Howard Stern Panders to Sexist Thinking and Encourages a

[DemBones DemBones]

mentality that asserts that men have sexual rights over women. His "pro-choice" stance isn't liberal. It isn't about women's choices or women's freedom. it's all about convenience for men who want to use women as sexual objects without taking responsibility for pregnancies that may occur as a result of sex.

Stern exploits women by having them appear scantily clad on his RADIO show. Those who watch Stern on television also get to see the mostly-naked women, but what's the point for the RADIO audience? Stern might just as well describe women who aren't there at all.

Stern demeans women who appear on his show with his own brand of adolescent nastiness. He is no friend to women.

Maybe off the air he is really a sweet guy who donates money to charity, etc. So what? His career is devoted to shocking people and a large part of that involves a degrading treatment of women. It's trash radio/ TV, and it influences large numbers of people, mostly men.

It's not wrong that men enjoy looking at naked or nearly-naked women. That's why men like the Victoria's Secret shows, Playboy, etc. That objectifies women somewhat but most men can make a distinction between women viewed as objects on television or in magazines and the women in their real lives. Stern goes too far on the road to encouraging the treatment of women as objects.

If Howard Stern had black men appear in chains on his show and made demeaning remarks to the chained "slaves" perhaps men could see the exploitation more clearly. Black men and gay men have been treated as objects, as have women. There's nothing sexy or funny about one group of people degarding another by treating the others as objects.

[FlashHarry]

1. And?

By paying attention to him, you only give him more publicity. In fact, that's one major factor in his popularity--Stern haters would tune in just to see what he'd say next!

I advise you to channel your energy somewhere else.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. I wrote a post about Stern in response to another thread about

Stern. I'm not going to go picket his show or start a campaign.

By channeling a little bit of energy into calling Stern what he is, I hope to make some people think twice abut listening to him.

[FlashHarry]

3. Fair enough.

Good luck to ya. Personally, I find Howard alternately mildly amusing and mildly offensive.

You must admit, his 'Who Wants to Be a Turkish Millionaire' bit was pretty funny...

[bearfartinthewoods]

12. tell that to your favorite candidate

sr=tern just won a sace with the FCC to have his show designated as a "NEWS" program so he can invite candidates on without bumping into the equal time restricitons.

i'm just waiting to see which of them appears on his show.

stern's show is destructive to women.

[slappypan]

4. I disagree

I am not a huge fan of Stern, but the women on his show are choosing to demean themselves. There are too many of these women with very little self-respect who are very eager to go his show and do absolutely anything for money or just for the attention. Howard Stern just likes to show how crazy and freakish people can be, both men and women, he doesn't have some kind of patriarchal agenda. It's more like extreme cynicism than anything else.

[glarius]

11. Remember when his wife (now ex) had a miscarriage and he made jokes

about it on the air? It was back several years but it struck me at the time what a boor he is...I don't remember the exact nature of his remarks at the time but it was offensive to his wife too I remember...

[radwriter0555]

5. Stern is just anothe radio tawk show host, he just has more tits on

his shows.

Again, utterly irrelevent.

[bloom]

6. I don't watch or listen - but definately agree with you

It doesn't help women at all.


Having such things (as Stern) on the air - legitamizes anti-social, anti-women attitudes.


(I think the Playboy Bunny thing is pretty stupid too - demeaning).

[FlashHarry]

8. Jeez. Playboy hasn't had 'bunnies' for eons.

At least since the clubs closed. They do still have Playmates, however. Good thing, too--after all, without them, what would James Caan and Scott Baio do?

[LynneSin]

7. I use to think that about Howard Stern

But it's a 2-way street. The women want to be on that show to show off their bodies. I use to listen to the show (he's become boring and repetitive of lately) because Stern found a way to find the stupidiest people out there and exploit them.

It's not a woman exploitation, it's a stupidity exploitation.

On edit note:

If Howard Stern had black men appear in chains on his show and made demeaning remarks to the chained "slaves" perhaps men could see the exploitation more clearly. Black men and gay men have been treated as objects, as have women. There's nothing sexy or funny about one group of people degarding another by treating the others as objects

Believe me, he's done that and worse! Again, it's not a woman's issue it's STern who has fun at the expense of people who are stupid enough to do these dumb things just to be on his radio show. Not going to find too many high IQ non-celebrity guests on his radio show.

[kmla]

9. Like most successful radio personalities,

he is just playing to his audience. Albeit, that audience is a bunch of goobers, miscreants, and cretins, but they are an audience. Yeah, Howard Stern exploits women, but by the same measure, he also exploits those misfits and others who don't quite fit into society's norms. And, unless I am mistaken, none of these people are forced to perform on this radio show. It is hard to exploit the willing. (Ever watch Fear Factor?).

Yeah, he is rude, tasteless, and his appeal is to the most base of the listening audience. But this is America, and until John Ashcroft is through wiping his ass with the Bill of Rights, he has the freedom of speech. (I personally think Howard is an idiot as well). But he has the right to be an idiot. And if people want to listen to an idiot, and advertisers want to advertise on an idiot's show - well, that is just the way it goes. Rush Limbaugh is an idiot, too. But (and it gives me cramps to say this) he has a right to broadcast as well:hurts:

The only alternative to this type of broadcasting is to censor what is going over the airwaves. And I don't want some geek in a stuffed suit deciding what is and is not on the airwaves , and what cannot be broadcast "because it offends people".

IMHO, this is the price for living in a democracy, with the right of free speech.

Thanks for sharing.

[DemBones DemBones]

10. Some comments re: replies

Of course Stern has the right to free speech. My point is that it's unfortunate that people support his sophomoric crudeness as free speech. I'm aware that he has a large audience and think it's disturbing that DUers are included, considering DUers' notable intolerance for Limbaugh and other RWers. Limbaugh can be funny, too, but he promotes some nasty ideas. That's my complaint about Stern -- the nastiness behind the humor.

Yes, the women voluntarily submit themselves to humiliation at Howard's hands. That's about desire for success trumping self-esteem. Why is it that women in our society should have to submit themselves to demeaning treatment to advance a career? Again, I think of the blacks in chains analogy. I'm not surprised he's done things like that. There's a lot of truly tacky entertainment out there.

Edgy entertainment, I like. Demeaning individuals and, by extension, classes of people, I dislike.

Saturday Night Live has often been edgy (saw a show about its history the other night that showed clips from the beginning up to the present, though spending more time discussing the evolution of the show and cast.) The difference is that actors playing characters are involved in the skits on SNL while Stern has women who allegedly want to get in the music business on his show. "Are You Hot?" is a show that exploits men and women who want to break into show biz. Both shows prey on the less savvy wannabe entertainers, it seems to me. Kind of like picking on special ed kids, you know?

[Beetwasher]

13. He demeans men too. He demeans anyone who allows themselves

to be demeaned. He has white guys come on all the time and do idiotic demeaning stuff. He'll allow just about anyone who's willing to do something incredibly demeaning to come on his show and do it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. Howard Stern:

Exemplifies the reason why liberalism lost favor with the moderates.