To think the choice of women on TV just displays yet again the inherent sexism in the TV industry?

[wishiwas21again]

Following on from a thread in Telly Addicts in which I posted the following -

I don't love her (Kate Humble), I can't stand her

Bill Oddie may have been annoying but he did actually know what he was talking about and lets not forget he had mental health problems as a result of a horrific childhood. Kate Humble is not a true nature expert just someone who looks pretty and got lucky. Television shows us once again that looks and popularity win over true expertise

A bit like Gaby Logan. At the last olympics there were hundreds of sporting experts they could have interviewed, but she adorned the screen for excessive amounts of time because she is good looking.

It is misogynist as well and not at all empowering to women.

And don't get me started on Nigella, with her 'sluts' pasta and black silk dressing gowns. Do male TV chefs offer themselves in such a way? Bah!

I bet the male TV bosses at the BBC and whatever have a field day

I always think it about news reporters. All the women are stereotypically good looking. Some of the men are as rough as a badger's arse - you know they wouldn't employ a female equivalent.

Mind you, I am inclined to see inherent sexism pretty much everywhere. I am a Fully fledged dinosaur feminist (dons Millie Tant ethnic skull cap).

YANBU. Dh and I say the same thing on Saturday nights when we have to put up with "expert" Alesha Dixon on Strictly Come Dancing.

Why on earth did they boot out Arlene? At least she knew what she was on about!

Yanbu- the amount of women on tv who's heads are wider than their waists repulses me. They are all SO thin, especially the younger ones. Yuck

Kate Humble has been involved in nature programs and that style of programs for years, she also lives on a farm and grows organic food and rears her animals kindly after working abroad in Africa and conservation areas. How is she not qualified to talk about nature or not considered an expert when compared against a man who started out his entertainment life as a (pretty dodgy) comedian ???

As for Gabby Logan, her name used to be Gabby Yorath. Her father is a many times capped football player for Wales and so she has been surrounded by sport all her life, plus she did gymnastics to a competitive level.

Frankly, if two women like that get your back up who do you think is good enough to be there?

Ah but have you seen the gardening expert on The One Show - she is very manly beautiful. Let's hear it for the One Show trailblazing... [hgrin]

YANBU

I completely agree with Doigthebountyeater all the female newsreaders are gorgeous yet the men look like they a dogs dinner.

A woman as ugly as Adrian Chiles would never get a a presenting job on British TV.

(Although I quite like Kate Humble but can't stand Gaby Logan)

Oh I LOVE the one shows gardening expert - they had her on with edna everage the other week and she was just brill! To be honest I dont know if it is sexist but there is a definite trend towards ageism that I dont like - i.e. the Arlene Phillips (who is lovely looking as well as an expert) thing. It isnt a good example at all!!

There are some great woman tv presenters - I personally really like Kate Humble.
But the bottom line is, they have to be pretty & young - being knowledgeable is optional. It drives me nuts; I am always looking at the fat middle aged male ones and thinking 'hmm, if you were a woman you'd never be allowed on tv looking like that!'

YANBU to think TV is sexist, although I think you've used a bad example in Kate Humble, she can do the job just aswel as the other bloke (really wild show fame).

I wonder if Tess Daley will still be presenting when she's 80 like Bruce? Or if Christine Bleakley gets fat and scruffy if she will have a job like that oaf Adrian Chiles. It's outrageous really.

X Factor as well - the male judges are industry experts, whereas the female judges are pretty pop singers.

And yes, Strictly - expert Arlene gets the sack, whereas coffin-dodger Brucie is kept on, fluffed lines and all.

It's agist sexism, or sexist agesim!!

I know a handful of experienced, good, female broadcast journalists. They have all had the push as they hit their 40s.

Not just TV that's sexist, either. Ceri whathisface editor of the Today programme on Radio 4 got away with saying women just weren't good enough to work on 'his' programme. If he'd made the same remark about race or sexuality he'd have been sacked, or at least disciplined, quite rightly. But it was only sexism, so the BBC didn't give a toss.

