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Article Excerpt
A WHILE BACK, I flipped on the TV and came across a hilarious Saturday Night Live takeoff of C-SPAN, the public affairs network that broadcasts congressional hearings and panel discussions. The skit, entitled She-Span, featured strident, syntactically challenged female panelists prattling on about nuclear weapons and the war on terror. The hostess, May Lee, speculated on why a country might go nuclear: "What is it going to come down to? You wear the wrong color sweater and you're gonna be nuked? I mean, what is going on?"
As the show broke for commercials, it dawned on me: She-Span is a real political roundtable, not a parody. Horrified, I continued to watch and discovered that the segment was part of the daily Pure Oxygen talk show airing clusively on Oxygen. You know--Oxygen, that cable-for-chicks network that relendessly promotes an imperceptible idea of femininity that all women supposedly share. Their motto celebrates "unleashing the power of women to do great things." Remember the Oxygen ad showing a nursery full of newborn babies in little pink caps? The babies rebelliously throw their caps into the air, while one little fist is raised in a clenched baby-girl-power salute. In the background, Helen Reddy's song soars: "I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman." Reddy's lyrics don't apply to infants, but Oxygen aims to pique adult female interest enough to get viewers to bond...
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