Feminist TV Characters

The following WMST-L discussion was initiated in March 2004 by a
Women's Studies professor seeking to replace Murphy Brown with
more contemporary examples of popular TV characters who are
"unselfconsciously feminist."  For additional WMST-L files now
available on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

Can anyone identify a (significant, if not the leading)
character on a current, popular TV series who is
unselfconsciously feminist? For "college age students" I'm
looking for an example to replace Murphy Brown.

PRIVATE REPLIES, PLEASE.
Laura Kramer
Department of Sociology and Women's Studies Program
Montclair State University

Greetings!

I personally like the character "Maxine Gray" and "Amy", and
"Donna", and also "Jillian" in Judging Amy. I also like the
mother character in Seventh Heaven.

While none of the characters is "Murphy Brown", each has her
good qualities.

I also like the real-life Ellen DeGeneres--I'm not a talk show
fan, I have seen her show a couple of times, and I really like
her too.

Joan

!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!
Joan I. Biddle Ph.D. Sociologist LTC, USAR (ret)
jbiddle2  AT  cox.net
joan.biddle  AT  us.army.mil
Co-President, Sociological Practice Association
http://www.socpractice.org
^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^!^! 

Dear Laura, (I'm posting to the list, since others may have
ideas to share about this.) I'm not sure what you mean by
"unselfconsciously feminist"--maybe either a feminist who
doesn't declare herself or identify as one, or a feminist who's
not self-conscious?? And you may specifically want to exclude
female characters who are strong or admirable or resistant to
gender stereotypes IF they don't ALSO express or state feminist
beliefs without calling themselves feminists.

If you're looking for female characters who seem to reflect some
feminist beliefs, maybe Sydney Bristow (the central character)
on ABC's show _Alias_ would be an example. She's an
international spy who's both brilliant (multilingual, a genius
at computers, etc.) and physically strong (although she also
relies on her "sex appeal" a lot in her work). There are several
other female major characters in other broadcast network dramas
that are similarly strong and intelligent (and, given that this
is commercial TV, beautiful): the female detective on "Law and
Order: SVU" (played by Mariska Hargitay--Jayne Mansfield's
daughter) who is strong, tough, yet also very compassionate; the
female lead--also a detective-- on "Cold Case" (on NBC I
think)--whose not so tough, but strong and caring; C.J. Craig,
the President's Press Secretary on "The West Wing" (who's
probably the smartest female character on TV--and one of the
smartest characters, period--like most of the other characters
on that show; C.J., played by Allison Janney, is a little older,
not married or even in a relationship (although she's about to
be involved with an old boyfriend, I think, and not as
conventionally pretty as most of the other characters I've
mentioned). There's also Abby Bartlet, the First Lady on "The
West Wing" (played by Stockard Channing)--who's a physician and
an equal in her marriage to the President most of the time.
Another strong and brilliant (and beautiful) woman is Dr.
Samantha Carter on "Stargate SG-1" (which I watch on a local
show in syndication but first-run episodes are on the Sci-Fi
Channel, which I don't get)--who is a colonel, I think, in the
military and the most brilliant physicist on Earth and who
bravely travels to other planets and fights when necessary.

Apparently I watch way too much TV! But I don't watch most
sitcoms, and of the ones I have seen, I can't think offhand of
any particularly "feminist" female characters (but can think of
many totally gender-stereotyped characters). One who does come
to mind is "Carla" on NBC's "Scrubs"; she's a Latina nurse who's
outspoken, takes no guff, is strong and also caring, etc. Other
listmembers may have more suggestions, and I hope will post them
to the list since this may be of general interest. I often try
to use examples from popular culture in my classes (which is one
justification for watching television!) and it's nice to have a
repertoire of these at hand. Marilyn

Marilyn Edelstein
Associate Professor of English
Santa Clara University
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara CA 95053
medelstein  AT  scu.edu

Buffy is still in reruns on FX. She and Willow would both do. 

