When Did You Last See Yourself On Television?

And it's time now to show us as we are making a space where women can meet. >> Fine. Just turn the head away from me completely. Just lean over me even more onto your right, love. That's fine. This whole feeling is going to be rich and very elegant. Stretch the neck. Just that little turn now towards the camera. Turning, turning, turning, turning. Just eye straight down into the lens almost. Okay, break it away again. Just wait. Just wait for the comments from there, babe. I don't know. Again, just coming around slowly towards the camera. Slowly, slowly, slowly. Beautiful. And again, please just break it away. >> How are women presented on television both in programs and in advertising? What we're shown is said to have a strong influence on our lives. But are we being influenced by a fantasy world and not given a realistic picture of women? >> Women who work in television and women viewers examine what it is that television offers us. >> Just beautiful. I only caught a glimpse of him when I got on. He's terribly handsome. I wish I could turn around, but he's still looking at me. I can feel his eyes. What if he speaks to me? How would I be? Distant, warm, or would I fall in love with him? Silly. I'm only going to talk to him. Or am I? >> Grant, it says what you feel. >> That television advertisement was made to sell perfume. What do you think about it? Well, I think that it was totally unrealistic. I don't know any women like that at all. Um the fact that she was representing a very minor upper class. She wasn't, you know, the um there's never any Maris or any ordinary people in this sort of role is um you know indicative of the fact that it's just a fake sort of a um a show if you like. The whole advertisement was obviously made by men acting out their um fantasies. that sort of image that men like that weakness that they seem to think it is. And they want that um to put it across to more women and try and make them realize that this is really this is a true real woman, you know, which it isn't. Of course, >> it it put across that all that woman was living for was to be sexy to men. But what real women live for that, you know, they put their energies into all sorts of things, not just not just men. [Music] Can I help you? >> Uh, no thanks. >> You looking for someone in particular? >> Uh, no, not really. >> Right. [Music] with um many women, makeup and anything that professes to to bring out their personality. Perfume, clothes, you know, hairspray, hair color, you know, um is just a perhaps a mask to um hide behind and and to sort of, you know, the little underhand subtle games that can be played behind the mask without people really realizing the real you. Um it was generally um men who ha gave the woman image. This is the perfect woman. This is what you have to attain. If you're not there, you know, you're you're not worth it, you know. So there's all these women clamoring for the ideal body, the ideal hair, the you know, the ideal face. And of course, you know, it's the the makeup industry, um, body industry is just booming because of the symbol that the men have put there. It's just the great con and people don't realize it. You know, I I've, you know, I've really got better things to do than to um go around moping after men sort of thing. But I've got lots of good mean friends, but I'm not I don't feel the need to um attract them by um fake by by covering myself. I want them to see me, you know. >> Oh yeah, it'll be well. >> Sandy Hall is a senior copywriter with a large advertising agency in Christ Church and has been in the business for 14 years. She trained in Canada before settling in New Zealand, where she's worked for four agencies. [Music] Sandy feels that advertising men and their clients will often use stereotype images of women to sell their products. This means, for example, that they may use an ideal housewife image to sell household goods or the image of a glamorous woman to sell anything from beauty products to soft drinks. These stereotypes, says Sandy, may seem harmless, but they in fact limit women by showing only a small number of roles we can identify with. The images that we see of women on our TV screens, uh, the ones that we've been seeing for years, those that we call stereotypes, they're just not working anymore. you know, the misty light bit and the very romantic thing, you know, they're not working anymore for more and more women, which is really exciting to me. Really exciting. I I know that some of them are still working for some women, and that's that's very painful. But the fact that we are making changes, the fact that things are happening, the fact that women are saying no to a lot more of these images, that sort of gives me the courage to go on. >> Oh, Mike. Oh, there's some more of these. Look, doesn't that really make you furious? >> Yeah, I see what you mean. It's a good design, though. Yeah, but I don't know if that justifies her really. >> Here's another one here. >> It took me a long time to bring my understanding of how men are really trying to shape women um into my job uh and get it across to the men that I was working with. You know, I'd say to them, "Look, women aren't like that. I'm not like that." and he'd say, "Uh, but you're not like the average woman. Uh, you're intelligent." >> And I used to get the feeling that these men who really rely on these consumers, all these women, um, to pay their salaries is what it comes down to, just think they're a lot of dumb sponges. Just imagine a women a woman sitting watching TV and suddenly beginning to think Does that does that sort of image relate to me? Am I really like that? I I really think that