...if TV is pushing women toward assuming the traditionally male "breadwinning" roles here in the Western World, it's fine by me. I'm perfectly happy to stay at home all day, surf the web, watch porn, get myself off, catch up on my reading, go to the gym in the middle of the day when you don't have to fight anyone for the best machines, etc.

Go to it, girls! Turn late-period post-capitalism on its proverbial head. Make contemporary office politics less of a middle-school throwback than it already is. Make ASSLOADS of money, please. I'll gladly drive the kids to Little League practices and Young Fascist Alliance meetings. I'll admonish the maid about separating the whites. And I promise to reward you with a nutritious meal in the evening when you get home from work...

To assume that it is degrading to men for a woman to be more successful is to assume not only that we are hyper-sensitive beings who simply wither away in the face of female ambition but also that somehow women who display power, especially within relationships, are committing an act of immorality. Only then could it be referred to as a "degradation." This "moral" nonsense feeds into the standard definition of "masculine" (and, thus, "emasculation"), which ties dominance, power, and success to male nature alone.

This idea that women are the new men on TV is the same thinking that constantly debates whether Obama is "black" enough.

There's something rather sad in Traiser's great joy at being patronized.

That's all these programs are: patronizing market demographics to sell soap. They're high-gloss soap operas. Japan's had them for decades.

That was real nice of you to include "dating transgender women" as an example of degradation on television. Makes all of your trans readers feel great -- seriously, I thought you were less backwards than to engage in hand-wringing over the mere existence of trans people on television heralding "gender befuddlement." Sadly, you're probably right that that's what transgender is supposed to represent from network executives' point of view too. But could you maybe agree with them a little bit less? There are hundreds of thousands of trans people in this country, and far more of us have dates than you think. It's really insulting to have "dating a trans woman" come near the low end of a list of humiliations, after being cheated on and excluded from reproduction and just before being anally raped by a monkey. You fit right into the whole exploitative mode going on, good job.

Everybody Loves Raymond? When he's a doormat. Bumbling stupid clueless husband/father guy? Wow never saw that before. I think Rebecca needs to pull herself away from watching 'serious' HBO 'drama' 60/60/24/7/365 exclusively 100% of the time.

For those of us who have been paying attention, there haven't been any positive male roles on TV for years and years. Even the 'heroes' are emotional basket cases that need their more evolved women leaders to gently yet firmly guide them with a scolding cluck through life.

Yeah, she's a real feminist icon, all right.

After all, W stands for Women!

Where every channel is LMT except all the women have guns and exterminate all the men. Then they have chocolate.

...if TV is pushing women toward assuming the traditionally male "breadwinning" roles here in the Western World, it's fine by me. I'm perfectly happy to stay at home all day, surf the web, watch porn, get myself off, catch up on my reading, go to the gym in the middle of the day when you don't have to fight anyone for the best machines, etc.

Except in reality women do not marry men who do this, or at least do not stay marrie to men like this.

Welcome to a world where guys live alone or with their parents. Women, meanwhile, are working, living alone, but doing some able player on the side. If you are a lucky man, able to be a player, you can be part of this, but honest guys who want marriage or family and stable life need not apply unless they can still be more successful than their women. Nothing changes. Feminism only changed things for the worse for the vast majority of men while giving women new tasks to pay taxes for.

It's interesting that at the same time that these new shows are being produced, the concept of the "man law" has been firmly rooted in male-oriented programming. Tune in to sports radio or ESPN long enough and you will hear a comment about somebody needing to turn in their "man card" for doing something like not ordering the porterhouse steak at dinner or using an umbrella to walk the 10 feet from their car to their office (I heard this one a couple of days ago). A beer company's main campaign slogan is "Men Should Act Like Men," and features men getting crushed by giant beer cans as punishment for not catching a tossed brewsky correctly or saying "whee!" while testing out a trampoline. Also, TV and movie actors like Jim Belushi and "Sopranos" tough guy Frank Vincent have authored books about how to be a "real" man.

It seems to me that this codifiction of male behaviors that are socially acceptable mirrors the kind of rules imposed on women until the late 20th century. During that time, the people who called the shots in media (The Executive Producers, studio chiefs, and publishing heads) were overwhelmingly men. Nowadays women fill many critical creative roles in TV, movies, and print. The overarching theme of tough, accomplished women who have to deal with professionally, socially, and economically impotent men might be an unconscious reflection of what many of these women see themselves going through. Similarly, media geared toward men might reflect a lot of anxiety guys have about how they're supposed to act among each other and with girls who are just as powerful as them.

Do they think we have hissy fits when we discover how much our husbands have in their bank accounts? That we flip out when a man comes on to us? That when we get passed over for promotions we walk out of relationships in defeat?

Well, no, because, see, that's all -natural-. They're -supposed- to make more than we do, because all we want is to be provided for. And we like it when even a really unattractive man comes onto us, because without male attention, we are nothing. And that promotion means nothing, because the relationship will provide, and we are secretly relieved because really, what real woman wants her own power or money?

Feminized women are natural, harmless, and make excellent paperweights. Feminized men are clearly deranged by the wrongness of not being in charge. QED. Such as.