Try "Charmed", the three sisters on the new show are "Buffy" reincarnated.

Hope Munro Smith, Phd
Department of Music
California State University, Fresno
2380 E. Keats Ave. MS/MB 77
Fresno, CA. 93740-8024
http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~hsmith/ 

On March 5, I posted: "Can anyone identify a (significant, if not the
leading) character on a current, popular TV series who is
unselfconsciously feminist? For "college age students" I'm looking for
an example to replace Murphy Brown."
Thanks to all who replied.
Several folks asked what I meant by unselfconsciously feminist. My
intension was to identify women who conduct themselves in ways that are
feminist, regardless of whether they label themselves a feminist, are so
labeled by others, or not. I'm using these examples in a new edition of
my soc. of gender text, and would rather be overly inclusive (let the
students and their instructors debate whether examples belong, or not!
Might be a good exercise.). I didn't specify sex, as you can see, but
took for granted that I was asking about female characters. Without
explicitly saying he is a feminist, one person mentioned Eliot,
(Olivia's partner on Law and Order SVU). I'm sure we could have an
interesting discussion about male feminists, but it wasn't my rather
pragmatic goal.
I have not seen all these shows (i.e., caveat emptor). I have omitted
old shows even if available to some students, and talk shows (although
they are also fascinating for the enactment of gender). I didn't credit
the many folks who were wonderful about replying (some of us are not
comfortable having others know we watch this stuff. By the way, my
sister, a feminist archaeologist, and I discovered after several seasons
that we were both regular watchers of J.A.G....i think in part because
of that show's leading female character, Mac, who I add to the
list...given its last two seasons, it is harder to put up with; no other
WMST-Ler mentioned it).

Donna on "That 70s Show"... "Donna is interesting because her mother is
a self-proclaimed feminist who doesn't seem to understand feminism,
while Donna doesn't call herself a feminist but is."
The sisters on "Charmed." ..."a lot of the themes of the show are about
women power and strong female relationships."
"Maxine Gray" and "Amy", and "Donna", and also "Jillian" in Judging Amy.
the mother character in Seventh Heaven.
Det. Olivia Benson on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
the White House Press Secretary, CJ Craig, on West Wing. also Abby
Bartlet, the First Lady
Carrie on ER
Sydney Bristow (the central character) on ABC's show _Alias_
the female lead, a detective, on "Cold Case"
"Carla" on "Scrubs"; ..."a Latina nurse who's outspoken, takes no guff,
is strong and also caring..." Miranda on Sex and the City
Lisa Simpson

It would, of course, be interesting to see what percentage of these
shows have some (any) women producers or writers; according to Martha
Lauzen (SDSU)'s research, chances are good that it's higher than
average.

Omitted, in error: Navy NCIS...two attractive young women. One is an
incredibly bright goth, forensic scientist, who enjoys exploding all
expectation; the other works hard and calls her peer on his
stereotypically sexist language and assumptions (their interactions are
not written with the creativity invested in the goth, to say the least).
laura

All the female characters in the Law and Order francise would be
appropriate here.

Hope Munro Smith, Phd
Department of Music
California State University, Fresno
2380 E. Keats Ave.  MS/MB 77
Fresno, CA.  93740-8024
559-278-7190 (office)
559-278-6800 (fax)
hsmith  AT  csufresno.edu
http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~hsmith/

I would suggest adding Buffy, Willow, and various other female cast
members from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" to your list. Buffy
is an interesting example because Sarah Michelle Gellar (the actress who
played the role of Buffy) took great pains to state in interviews that
although people might have described her character as a feminist icon,
she herself is *not* a feminist.

If you want more examples of girls to keep Lisa Simpson company, please
consider the Powerpuff Girls, Eliza (and her mother) from "The Wild
Thornberrys," and Kim Possible -- they could be interesting additions to
your list.

