What Women are Learning from The Learning Channel
source: http://www.the-broad-side.com/what-women-are-learning-from-the-learning-channel
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- sarahkatheryn
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Read More: http://www.the-broad-side.com/what-women-are-learning-from-the-learning-channel
I made the mistake of spending Sunday evening with my TV tuned to The Learning Channel. My mother called me once after seeing an episode of “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” to tell me that it was a fascinating glimpse into a culture she had no idea existed. So, this weekend, while puttering around the house, and working on other things my TV stayed on for several hours watching as the show followed British and Irish women who live in the “Traveler’s culture.”
The show isn’t just another “Say Yes to the Dress” where women are convinced that spending thousands on a big fancy gown is the most important thing in their lives. It’s a show that glamorizes the submissive role that women take in a culture that views them only as wives and mothers. For example, most women who are Travelers quit school when they’re very young to help mothers raise the often large numbers of children their mothers had. One such woman left school when she was 11-years-old just to help clean the house and care for her nine brothers and sisters. At 17 she was marrying her soon-to-be husband after only a three month engagement. Another 16-year-old girl, eager to find a husband, was engaged in a “grabbing ritual,” a custom popular in the culture, where young men corner women, and despite repeatedly saying “no” the boys roughly attempt to force the girls to kiss them. The girl was asked if she felt in danger at all, and she said “no of course not” it’s just how things are done.
Read More: http://www.the-broad-side.com/what-women-are-learning-from-the-learning-channel
I made the mistake of spending Sunday evening with my TV tuned to The Learning Channel. My mother called me once after seeing an episode of “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” to tell me that it was a fascinating glimpse into a culture she had no idea existed. So, this weekend, while puttering around the house, and working on other things my TV stayed on for several hours watching as the show followed British and Irish women who live in the “Traveler’s culture.”
The show isn’t just another “Say Yes to the Dress” where women are convinced that spending thousands on a big fancy gown is the most important thing in their lives. It’s a show that glamorizes the submissive role that women take in a culture that views them only as wives and mothers. For example, most women who are Travelers quit school when they’re very young to help mothers raise the often large numbers of children their mothers had. One such woman left school when she was 11-years-old just to help clean the house and care for her nine brothers and sisters. At 17 she was marrying her soon-to-be husband after only a three month engagement. Another 16-year-old girl, eager to find a husband, was engaged in a “grabbing ritual,” a custom popular in the culture, where young men corner women, and despite repeatedly saying “no” the boys roughly attempt to force the girls to kiss them. The girl was asked if she felt in danger at all, and she said “no of course not” it’s just how things are done.
Read More: http://www.the-broad-side.com/what-women-are-learning-from-the-learning-channel
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- groups:
- Art and Style
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- tags:
- Television, Women, Feminism, TLC, 3 more