if she thought about advertising, and I know some women do, but thought about it and followed the processes through and said, "Who produces the product? Who makes the product?" Well, it's all those men. Who puts the advertising down? Who runs the advertising industry? Again, it's men. Who decides where the ad will be shown on television the time that it that it's aired? Again, it's men. So no matter where she goes, she will realize that there are men dictating to her what she will wear, what she will eat, how she will feel, how what she will buy, all of those things. >> Fine. That's enough eye shadow now though. Now listen, just completely no color. Want that complete blank white flat look just with the the solid eyes and the solid lips. Oh, a great friend. >> All right, >> just hands away now. Just just have a look. Again, just >> there are ways to sell products without using women's faces and bodies. However, Sandy has often had a hard struggle to convince manufacturers that other ways will work. >> I remember very well one of the very first jobs that um I tried this. This is what happened. Um, the product was a drink. Uh, and I had done uh what I thought was a really good idea and it has a little taste bud and he's waiting for something good to happen. Behind the little guard taste bud are all these taste buds who are very bored. And the little guard taste bud rushes in and he says, "Oh, something's coming. Something good." And they all brighten up. And then this particular soft drink is poured into the mouth and the taste buds. Oh, you know, it's terrific. It's terrific. It's terrific. I took the idea um to the account executive who said that he would take it along to the client and I wasn't asked to go along, which surprised me because normally the uh creative people do go along. Um maybe it was because I was a woman. I waited, of course, till he came back and I was quite um excited to see because I was really hept up by the by the idea and the account executive came back and said, "Oh, the client says he doesn't want this. He wants a bird with big tits on a beach." You know, I felt as if I'd been hit. I really did feel as if I'd been slapped on the face. And I created hell. I really did. I and eventually because I was so strappy about it, they arranged a meeting between myself and the client and I talked to him and talked to him and talked I've talked to him for about 4 hours altogether and finally got him to admit that what he wanted was probably not a very good thing and that he would go on my idea and not only that it was a success. Yes. [Applause] A few years ago, Miriam Cameron was a successful model in Oakland, but she gave up this work when she found that modeling meant being molded and shaped by male photographers. Miriam tells us just how that ideal image was achieved. >> Well, actually on the on the site when when we're actually getting shot, um that's quite easy. He just yells at you. You know, you're standing there like this and he'll say that I'm now I'm like Miriam. Miam. Drop that mouth. Drop the mouth. Don't smile for Christ's sake. And I'd say, "But I'm not." And he'd say, "Don't talk either. Don't talk for God's sake." Yes, that's right, baby. Relax. Relax. Yes. Yes. That's it. That's it. The left arm's too high in room. Move it down. Move it down. And finally, he'd have the shape, which was usually a very sort of submissive, seductive um pose. That's what most of the adverts are like. You know, sex is the biggest thing that they use to sell sell garments or anything, dishwashers. It was always like that, you know, you were never uh standing there as an individual or a person. You were some kind of a um oh sort of a toy object or something. But I felt always submissive. There was always this submissive sort of thing. And that the um the epitome of that submissiveness was the the mouth, the dropping of the mouth that that every photographer wanted you to to have this sort of open dropped um wideeyed lost girl look, you know, and that really started to aggravate me after about 4 months, you know. Another thing male photographers did was sort of force you into um really vicious competition and that was their way of suppressing you. Like you you'd be on the set and um I remember this guy Derek saying, "Miriam, for God's sake, you look terribly look terrible. I take Judy. Look at her. Look at her. She's just had a baby and she's looking great. You're looking great, Judy." He'd go and of course I'd think, "Oh god, you know, he'd threaten not to pay you or threaten to sack you." And he never would. But it was always the the you know, that's the way the um the big boss works all the time. There's no doubt about it. You were down, you know. Miriam feels that competition forces women to look away from each other and to set their sights only on pleasing men. >> Oh, that and of course that's another thing, one of the most important things about working is um the relationship you have with the people you work and you just don't the models that you work with are potential enemies. They're not your mates at all. So, you're missing out on a really important social um uh experience. [Applause] [Music] >> Hang on. I just can't tell. [Music] I gave up modeling and became a concrete worker because I wanted a job where I could be independent and use my body and have workmates. It's you've just got no idea the difference between being a model and a concrete worker. It's like being dead and alive. Advertising men are in business to make money and the one way that they know that they can make money is to keep on the screens on the radio etc. the these images of women who are in competition with one another who are so worried about the