Happily married Nicole discovers that Evan, the dream man she married, is actually a globetrotting bigamist involved in a platinum embezzling scheme. A cheating husband murders his wife and dumps her body into a river. No, these aren’t grizzly police files, just a Sunday afternoon with Lifetime Television Network.
The stories listed above are just a sample of the negative images of men that seem to be prevalent on this cable television network, which bills itself as “Televison for Women.” The network serves more than 88 million households nationwide and apparently is wildly popular among women of all ages and backgrounds. But does this success come at the expense of men?
I recently sat down with my mother to watch some of the programs on the station. There are innocuous shows such as Designing Women and Golden Girls. However, other programs and movies on the network depict men as moronic or evil. I began to think to myself, “Is this what women really think about men? Do they all think we’re cheaters and rapists who will do whatever we can to get away with something?”
In my opinion, Lifetime should spend more time coming up with programs that focus on real issues, such as the continuing struggle for women’s equal rights and equal pay. Male bashing is easy and mindless. Serious programming requires not only creativity but balance, and it seems to me that balance is sadly lacking on this network.