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?
- W.F. Price of The Spearhead
- Christopher in Oregon, legendary vagina-hating Man Going His Own Way
- 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?
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…"
Kyrie, I’ve never had my heart broken by a toothbrush either! Clearly we need more shows focusing on toothbrushes.
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.
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.
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.
You are all irrelevant.
I, for one, welcome the rule of our new Vagina Overlords.
You know, with all the vaginas on TV these days, they should stop calling it the “vast wasteland” and call it “the vast below-the-waist-land,” amiritefellas?
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?
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.
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.
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.”
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.
As a “damaged” person myself… I have to say, my lovers are the LEAST of it.
I laughed XD
I mean, it won’t stop him, I’m sure; never stops the mammoth folks either XD
I just caught this line in particular. I guess that explains the dude’s weird fixation with how divorces TOTALLYFOREVER RUIN YOU.
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…..
Comedian Jen Kirkman is sending Aronsohn endless tweets about her periods.
https://twitter.com/#!/JenKirkman
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.
And yes, thank you Patrick Stewart. You’re amazing.
So tell me Antzy, how is the “greatest humans rights movement of all time” doing?
@AntZ
obviously not irrelevant to you and the MRM since all you guys do it rant and complain about us 😀
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?
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?
So that’s what vaginas look like. Terrifying. It’s amazing so many men are into them.