whiteness of their wash uh compared to the whiteness of the woman's wash next door that they look at the sheets on the clothesline rather than the woman themselves. Now, one of the things that we have to keep remembering is that the sort of images that we are constantly being bombarded with do not come only from advertising. They come from all of the things. You go into a chemist shop and you see a little tray which has those little uh nurse cherry finds love in the Bahamas uh books, they are full of it. Um radio programs, magazines, uh films, billboards, every form of communication that we have. Um, and of course, one of the major offenders of television keeps reinforcing again and again and again, this is what you were like. This is what you were like. And that is so annoying. [Music] Who can turn the world on with her smile? [Music] who can take a day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile. >> Some people claim that the Mary Tyler Mo Show is a breakthrough because it's about an independent woman doing an interesting job, thus reflecting the changing role of women. But on closer examination, women find that Mary Tyler Mo is subtly drawn back into traditional feminine behavior. She's still pushed around by men and finds herself unable to be independent at all. >> After all, [Music] >> well, [Music] so whisper. >> Well, what's for dessert? >> Oh, it's poor illusions. >> What did you think of the program? Oh, well, for a start, the whole music, the um you know, the setting up of her as a the great independent career woman. You're going to make it after all, you know, going to make it as a woman as well as a independent sort of Yeah. liberated lady and things. And yet, it's not like that at all. Yeah. >> What What does she do? >> Well, and she doesn't seem to work at all. Well, I guess I >> um not eat anything sort of pre you are. >> Personally, I'd love to have come. I probably would have had the time of my life, but your previous assumption made it impossible for me to come. >> Mr. Grant just can just push her out of his office and >> you know she hasn't got any. >> Yeah, that's another point. She was so humanitarian, you know, with that scene with with Lou and and he sort of sent out her whole I really objected to the way that she what really bothered me was um the competitiveness of the woman. Um for instance, that scene with Suanne and catching the bouquet um and Mary turned around and looked at her really in a really annoyed manner. >> Yeah. Um, and of course it's written by men putting making the women into these characters which they aren't. >> Yeah. It's unreal. [Music] >> This is just wonderful, Mary. >> Thank you, Georgette. >> And I love the wine. It's one of my favorite kinds. Geette just, you know, brings up everybody's ideas about dumb blondes with blue eyes. You know, she's got that wispy baby voice and she's so ultimately stupid. I mean, you know that scene where, you know, this is my favorite wine, white. >> It's been ruled by the courts in New Zealand. a lady who goes around with no clothes on. >> How much relevance does television have to the daily lives of New Zealand women? We asked Shirley Child at Anen Housewife for her comments. >> Television could be really enjoyable, but there are so I'm concerned about so many programs that put women down. Perhaps the shows that annoy me most of all, especially when my children were younger and I have five children, were these glossy shows, usually American, where the house was immaculate, the parents were immaculate, the dog was shampooed, there wasn't a weed in the garden, the children were beautiful. Um, only the little boys were ever allowed to get dirty, the little girl was usually helping her mother do the dishes. And these were so unreal that they just really annoyed me. >> This is Mrs. Collins doing a family wash. While she's teaching, drives hungry enzymes are at work right there in the soak. Actually, >> some programs and advertisers have become aware that women's roles are changing. But they obscure the significance of this by showing that domestic work is still a woman's responsibility. your whole wash comes out. >> Advertisers have caught on to the fact that some women actually go out to work because previous to this woman have been kept strictly in the home. This in this ad the woman is a teacher and it shows her teaching in a school situation and then later on it shows her doing the washing at home. And I think this is is quite bad really because it in it indicates that women uh if they go out to work they should still do all the chores at home and the situation in New Zealand I'm sure is changing in our household. Um my husband and children help share the cooking and the housework and this is becoming quite usual. I have a part-time job and it's really important that the rest of the family shares the responsibility. I think this is very important but very few or of the family type shows ever show this or the advertisements. >> One woman who's been prominent for many years in the media in New Zealand is Marcia Russell. She was the founding editor of Thursday magazine and later became the interviewer on Speak Easy, an afternoon television program. She's now one of the two news editors on television 2's News at 10. As a woman working in television, does Maria feel that she can make any changes in the way women are portrayed? I think one of the difficulties about being a woman in the media and caring about women's issues is that you're constantly up against the assumptions that men in the structure have about where women fit in. And I believe from a professional viewpoint that these assumptions distort their approach to the news and and therefore