Have you ever noticed all of those commercials and TV shows that have a balding, overweight, below-average looking, average income guy with a spunky, cute, fit chick? Why is the overweight, broke guy on King of Queens married to a hot, fit girl? It’s not believable. People in real life aren’t usually so mismatched.
Most of the time in real life, the bald, fat guy gets the hot, fit girl when he also happens to be rich. Don’t TV producers and writers know this? Why do they keep pairing attractive, fit women with broke, much less attractive counterparts? I have mostly male readers on this site so I’m not sure if they’re bothered by this since it depicts a great scenario for men. Either way, it’s not in line with how the world works – well, nothing on TV is, but this really irks me.
It wasn’t like this in the 50’s. Remember the 50’s? OK, me neither, but remember those old TV shows, movies and commercials from that era? There wasn’t a double standard in the same way there is today. It wasn’t so unbalanced. The men were fit and handsome. They were paired with women who were equally as attractive (except The Honeymooners).
In some ways, women have come so very far. We’ve had a woman running for president, we have women owning businesses, and many women now wait until they’re good and ready to get married. Women understand they don’t HAVE to have children or be married to be significant in the world; yet we still have this double standard in the media that it’s OK for a broke/average-income guy to be unkempt, while a woman must stay youthful and beautiful.
Anyway, it’s a drag. This message seeps subconsciously into little girls and fully-grown women’s brains in our society; women are expected to live up to a standard that men aren’t also held to. I’m all about keeping things fair and balanced and sending a realistic message, but I think the media is way off the mark on this one. |
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truth•a•hol•ic (trüth´ë´hôl´ik) n. 1 The relentless pursuit of uncovering and exposing the hidden meaning and true intentions of others through rationalization and analysis. 2 Having or showing strong reasoning skills and applying them in a quest for truth. 3 A cleverly constructed blog site containing witty dissertations about the truth in which each blog is appropriately titled with a line from a song and accompanied by a cute illustration. 
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You have a valid point. However, it must also be pointed out that in recent years the men in these situations are more often than not also depicted as being bumbling oafs. See: Everybody Loves Raymond. See: King of Queens (which you mentioned). This also casts men in the light of not being as good or as worthy as their female counterpart and suggests women are in control of the situation, whatever arises. Couldn’t that be empowering for a young girl and equally discouraging to a young boy? As in, do we want him to grow up thinking he will wind up being a balding idiot, that it’s his lot in life?
Again, not disagreeing with you at all — just adding some other elements to your basic argument that mass media is brainwashing us all. Cheers.
Hey Kevin G
You’re so right they always depict men as bumbling idiots who repeatedly make bad decisions.
I never thought of how that translates to boys and men. Really excellent point.
I am a big fan of men so I can’t relate to the shows that make men out to be stupid – all the guys I know are smart.
Sherrie
I think you need to get out more. As a bald, slightly out of shape guy of 6 Feet and 185 lbs, I’m married to a 5′10″ Swedish/Scottish ballet teacher for 31 years. My best friend is about 6′4″ and close to 300 lbs. His wife, of over 20 years, is about 5′4″ and is, as you say, “Cute as a Button”. I think you’ll find that, although they may have more fun for a while, the girls who limit their search to well developed money guys with full heads of hair, don’t do well in the marriage department. And besides, if you’ve really found that somebody who can finish your sentences for you, knows what you need before you do, and has that “Look” in their eye every time they look at you, who cares how much hair or money there is?
Hi Mike
That’s cool. I don’t think that is the norm. I think we pair up with people that are basically in the “same league” as we are. I was trying to depict a type of guy by saying they’re bald and overweight. Not all bald guys who have 10 lbs to lose qualify as they type of guy I am referring to. Not all descriptions can paint exactly why 2 people are mismatched or matched. Something tells me when you and your wife are out, people aren’t saying “what’s she doing with him?”
As far as girls who limit their search to money guys and guys with full heads of hair – yeah I’m sure if your requirements are that narrow you’re going to be pretty unhappy or just pretty shallow if they are happy.
I think the media is skewed still and pairs hot women with fat balding buffoons and it’s NOT the norm.
thanks for posting!
