Rosanne Barr on Sexism & Network Television

[xulamaude]

2. The network show that always comes to mind for me

is Law and Order: SVU. That show is going into its 16th season.

When it first came on tv I was really impressed (and happy because I had worked with Mariska Hargitay way back when were quite young and was pleased to see her in a good, strong female role) with the groundbreaking nature of the show. Instead of sweeping the reality of rape and child molestation under the rug they were exposing it and being serious about it.

But over the years it's just slid into more of the same normalization-of-rape, semi-pornographic, titillating bullshit that is what passes for entertainment. And I stopped watching it. I feel sorry for Mariska because it seems that she still thinks the show is doing the good work it was doing in the early seasons (she also has quite a bit of control over the content these days...) and is not seeing what we see. It's tough for a woman to work in the industry and not be sucked into the male mindset. That was a big contributing factor in my decision to leave the biz.