I do think that the BBC is institutionally sexist and it sticks in my throat that I pay a license fee to support this entrenched attitude.

But (as has been pointed out in response to your post on that thread) she is a professional TV presenter, not a professional naturalist. As are most TV presenters, because it's a skill and most naturalists and zoologists are being naturalists and zoologists rather than trying to do another job.

Simon King started out as an actor, then moved into being a wildlife film maker, cameraman and presenter.

Chris Packham did do a Zoology degree but decided not to pursue the PhD route and became a wildlife photographer and cameraman instead -- but within a couple of years he was a TV presenter and has done that ever since.

Bill Oddie was a comedian. He is a keen birdwatcher and amateur ornithologist, but he's not a professional naturalist.

Kate Humble did animal-related jobs before moving into TV, put in years as a researcher (including on natural history and science programmes) before getting a presenting role, has spent the last ten years presenting science and nature programmes, spends a lot of time in Africa and has written articles about conservation.

Clearly, in spite of the amount of oestrogen leaked all over Mumsnet whenever Chris Packham's name comes up, it is Kate Humble who deserves to be singled out as being not up to the job and only there because of her looks.

And as for the shock-horror factor of a former international sportsperson being hired as a sports presenter, or someone with extensive knowledge of football and wide connections in the footballing world daring to talk about football, I think we should all just storm TV Centre to protest.

(The TV industry is indisputably sexist, mind you. But the OP here seems to assume that any reasonably good-looking woman must be less knowledgeable than her male colleagues, rather than that she has to be both as good at her job as they are and maintain an extra standard of personal appearance that they are not held to.)

Okay I may have to eat humble pie to some extent, in that I didn't know those things about Kate Humble's background before I ranted. I also accept Gaby Logan does have a sporting background and knowledge.

However I still think my general point is valid. A woman is judged by her looks on TV making beauty a commodity she can be bargained with. It is terrible.

If Kate Humble was fat and as ugly as old boots would she have got that job? Would Gaby?

Come on!

How Greg Wallace is on TV is a mystery. Ugly and a crap, shouty, presenter.

I do agree with the general point, but on the other hand it's also tricky to provide counter-examples without sounding a little bitchy.

However, Clare Balding, while (I hasten to add) perfectly pleasant-looking, is a TV presenter who's not a model of pouting lipsticked conventional pulchritude. And there were the Two Fat Ladies (and, yes, they were described as "two fat ladies" when similarly-proportioned men wouldn't have had their size mentioned but then it was them who more-or-less insisted on the title. The BBC wasn't originally keen on it and wanted to call the series something else very dull and PC). It is an exception rather than the rule where women are concerned, though.

TCF -- according to a copy of Olive magazine I was reading this week, Gregg Wallace got the job because he is a friend of John Torode's and when they hired John Torode they asked him to suggest a co-presenter.

I would rather hear some actual experts interviewed in individual sports they really know about, than Gaby Logan plastered on my screen all day long in all sorts of cheesy clips which don't mean anything at all. It is a mockery really.

She may well have great football knowledge and a sporting family but there could have been real opportunities for men and women to come on TV and talk about their sport to a more expert level. But Gaby sells, because beauty sells.

The fact is that if you are truly good at your job and happen to be good looking too well fine. But I think we all know it isn't as innocent as this

surely John Torode is just as much a mystery as Greg Wallace? The pair of them are pretty awful IMO.

John Torode owns Smiths of Smithfields, a very successful restaurant in London and Greg Wallace is a green-grocer by trade, so although neither have a graet TV manner, they are both fairly expert in their field of food.

Claire Balding is from a very famous horse racing family, her father and brother are both very successful horse trainers so again, she has a lot of experience in her field.

but their are hundreds of successful restaurateurs out there who don't get to present tv programmes. My greengrocer has never been offered a presenting job AFAIK despite her being very friendly and personable

there are

Greg Wallace used to do a slot on Radio4 years ago, I can't remember what it was called, but Masterchef isn't his first venture into media.

seth - there are, but there are an awful lot who do. James Martin's saturday morning program and Great British Menu between them have launched a whole fleet of restaurantuers onto the TV