I think critiquing the media is essential, but I also think it’s important to not go too far, or at least make sure what we are accusing/observing is in fact entirely correct. Sibling issues are very relevant and not gender specific – look at the shows of today with Hannah Montana, The Wizards of Waverly Place, iCarly and some others. (brother-sister relationships)

It almost makes me think that there’s something more endemic at hand – that if two female characters are in any way ambitious, different, or want similar things, we assume they are being portrayed in competition in a negative light – as idealized competition. Today’s media world is all about idealized competition – Survivor changed everything, and I would argue that show *didn’t* objectify women or highlight the competition between the women anymore than the men. (I am only speaking for the first season here.) For every “Bachelor” there’s a “Bachelorette”, for “The Hills” there was “Bromance”.

The real question to ask, I think, is why the shows that do show women in competition almost always get higher rating than those with men in competition with each other.

(But go you for recognizing your response to Cosmo and actively trying to change it!)

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Emergentculture: The Infantilization of Women via t.v. shows, chick flicks, and magazines: http://bit.ly/744E79…