupid to live, please cease to exist immediately.

anthonyzarat
anthonyzarat
12 years ago

You are all irrelevant.

Glass
Glass
12 years ago

I, for one, welcome the rule of our new Vagina Overlords.

pangea
12 years ago

This guy wrote for three women-centric sitcoms (Cybill, Grace Under Fire, and Murphy Brown) and he’s complaining about women-centric sitcoms? Say what?

Kyrie
Kyrie
12 years ago

Bostonian: I agree, ergo my question. Technically, it would be possible to see a vagina, but it would require a very big close-up. Or maybe a drawing, or even a dead one.
But I don’t think you can find a lot of those on TV. Though last time I went to a theater play they had a stuffed clitoris to illustrate what it looks like and the actual size of it. It was oddly cute.

spearhafoc
spearhafoc
12 years ago

I had my heart broken by a toothbrush.

No, wait, not my heart…oh yeah, it’s made my gums bleed. That’s obviously the toothbrush’s fault, but my dentist says it wouldn’t happen if I brushed more. Pfft. If brushing once a month makes blood, brushing twice a day will make 60 times more blood. Ipso facto – whatever that means.

Shaenon
12 years ago

People, please. Let’s show some respect here. The guy who created “Two and a Half Men” is neither a woman nor a gay man, therefore their experiences are of no interest to the world and should definitely not be mentioned on television, ever. Why does television exist, if not solely and entirely for the creator of “Two and a Half Men”?

With all the successful funny women suddenly out there in popular culture, I figured it was only a matter of time before we got some blowback. The hilarious thing is that Aronsohn can’t play the usual “women aren’t funny” card because, come on, he writes “Two and a Half Men.”

Kyrie
Kyrie
12 years ago

Haha, I’ve got PERIOD right now, in my VAGINA! Look at me bullying men.
Tmi? 🙂

And gay men have sex 24/7, never talk about silly things like feelings and never do stupid things like fall in love or cheat.

spearhafoc : I think Quod Erat Demonstratum would work better. All my condolences.

ozymandias42
12 years ago

As a “damaged” person myself… I have to say, my lovers are the LEAST of it.

Rutee Katreya
12 years ago

The hilarious thing is that Aronsohn can’t play the usual “women aren’t funny” card because, come on, he writes “Two and a Half Men.”

I laughed XD

I mean, it won’t stop him, I’m sure; never stops the mammoth folks either XD

Rutee Katreya
12 years ago

“Screw it. … We’re centering the show on two very damaged men. What makes men damaged? Sorry, it’s women. I never got my heart broken by a man.”

I just caught this line in particular. I guess that explains the dude’s weird fixation with how divorces TOTALLYFOREVER RUIN YOU.

Ithiliana
12 years ago

So, anybody else but me looking forward to the new HBO series “GIRLS” (I’m shortening the title, it’s actually GIRLS AND ALL THEIR VAGINAS AND ICKY STUFF ALL THE TIME JUST GIRLS NOTHING BUT GIRLS BECAUSE GIRLS! DID WE MENTION GIRLS?

I am in love with Lena Dunham: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bastard-machine/review-girls-lena-dunham-brilliant-HBO-298379

And I saw prevue on the Sunday GAME OF THRONES which rocked!

So I am clearly um totally something because GoT and GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS

i’m so excited…..

Maya Lovelace
Maya Lovelace
12 years ago

[W]e’re approaching peak vagina on television, the point of labia saturation.

There seems to be an inverse proportion between one’s pretentiousness and one’s intelligence. I’m sure I’m not the only person to realize this.

Maya Lovelace
Maya Lovelace
12 years ago

And yes, thank you Patrick Stewart. You’re amazing.

Maya Lovelace
Maya Lovelace
12 years ago

You are all irrelevant.

So tell me Antzy, how is the “greatest humans rights movement of all time” doing?

Quackers
Quackers
12 years ago

@AntZ

obviously not irrelevant to you and the MRM since all you guys do it rant and complain about us 😀

Unimaginative
Unimaginative
12 years ago

That graphic is terrifying. If they’d shown me that in sex-ed in Grade 5, I would have been psychologically damaged beyond repair.

So. Charlie Sheen is the way he is because Denise Richards was too mean to him? It wasn’t the drugs and generally abusive behaviour toward himself and, um, everybody? Wow. Who knew?

darksidecat
12 years ago

You people are so easily satisfied by a glimpse of genital on HBO…I am ashamed of you! XD

Also, I know I’m not the most romantic person in the world, but come on, don’t people have life issues outside of their dating troubles? I haven’t got laid in…well…a long time and I have other issues in my life that I can talk about. Do these people have no lives outside of trying to have sex?

magdelynswallows
12 years ago

So that’s what vaginas look like. Terrifying. It’s amazing so many men are into them.