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Original poster

Ways the TV series 'Friends' was anti-feminist

330 replies

darleneoconnor · 07/05/2011 12:23

comes from another thread

-There are lots of references to porn, which totally normalises it

  • The women are unhealthily skinny
  • The 'fat Monica' running joke
  • Joey's womanising
  • Phoebe being used as a womb for hire
  • Monica was riddiculed for dating someone 7 years younger than her but it was ok for Ross to date someone 10 years younger then him
  • All the girls' desire to get married (especially Monica's bridzillaness), as opposed to the boys
  • the anti-single mother rant Monica had at her wedding
  • Rachel's birth was very medicalised and disempowering (but in context of USA healthcare system I suppose)
  • Chandler having to be 'taught' how to have a relationship
  • Monicas getting slagged off for having 'lots' of lovers
  • In the episode where Rachel, Phoebe and Joey make an issue of earning less than the others no-one mentions the gender split
  • They do quite gender-specific jobs, Monica/cooking, Joey/acting (which is 2/3 male), Ross/Paleontologist, Phoebe/massuese, Rachel/waitress/fashion buyer, Chandler/IT(?)
  • they get a stripper for a stag do then glamourise it by her saying how well she is paid
  • Ross's homophobia and his lack of equal parenting of his child
  • Monica's obsession with cleaning
  • the rich Monica and Chandler adopting the babies of someone too poor to keep them herself
  • Chandler pretending to watch tv so he doesn't have to do his fair share of the thanksgiving cooking
  • The football game where Rachel is a 'useless' girl, Phoebe flashes her breasts to win a point and Monica is ridiculed for being as competitive as the boys

I'm sure there's more...

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Original poster
darleneoconnor · 07/05/2011 12:34

True, but his relationship with Elizabeth did lst longer than Monica's with Ethan. His was even more creepy in that he was her teacher. Then he still got tenure! a woman would have been sacked in the same position.

OP posts:
HandDivedScallopsrgreat · 07/05/2011 12:33

I found it interesting that throughout the [how ever many] series the men got fatter and the women got thinner Hmm.

Rachel and Ross's child just seems to bring herself up and has no impact on her parents life past the first couple of weeks.

When I was younger and watching it I didn't realise how sexist it was. It wasn't until I saw a few episodes about 6 months ago I was sat almost open-mouthed at the stereo-typing (amongst other things). However, I was always uncomfortable with both Phoebe and Rachel's pregnancy/birth experiences. And that was before I had experienced either.

coastgirl · 07/05/2011 12:30

I love Friends but when we watch the later series we always take the piss out of the way Monica tries to be the 'perfect wife', as in buying porn for Chandler and trying to be cool with everything. Bleurgh. I think the women characters were better earlier on, especially Phoebe who kind of sold out in the later series. In the beginning she's super independent, quirky and doesn't care about other people's opinions of her.

But was it OK when Ross dated Elizabeth? They all made fun of him for it (although that bit still icks me out).

Choufleur · 07/05/2011 12:27

Take it you liked friends though (or at least watched it a lot) to know all that?

Original poster
darleneoconnor · 07/05/2011 12:25

(can you tell I'm pissed off with feminist threads getting de-railed?)

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