Enjoyed your comment
I can see your point I can. It exists in a lot of places in the media. On the news shows, older mature men, hot girls. To Kevin G’s point. How about Family Guy, Simpsons, or going way back Flintstones even? The cartoons are not even exempt. One of the most balanced and successful shows was Cheers. There was something for everyone on that show. So you have pointed it out, now how do you fix it. I do not think a show that had attractive men and out of shape women would be too successful. hey would about reality shows they are pretty balanced. Everyone starves on Survivor, or the Biggest Loser is balanced on the scales. Pun intended. Well I just thought I would throw in my two cents. I guess I will go watch Seinfeld reruns.
Hey Terry
How are you? I know I haven’t been playing out much but thanks for alwyas coming to all my shows. You ROCK! YOu’re one of my BEST fans..besides my mom..ha
So Yeah good points about the blog. Forgot about Barney and Betty. She’s WAY hotter than him! LOl
The Jetsons got it right..George Jetson is pretty hot and well-suited for Jane his wife.Lol
I agree with you that a show that had attractive men and out of shape women would not go over too well.
I just started tivo-ing Cheers, I never got the humor when it was on, I was too young to get it. It is a really good show. Sam is one hell of a TV character. My boyfriend says I am like a “cool Diane” ha…
I also have Seinfeld on my Tivo , that will never change. New tv shows kind of suck.
Maybe these hot, fit women see the quality of the man they married. Afterall, I constantly hear women complain that men should look for what is on the inside of them and not on the outside. Maybe it cuts both ways.
Hey Brian
Absolutely. Now if we could get the media to be on board!
First I look at the purse..J Geils circa ‘73
FYI S, its Joe Jackson so now its 3 cd’s owed LOL
Its all about money S. The gold diggers don’t care about waistline, penis size, or hairline its moola, then looks, and anatomy peculiars.
The media NEVER matches folks up based on whats on the inside, makes for bad Esquire covers etc…
Pretty people esp gals have it all handed to them, rich guys don’t have ugly wives, they sadly live in low cost neighborhoods or in trailer parks, along with unattractive men with no money.
Unattractive gals don’t live in Napperville Winnetka etc… they all married guys with moola and gals with money RARELY marry or date less income dudes unless they are escorts or someone to be seen with at a cubs game or Ravinia.
Real love isn’t transparent like the values of gold diggers that has been rammed down our throats in the media S.
Its both sexes at fault, as money and greed has corrupted so many folks core values
Dr Kevin
Hey Dr. K
yeah birds of a feather flock together and yes you are right it’s Joe Jackson. I better write some new songs I can’t give you 3 of the SAME cd’s! Lol
S
I have found many young good looking guys who look better than their wives or girlfriends. You have to take into account that for King Of Queens, The guy has the best attitude, while she is not so nice. Looks aren’t everything, and while some girls can look really good, they also can have some major attitude! I do think I am better looking than my wife, but I always thought my wife was nicer or better than me at a lot of things. However, she has had major attitude at times and some times I am ready to leave her ass! We didn’t get married for money. I don’t have any money. I have ok or average looks. Someone wouldn’t marry me for money and with my looks I would have to try harder to show some personality. Back to the King of Queens show, though, I think a lot of guys can identify with him. That’s all I have to say.
It is not just TV shows that do this. Look at every major market late news and the anchors they have. Older guy, younger woman. Women will NEVER be anchors at the ages that some of these men are!! It is ridiculous. Personally, I have been married 20 yrs to a man my age and everyone thinks I am 10 yrs younger than him. I just have better genes!! It makes me feel good to look younger than my age, and he is happy that people think he has a “younger” wife!!
cant say more than what ahs been said,it’s the corporations,and media’s greed!
many “heavy balding 40ish men
and gamefully employed many with good careers…thus they want to market that demografic.
the sadness that this unfolds to
is that this is also what our
children see,and in a way shapes
our society.like tool ” one great big festering neon distraction obviously destin to keep you all ocupied”
im not a ” outcast or malcontent”however we allow this to happen by watching these shows…and i have seen some not so attractive women
with men that i see too be “down chicked” good topic
Actually I’ve been told that when couples marry, the older they get, the more they look like each other. It is possible for a slim fit woman to want a balding middle aged man. Maybe because they get tired of the bad boys and want some stability in their life. At least, that’s the trend I see.
