I know - first hand - that it's not PC for men to offer criticisms of feminism, but the recent discussion The Daily Show's woman problem cries out for commentary. A week or so ago the Jezebel blog published a post contended that there's a sexism problem at The Daily Show.
The Daily Show is many things: progressive darling, alleged news source for America's youth, righteous media critique. And it's also a boys' club where women's contributions are often ignored and dismissed.
Salon.com's Broadsheet chimed in too, although with a slightly more critical and subtle analysis that included the problem of self-exclusion. Nevertheless, they also concluded that TDS has a sexism problem.
Does "TDS" -- and late night in general -- have "a woman problem"? Hell yeah. Even if women aren't pursuing jobs on their staffs with the same vigor as their male counterparts, it still doesn't explain their blatant inability to book them as guests. Yo, we still make movies and write bestsellers and become governors. Get some more freaking women in the chair already. Munn is a perfectly great choice as a correspondent, but don't make the mistake of thinking the quota is full. It's not by a long shot. And that means we women have to do our part -- to keep knocking on the writer's room doors and making our own damn shows, and being ruthlessly fearless about being funny. Because as Munn says, "You're always going up against anybody who's better than you. We're all just trying to fucking make it."
So, the basic charge against TDS is that women are marginalized on the staff and under-represented among the on-air talent and guest line ups. Thus, TDS has a woman problem. I think the reasoning here is shot through with problems. Jezebel's post relies mainly on anecdotal evidence and armchair sociology about the social dynamics over at Comedy Central. The inequality of outcomes isn't sufficient to show discrimination. It's necessary, but not sufficient. None of this seems to me to be sufficient to justify the claim that TDS has a sexism problem. But, the women that work at TDS aren't having it and offered the following response to the charge in an open letter.
Recently, certain media outlets have attempted to tell us what it’s like to be a woman at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We must admit it is entertaining to be the subjects of such a vivid and dramatic narrative. However, while rampant sexism at a well-respected show makes for a great story, we want to make something very clear: the place you may have read about is not our office.
The Daily Show isn't a place where women quietly suffer on the sidelines as barely tolerated tokens. On the contrary: just like the men here, we're indispensable. We generate a significant portion of the show's creative content and the fact is, it wouldn't be the show that you love without us.
The women that work at TDS do not seem to think there's a sexism problem in their workplace. But, that's not going to stop the feminist bloggers from repeating the charge with the additional claim that the women that work at TDS might be traitors to the feminist cause. Just check out Broadsheet's response to the open letter from TDS female workers.
As for the letter's substance, I'm relieved to hear that the show's current female staffers feel highly valued and don't find Jon Stewart to be a sexist ass. Selfishly, it'll make it easier for me to continue to enjoy the show, and I will feel that much better about the world if I can believe in one more mainstream space where funny women can thrive. But the letter entirely misses some of the valid issues that the original Jezebel post raises. What of the fact that, as Irin Carmon writes, the show hasn't taken on a new female correspondent in seven years? That female correspondents have generally "been a short-lived phenomenon" on the show? And that when it comes to television comedy as a whole, women are "universally scarce, whether in the writer's room or on the air"?
Ignoring and discounting these well-documented issues seems defensive and maybe even, dare I say, traitorous (and that's coming from someone who cringes at the word "sisterhood"). I'm not demanding a sober dissertation on the current state of women in comedy or anything -- but if "The Daily Show" has taught us anything, it's that it's possible to be both politically incisive and riotously funny. You won't find me holding the show's women to a lesser standard.
Didn't they just dismiss TDS's female worker's immanent evaluation of their own situation in favor of their poorly reasoned armchair analysis? Who should we believe here? The armchair analysis of bloggers or the people that actually work at the place in question?
This episode in feminist blogging seems to me to be a good example of what is wrong with a lot of identity politics. A member of a historically marginalized group makes a charge of discrimination on the basis of flimsy evidence/argumentation and it's just accepted as true, and dogmatically so. It's one big appeal to negative proof fallacy in regard to sexism. Then when counter-evidence is presented by females working at TDS the feminist bloggers suggest that they might be traitors to the feminist cause because they disagree TDS has a sexism problem. Perfect reasoning here, huh? 'If you disagree with claim X about discrimination you are a part of the problem.' Seriously? That's all too close to the 'you're either with us or against us' mentality that drives all ideological thinking. But, maybe I'm wrong and gender discrimination on late-night comedy shows is a key battle in the struggle for justice.
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Comments
Women in general are underrepresented in comedy, especially late night shows. That's a problem that needs to be addressed. But it doesn't mean that these places are automatically horrible workplaces for women.
Comedy is shockingly difficult to get into for anyone. It's easier to become a model or an actress than to become a money-making comedienne. There's a level you must get to before being considered for something like TDS. That level is about 30 above the one where the manager of the club refuses to "book a broad."
If folks don't like that situation, march on down to the nearest comedy club and request a female stand-up act. Then go actually pay to see it. It takes less energy than making up crap about a show that perpetuates the progressive point of view.
No one's going to come looking for you to just GIVE you a job. You have to go out and get it. And it seems that too many women just aren't. Sucks for us female viewers who would like to see more women on TV in scathing satire.