We have a women's channel here in Australia. It has stuff like Oprah, Dr Phil, Judging Amy, that kind of thing. Oddly enough, it also has Law and Order. Is that considered a "women's" show?
I have nothing against channels that are marketed specifically at men or women. There are ones marketed towards sports nuts, cooking nuts, etc. Most TV is shite anyway (not that it stops me watching it).
This kind of thing makes little sense to me, since surely it would make more sense to create channels according to genre or age. Since gender is still very stigmatized, it does more harm than good in my opinion to create different channels according to gender. If the woman's channel was to deal with issues, actual issues, concerning women - like independent finance, self defense etc. - I'd see merit, but just to clump all the stereotypically "female" shows together and saying "women's tv". It's a bit like taking Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf out of the classics section of the Library and putting it in the "women's section", ya know.
What annoys me - and I have to stare at examples every day at work - is how the Discovery channel markets itself for MEN! With big MANLY TOYS and MANLY BUILDINGS... for me, it's an extreme turnoff from a channel I previously had a "huh, seems interesting" attitude towards* and it definitely doesn't make me want to watch their motor/building/whatever shows.
I'm just grateful the Travel & Living channel hasn't gotten anything like that yet (here in Sweden), because I can only imagine the catchphrases *shudder*
I think it's better to market channels for different themes. And then if it's mostly women who will look at something with dramas, soaps and talkshows, ok, so what? Then you're at least not alienating the men who do so
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I have nothing against channels that are marketed specifically at men or women. There are ones marketed towards sports nuts, cooking nuts, etc. Most TV is shite anyway (not that it stops me watching it).
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If the woman's channel was to deal with issues, actual issues, concerning women - like independent finance, self defense etc. - I'd see merit, but just to clump all the stereotypically "female" shows together and saying "women's tv".
It's a bit like taking Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf out of the classics section of the Library and putting it in the "women's section", ya know.
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I'm just grateful the Travel & Living channel hasn't gotten anything like that yet (here in Sweden), because I can only imagine the catchphrases *shudder*
I think it's better to market channels for different themes. And then if it's mostly women who will look at something with dramas, soaps and talkshows, ok, so what? Then you're at least not alienating the men who do so
* I, uh, don't have a tv.
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