Well no, I wouldn't say it that way. However, Ravenwood draws a line in the sand and I find myself on the same side as... the... National... Organization... of... Women. Excuse me while I go wash my mouth out with soap.

Okay, NOW is basically arguing that television is biased against heavier women:

We all know that women come in many shapes, sizes, ages and colors. In an extremely informal count, however, we found 140 women on TV who were model-thin and conventionally beautiful, versus just 31 women who appeared to wear a size 10 or larger.

To which Ravenwood responds:

There is little mention of how the standards were set up to figure out who makes the fat-cow list and who doesn't. I also didn't see any way for actresses to appeal their banishment to the list.

There are two fallacies that make it circular thinking. NOW, for obvious reasons, never uses the term "fat-cow" as Rav does. Political correctness aside, they don't call them "fat-cows" because they are not even necessarily fat. Then he calls it an insult to be on that list and wonders if those on it want off (because they are, in Rav's words and not NOW's, "fat-cows").

Ironically, I suspect that NOW listed the actresses they did because they would not be controversial on that list. I strongly doubt 31 of 171 women on TV are as big as Camryn Manheim. In fact, I can't think of a single one that large that they did not mention. Size 10 isn't that large and I suspect they avoided those hovering at 12 or 14 because they might object. That's unfortunate as I'd love to see the list. Regardless of who they looked at, their criteria was size 10 or larger and 140 of 171 did not meet that criterion.

That's pathetic!

To say that isn't representative of the general public is an understatement. Of course it isn't, though, television was never meant to be. Agreed. I also agree with Ravenwood that it would not be appropriate to have heavy characters in a show like Friends (though Living Single incorporated that well). Half of the point of that show is that they are all attractive. On other shows, though, there is an obvious place for a normal sized woman. Are people really going to tune in to Jim Belushi's show to see his attractive wife? Why not Bonnie Hunt? Does she look fat? Like a cow? By Hollywood standards apparently, because it wasn't until she lost weight that her career picked up again (despite a significant role in Jerry Maguire).

Parts where appearence matters are going to waif actresses, but so are parts where appearence doesn't matter.

Take a look at women the street some time. Look at older women and younger women. Appreciate the attractive ones, but take the time and look at the ones who aren't a size eight (or, for that matter, a size 28). Are they ugly? Are you repulsed? Would you avoid watching a show because the women looked like this? Would you watch Belushi's show because of Courtney Thorne-Smith? Do you watch Drew Carey because the love interest is attractive?

I don't think ratings are the reason. I refuse to believe it makes that much difference. I would actually argue that it hurts ratings and is instead a product of laziness. I think directors and producers generally select from a single pool of actresses and don't even consider the alternative. It's ingrained in their mindset and it's easier to not even consider whether or not a stunning actress is needed. Why? Because when they find an alternative they make such a big deal out of it. They are so proud of themselves. It's like a Republican realizing that not all liberals are evil (or vice versa). The same applies when they pat themselves on the back for showcasing black characters and black shows when, at the end of the day, they are still underrepresented.

This in turn can lead to a backlash of sorts. You make a show with D. L. Hughley and keep making a point of how black to leads are and whites lose interest. You make a show like Ellen where the point of the show is that she is gay and straights lose interest. On a brief tangent, Ellen was not ground-breaking because it starred a gay character. Will & Grace was groundbreaking because it starred a gay character in a series where the point was not that he was gay. But I digress. The point I'm trying to make here is that they are so heavy-handed that it backfires. Then they learn the lesson not to do it again and they don't. You stock a show full of heavy women and make a big deal out of it and it fails. Oh well, we tried. Let's go with what works!

So with this single pool of actresses they delineate on a false scale. "We need a less attractive girl for our unattractive guy" and instead of hiring a less attractive woman, they pick a beautiful woman and stick glasses on her or make her have a nerdy voice.

You can say that they do this with guys, too, and it's true that they do. Not nearly as much, though. Many television fathers are heavy. That's off the top of my mind and not including those with large female leads (a la Rosanne), those not married (Drew Carey), those without kids (King of Queens), and those who are not severely overweight (Jim Belushi's show).

Heavier women are much, much more difficult. I know this from personal experience. When I was working on my first novel, for inspiration I casted the main characters with Hollywood actors to help me visualize them. Thin male characters? No problem. Thin female characters? No problem. Medium-set woman in her 50's? No problem. Heavy-set male? No problem. Medium-to-slightly-heavy-set woman in her 30's? Good grief! It's been five years and I still haven't casted the lead female role in the book. They're all either too heavy (and the selection on that side was slight) such as Manheim or they are size 6. What about all the women in between? Nowhere to be found. Except in older actresses who were thinner in their prime.

I'm not even asking for girls that are real heavy. They are underrepresented, but understandably so. I'm talking about normal girls. Marilyn Monroe for heaven's sake! Not exactly normal dimensions, but closer than I am used to seeing, that's for sure.

So where's the harm in TV barraging us with beautiful women? It harms our perspective. It has a pervasive effect on the way things "should be." Guys get the impression that girls that are not size eight have something wrong with them. I can see it in my friends. I can especially see it in myself. Or, at least, I could see it in the way I behaved when I was younger. I had completely and utterly fallen in love with a girl but I had to ponder for two or three days over whether or not I could deal with her appearence. Not because she was ugly, she wasn't, but because she wasn't what I had in mind. She wasn't like the girls even overweight guys on TV got. This is particularly true when it comes to size because that's immediately quantifiable.

It still happens, though I am aware of it and deal with it faster. My friends do the same. I can only imagine what that must feel like from a girl's perspective. I'm resistent to the argument that girls become anorexic because they want so much to look like Barbie, but I wonder how many do it just to look like someone, anyone, on television? To look a little more "normal."

Several years back, a movie called Beautiful Girls touched on this theme brilliantly. All of the men were never satisfied with what they had and went after girls like Uma Thurmon and Lauren Holly. Powerful as it was, ironically even the less-than-ideal girls included among their ranks Annabeth Gish and Mira Sorvino. In fact, the only person in that movie above a size 10 was Rosie O'Donnell. This in a movie about unrealistic expectations of men.

To be sure, this sort of thing would exist regardless of television, but it feeds into it. If Lauren Holly is the ideal Mira Sorvino is a compromise, where does that leave people this side of Sorvino?

Before I wrap up and ponder the difficulties of the day, let me make a few points clear:

1) I am not calling for censorship or to force networks to do anything. I am in favor of applying pressure, at least rhetorical, to challenge them to do a better job.
2) This is not an example of male cheauvenism. The appearence of women is more premium in both men and women. This could be a post unto itself, so anyone wishing to challenge me on that is invited to do so.
3) I'm not talking about shows where "attractive" is part of the script, such as Friends. I'm talking about shows that aren't aiming for the young-and-horny demographic.