Message Received

Tomorrow, the CBC will start broadcasting the While the Men Watch audio feed. I wrote down my feelings last week, and they are unchanged. Mostly unchanged.

I said that I don't hate on women, but the more that I see of these women, the more I dislike what they are doing and what they represent. It is not the vapid Cosmo-style commentary. Okay, it is not only the vapid Cosmo-style commentary that is making me hate them. It is this thinly veiled campaign to misrepresent what they are offering and acting slighted and victimized and surprised in the process.

Last Wednesday, the CBC announced the partnership with this tweet:

 

A co-worker said this was a great incentive on behalf of the CBC to grow an audience. I had to explain to him that the language of this tweet is divisive, alienating and patronizing. What wasn't apparent to my co-worker was not missed by a vast number of women and men alike that expressed shock and disgust in seeing our national public broadcaster promote such an obviously offensive error in judgement.

The day after the announcement, CBC Television's Executive Director of Studio and Unscripted Programming Julie Bristow was on Toronto radio avoiding questions about whether or not this was appropriate and pushing the fact that the women currently employed by CBC Sports, including Hockey Night in Canada's Cassie Campbell-Pascall are all publicly enthusiastic about the potential of While the Men Watch. 

Since then, While the Men Watch hosts Jules Mancuso and Lena Sutherland have been all over the CBC and I've been noticing an unsettling repetition of phrases and key words that can only have been set out in as an initiative to stem the growing concern that the CBC is violating its own "Policy 1.1.3:Guidelines on Sex-Role Portrayal". 

In articles, in an interview with Gord Stellick, and literally wandering the streets of Toronto with a camera asking people "Don't you think this is a good idea?" the refrains of "casual", "alternative" and "X's and O's" are stated as deliberately as the previous sentiment "for women" is now being avoided. Also being avoided by the CBC are any specific references to the terribly backward articles on the While the Men Watch blog, which are coincidentally what appear to be drawing the most ire in reference to the hosts themselves.

It's a transparent attempt by the CBC to change the "official message" while retaining the publicity that the notoriety has gained. Lena and Jules, revelling in the protection, have become blatantly smug about the powerlessness of their detractors and this is a very unattractive thing to behold.

Taste is subjective. What happens when this show airs and some people love it and some people hate it is irrelevant. The CBC enthusiastically introduced this project by implying that women do not watch sports. Now they are making their spokespeople enthusiastically endorse this thing using language dictated to them in a memo. This is corrupting the credibility and fondness for CBC's on-air personalities developed over the length of a career, and the doubt that has been created will not soon be erased.

Bravo, CBC. You changed the message. Sexist pigs to pigheadedly obtuse. Message received.