Rebecca Hains
Temple University
http://astro.temple.edu/~hains

thanks. i'm not trying for a complete list but these others are good to
know about. buffy etc are now in reruns, no?
there are some interesting essays in Tough Chicks, which i didn't
mention, i'd mentioned in some private replies, guess i need to post to
the whole list  (where i first hear about it)
laura

Rebecca C. Hains wrote:
[see above message]

Thanks to all, again, for the continuing contributions to my
unselfconscious feminist TV character question.  I have enough examples
for my limited purposes, and won't be on the list again about this topic.

SHERRIE INNESS, EDITOR OF ACTION CHICKS: NEW IMAGES OF TOUCH WOMEN IN
POPULAR CULTURE, has some interesting pieces on this/related topics
(including a piece by Sharon Ross on Buffy and Xena, and a piece by Dawn
Heinecken on WWF wrestler Chyna). it is a palgrave book published a few
months ago, with a 2004 copyright, available in paper. Thanks (as ever)
to Joan K.; i first heard about Action Chicks on this list!

laura kramer

>it would be curious to see which shows have female producers/writers

It would but I would caution on what to take from it; for one thing, seeing
producers and writers as the same thing is like mixing apples and oranges.

About producers......it might be a sign women are moving into controlling
their own professional lives, such as Holly Marie Combs/Alyssa Milano being
Charmed producers or Sandra Bullock running her own production company.....

........BUT it might also just be a sign of actors controlling their own
professional lives. Clint Eastwood is rather famous for his Malpaso
Company.

-Traci
th06  AT  swt.edu

In addition to the worthy characters mentioned in previous posts, I would add:

All the female characters on The Practice (ABC), in particular Camryn
Manheim, who has publicly advocated against body-size discrimination
(and coincidentally is the niece of former UVA Women's Studies Program
director, Ann Lane).

Most of the women on ER: Elizabeth Corday, Samantha Taggart, Jing-Mei
(Deb) Chen, Neela Rasgotra, Kerry Weaver, Susan Lewis, Abby Lockhart

Helen Pryor on American Dreams (the mom who chafes at her role)

Lily Lebowski on Crossing Jordan

In addition to the other women mentioned on West Wing, also Donna Moss.

Claire Kaplan

Claire N. Kaplan, Ph.D.
Coordinator, Sexual Assault Education
UVA Women's Center
P.O. Box 800588
Charlottesville VA 22908-0588
434.982.2774 Voice/TTY
434.982.2901 Fax
ckaplan  AT  virginia.edu
http://sexualassault.virginia.edu 

Buffy
>>is an interesting example because Sarah Michelle Gellar (the actress who
>>played the role of Buffy) took great pains to state in interviews that
>>although people might have described her character as a feminist icon,
>>she herself is *not* a feminist.
>>

The character and the show (which is in syndication; the first five seasons
are available on DVD) were often overtly and always self-consciously
"feminist."  Creator/writer/director Joss Whedon minored in feminist film
theory at Wesleyan and was a script editor on *Roseanne.*  His father, Tom
Whedon wrote for the TV series *Alice,* a show that was perhaps less
"feminist" than the film out of which it developed, but arguably feminist TV
nonetheless.

It was Whedon himself who characterized Buffy as an "alternative feminist
icon, and I believe his use of feminist rhetoric was intentional when he
described the show as having emerged out of the desire to give "that blonde
girl" who is always getting chased down dark alleys and killed in conventional
horror genre films "a chance to 'take back the night,' so to speak."  The
series spans seven years -- and I believe that the series' "story arc" is that
of the life cycle of female adolescent development; a good many episodes deal
overtly with "women's issues" (or, perhaps more accurately, "girl's issues").

This isn't the first time I've been surprised at how different SMG's persona
seems to be from that of the character of Buffy.  I wonder what she thinks
"feminist" means.  ;)

Maggie Gordon

Dr. Maggie Gordon
Department of English
Southeast Missouri State University
magordon  AT  semo.edu