Women in television

Latin American television is dominated with locally produced programs especially telenovela. This genre has become very popular in Latin American countries. The popularity of these programs would infer that they would show the ideals of the machismo--active, aggressive masculinity--and marianismo--inactive, passive, self-denying female. These concepts are used within Latin American societies to describe men's and women's normative behaviors. One major problem with these two concepts is their applications to men and women of all classes. An analysis of selected telenovela shows that the male and female characters behaviors are interrelated with class. Class consideration is important before gender polarizations can be defined.

The rise in popularity of the female sleuth television programs makes it important to explore representations of gender and knowledge. This investigation analyzes interpretations of intuition in the television sleuth genre and relevant paratexts, examines gendered public and private spheres and raises broader questions about gendered knowledge in the series Medium, Crossing Jordan, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Veronica Mars, Monk, The Profiler and True Calling. Rooted in feminist cultural studies, historical and sociological analysis, television and film theory and work on the detective genre, this investigation establishes common frames, or filters, through which the television sleuth genre represents intuition and the gendered experience of knowledge. Women with intuition are depicted as unstable, dangerous and mentally ill. Though framed similarly, intuitive men have more freedom. This study expands on academic research on television representations of gender and knowledge. Societal implications include further understanding of meaning-making in regard to gendered knowing.