make it not objective. The sort of thing I mean is if there is a rape reported, the men tend to make the assumption that it's just some little scrubber who was out there on the street and who was asking for it and they approach the story from that point of view. And it's very often um the same belief is held by the police. So it gets reinforced all the time by by the authorities that they speak to about the situation. I think it's certainly true that more programs are being made that deal with women's issues by by certain people um like Gordon Den and Brian Edwards. But it seems to me that men making those programs, laying down the ground rules for what will be said when they stop, the sort of framework that they create for for women to express their views does not really give an opportunity for for women to express themselves. And and I saw it happen in speak easy. And I I'm sure I see it happening on those programs where women come along because they have something to say that they really believe in and they wind up saying something completely different because they've got into some sort of hostile encounter either with the front person or with someone else who's been deliberately brought in to set against them. In other words, in the search for varying views, you get hostilities, which means the point is very often lost. I think that's dangerous. I also think that this whole system of um here comes our front person, applaud, applaud, all of that sort of thing is totally irrelevant to getting people to express their opinions and the decision has to be made. Um are we putting on a great entertainment where we have a front person who is the big personality or are we trying to get people to make the programs and become the personalities themselves? the people that come into the studio are the allimportant ones, not that person who's sitting there conducting it. I think we're living in an age of great social change or we all know we are and women are changing along with it socially. I don't think the media does reflect this. I think that it sets its face against it that the media tries to reinforce the status quo when it comes to women. If a woman of achievement arrives in the country, you can bet your boots if she has a conference, there's going to be some male reporter there who will at some stage say, "And do you attribute your success to women's slip?" Um, which has nothing to do with it. But you see some woman getting cornered because that isn't what she wants to talk about. Her expertise is in biochemistry or something like that. But elsewhere, if a woman has split the atom and came to New Zealand, someone would say that do you attribute it to women's lib? and then say, "Well, of course, what about your home and your family?" And hope to Gosh, she will say, "Yeah, well, I hate my dirty, nasty old laboratory, and I'd really much rather be at home with my hands in the kitchen sink." And they leap upon this with great glee and say, "There you are. You see, that's all women really want to do." There's a classic case recently when Margaret Thatcher was here where all the interviews seem to center around the fact that she was female, that she ran a home and family, that she was attracted with blonde hair and wore pretty clothes. Um, the New Zealand Herald ran her all over the social pages with a blowby-blow description of what she wore. They would never do that if it had been Edward Heath who came to this country. But this act of reinforcing the status quo simply has to change because um it is denying what is happening to society and denying how far women have come. to find out who >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. We got to ring somebody back and tell them. >> Uh yeah, I think we can >> floating down in the wall. >> I think we can organize it. Um, Maria >> Marcia Russell is one of a number of women working in television who believe that to properly serve women viewers, there must be a change in broadcasting attitudes. But how much can these attitudes develop in an organization dominated by male administrators? With so many barriers to overcome each day, Marcia questions the value of her remaining in television. Well, how many >> the value of my staying in television I find very hard to decide upon >> I from a personal point of view I sometimes find it very destructive when I want to make a point about women's issues or things that I think are important that I think should be looked at um as being of news value or documentary value or social value. I sometimes feel I'm doing it so often that I'm losing my credibility and even wondering about my own credibility. So I don't know how long one can go on um fighting this particular battle, fighting against the assumptions that the men around make about what is of interest and what isn't. So w without destroying oneself or without feeling destroyed or without without giving up and and becoming a sort of handmaidaden to the system where they where they say well she won't argue and and we'll just carry on. I think they make the assumption that women won't. I do tend to argue and I think that perhaps that is where the value lies, but I won't accept always what they think should be done and what they think is right. And I will argue about the importance of women being considered in every part of the working day, whether it's just in office conditions or whether it's what we're actually beaming out to people. Turn on TV. Go to the movies. See only glamour queens and heroes. The world of men's fantasies can get very lonely. So lonely for a woman. And it's time now to show us as we are making a space where women can meet. Women's faces and voices. Women together everywhere. [Music]