First, I think that you see this on TV because TV should be an escape or at least entertaining which it is very little of. They want viewers, viewers like balding overweight men. TV tries to show that these men can get hot women even though it’s the exception not the rule. People are way to engulfed by TV to see what “reality” actually is but that’s a blog for another day.
I agree with Mike that the below average men with the hot wives either are filthy rich or maybe they actually connect on a level beyond looks. I hope that’s the case.
I have heard that women don’t always go for looks, etc, etc but you could have fooled me. But I think that as people get older and more mature they realize there is more to life than being seen in clubs with the arm candy or guy with the six pack abs. Once again I have to point to the media for making people think that looks are everything. I dare a network to have a reality show where an average looking guy vies for the attention of average looking women. But who wants to watch a TV show of not so beautiful people?
King of Queens is a great example this obvious disparity. The honeymooners is an example of this from the past. Kevin G. is right that men are portrayed as door knobs a good % of the time in advertisements and sitcoms. There is a seed of truth these examples and the media capitalizes on that by using caricatures of these human traits for the purpose of humor.
It all depends on the perception of the couple. I happen to be the fat chick thats with the (still) handsome and fit husband. It wasn’t always the case. After marriage, though, there is the ideas that she has a couple kids or he starts eating her “home cooking” and the body images change and you end up with the odd couple the seems to be polar opposites. Their opposite personalities are what brought them together in the first place, now their bodies match as well. In tv land, now the image matches the character.
P.S. where I live, everyone looks like they are mismatched.
Andrea, where do you live? I think there are mismatched people everywhere.
Ha- Jane, I was thinking the same thing like, where does she live that so many people are mismatched?
I think that mismatchedness is a matter of opinon. Like is Deborah hotter than Ray on Everbody Loves Raymond? Was Ricky hotter than Lucy..it’s all opinon but yeah Kings of Queens is an obvious jump in looks.
Some of us still think that looks do often play a part in relationships, and to a degree they do. But the mismatches as mentioned are the glimmering hopes of times when they (fit and unfit) really didn’t matter; when being kind and honest to each other used to be enough to nurture a strong intimate “blind to the world’s standards” partnership—when values meant something. It should have been enough. It is just TV, always going to offend someone somehow. Needs work.
An afterthought—when I went to school, grew into adulthood, dated, etc., I don’t ever remember the fit women chasing the mismatched unfit men. They always went after the best looking, most successful, most perfect men around. This is the message that seeps subconsciously into the brains of the little girls and women, and I think they get this message from other women moreso than the media. I believe in balance also, but feminist influences quite often are stronger than media influence.
yes Ms. Truthaholic I went through my feminist phase also, right after taking a sh*t load of womens studies courses at college. I soon began to see the horrible stereotyping and objectification of women in EVERY media venue I chose to watch, read, and listen to. Childrens movies, TV shows, Commercials, Music Video’s, Magazines….I started to get a little insane with anger at how blatent all of these messages were.
My boyfriend at the time PLEADED with me to stop taking womens studies courses, “for the love of GOD, stop taking these classes” not because he thought they were bad, but because it had hightened my awareness so much about this issue I was really pissed off all the time. And I vocalized it OFTEN !!!
This topic is what millions of term papers have been written about and has kept Gloria Steinem as a guest actress on every lesbian, bi-curious, and tree hugger show since the 60’s.
I have now learned to turn off my “women’s issue radar” for the most part and enjoy life a little more. Yes there are alot of terrible cultural set backs for us girls/ or womyn (if you will).
But as long as I prove that I am smart, sexy, confident, and successful woman to my nieces, and they can see me as a positive roll model(sp?)…maybe I can do my part to change the world….one 8 year old at a time!!!!!!
You Rock Truthaholic!
Rachel Gill
BTW I am a lesbian now!! HA HA HA. and my girlfriend is just as hot as I am (tee hee).
this is nowhere close to new – The Honeymooners, Alice Kramden was way out of Ralph’s League, but his hot-headed stupid self still had a hot meal waiting for him every day when he came home.
But King of Queens is referred to as today’s Flintstones. Big fat blue-collar guy; UPS driver or machinery operator, thick-headed, stupid hijnks… Not to mention Ralph, a bus driver…