- A report by the High Council for Equality considers that reality TV shows are "providers of sexism".
- The HCE has screened episodes of several programs like Les Marseillais VS. The Rest of the World, The Angels of reality TV and Koh-Lanta.
- The report, on the inventory of sexism in France, recommends the establishment of a charter of engagement between chains concerning these programs appreciated by the young televiewers.
Tuesday evening, Amazon Prime Video launched its French version of the dating show Love Island , presented by Nabilla Benattia. "I am for girl power so I really want women to be the mistresses of the game," explained the new animator and ex-candidate of reality TV game at Télé Loisirs . They will have a lot of power and influence over the course of the show from the first minutes. Will this program, presented as revolutionary by its producers, improve the image of women usually conveyed by reality TV shows? It would be happy.
Stupid, weak and rival ... This is in summary the image of women in these programs, according to the report of the High Council for Equality between Women and Men (HCE) on the state of play of sexism in France in 2019 The HCE analyzed three reality TV shows: Les Marseillais VS. The Rest of the World, The Angels of reality TV and Koh-Lanta . For each of these shows, seven episodes were randomly selected. The result of this viewing is clear: “reality TV is a great provider of sexism. "
Staging of "clashes" and virile culture
Women are for example often presented as stupid. As in this episode of Marseillais 4 , where one of the candidates says about Clara: "I like her very much but when she takes the G culture test, I want to put myself underground". Or this passage from the Angels 11, where Selim says about Jelena: "And she doesn't smell like a potato, she's naive, she's stupid".
These straightforward statements are supported by a more subtle mechanism of sexualization of the candidates, who are returned more than men to their bodies, explains the HCE. "Reality shows the public about sexualized women, even in contexts that do not usually lend themselves to it", such as the bikini in the house or the transparent bathrobe and the stilettos at breakfast.
Presenting sports events tailored for men, where women and men compete, and where women lose systematically, is another way of highlighting their "weakness" and of perpetuating, according to the HCE, a virile culture. The reality TV presents a universe of violence, where reigns a culture of the sexist insult and the competition between women. It is the cliché of women who "crepe the bun" ...
charter
Fuse the "whores", who also sexualize women; homophobic insults, which reinforce the injunction to virility, and the staging of "clashes". "Everything on the show becomes a battleground and, to win, you have to be a warrior and defeat the others," explains the HCE. Even if it means denigrating them, crushing them, humiliating them. Like this verbal exchange in the Angels of reality TV : “You have a *** ***, it's Bob Marley ugly”, “You took an octopus to put it in your hair! "
Entertainment programs are essential in the fight against sexism on screens: audiences 4 years and older spend 55% of their television time watching them. To put an end to these stereotypes, the HCE proposes to have all the channels that produce reality TV shows sign a charter of commitment. Not won, when we know that in 2018, the hearings of the CSA with the groups TF1, M6 and NRJ systematically ended in pudding.
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- Television
- gender equality
- Sexism
- Reality show
- The angels of reality TV