We were very lucky to move out of the reach of TV signals. I'm always stunned when I read about how much TV the average American watches every day. That's enough time to learn a language or grow all of your own food!

There is an "off" button on your TV. Nodoby is forcing you to watch it.

the truth is that the subconscious mind does not differentiate between fantasy and reality.

For this statement to mean anything, you first have to define what subconcious is. In psychology, the term used instead is the unconscious mind, and there is no consensus about what the unconscious mind really is. In my experience, adults are usually quite capable of distinguishing between fantasy and reality, although they sometimes choose to ignore it.

Everything is stored forever.

I can state for certain that this is false or true but irrellevant. There are certainly pieces of my life that I have no memory of. Or if I have memories of it, I am not able to access them currently, which amounts to the same.

it’s pretty easy to placate a man with a six pack of Corona and a Steven Seagal movie. It works for me. For women, it has to be more sophisticated.

I'd like to make two points here;

• It doesn't work for me.
• The premise that "cooking, reality tv, house renovation, celebrity gossip, singing and dancing contests, nannies, cleaning, melodramas, shopping, family experiments and partner swapping, public humiliation of contestants in aggressive arenas, pop music, trivia" are more "sophiscticated" than a Steven Segal movie is laughable.

The system seeks out the most vulnerable women first.

That's true for any salesman and con artist.

The Feminist movement (entirely fuelled, funded and directed by the Rockefeller family)

Conspiracy nutcase alert! Need I say more?

In a world where television encourages women to deny their femininity and act like men,

Or to deny the author's view of what femininity is?

we see the continued erosion of the family unit,

Can't say that I do. I've also seen divorced people find new partners and start new families. And according to the Dutch statistics that I could find, one in three marriages ends in divorce. That means two out of three don't! This number has (in NL) been pretty stable for over a decade.

petty power struggles, astonishing selfishness and deep identity crises.

These things are pretty much of all ages.

Perhaps worst of all, there is a dark amnesia obscuring the centuries of warm, happy, loving relationships between men and women.

Allow me to point out that for a large piece of our history women pretty much had to get married out of economic necessity and/or social pressure. And while there certainly are and have been "warm, happy, loving relationships" there also have been many casses of the opposite. There have been cultures (e.g. ancient Rome) where a marriage was first and foremost meant to produce children. Love didn't enter into the equation much.

In a world where television encourages women to deny their femininity and act like men, Or to deny the author's view of what femininity is?

I have to say that I agree with the person you're originally quoting to some extent on this issue, although I'd instead say that television encourages women to ignore the multi-faceted nature of their femininity and instead focus on one aspect --- relationships. There's a well-known feminist test for whether a piece of fiction of any sort represents women in a realistic way --- are there any two women in the piece of fiction who talk to each other about something other than a man? Disappointingly, nearly every movie and TV show I've ever seen fails this test. The books I read tend to pass it with flying colors (perhaps because I read a lot of books by women.)

My issues with TV are a lot simpler and less linked to conspiracies than the issues Mark mentioned. Number one is time --- I have far too many interests to let TV suck up my time. But the second issue is nearly as important --- mood. I wish I could find a link to it, but I read a study a few years ago that showed television provides a boost to the watcher's mood as soon as the television is turned on. However, as the watcher sits in front of the tube, his or her mood declines until it is below the pre-watching levels at the end of the session. As I paid attention to my own moods, I discovered that TV --- especially modern series that end each episode unresolved --- definitely depressed my mood. I'd rather be happy!

Other factors I really hate about TV include: *The way people turn on the TV for one show and then end up watching for an extra hour (which I think is linked to the depressed mood you end up in once you've watched the first episode --- surely if you watch more, you'll get another boost of pleasure and will feel better?) *The scheduled nature of TV --- I see people cutting short social events so they can go home and turn on their favorite show! *And, of course, there's the clear link between women's body issues and "unrealistic ideals of attractiveness transmitted through the media."

although I'd instead say that television encourages women to ignore the multi-faceted nature of their femininity and instead focus on one aspect --- relationships.

Couldn't that be an effect instead of a cause? I'd imagine that the creators of those shows try to make what they think their audience wants? Can't say that I watch soap operas much, though. They bore me.

And, of course, there's the clear link between women's body issues and "unrealistic ideals of attractiveness transmitted through the media."

Men are portrayed as unrealistically as women. But I guess a lot of men are more pragmatical about it. Instead of thinking we should look like that, we realize we are not willing to spend the effort.

I definitely agree that women talk about relationships more than men do, but we talk about a lot of other things too! And I'm not talking about representations in soap operas (which I agree are painful). I'm talking about well-produced movies like the one Mark and I went to last weekend --- there was only one real woman character so it clearly failed the test. I'm extremely glad that I grew up the world of books rather than the world of TV and movies --- that way I got to see women role models making real changes in the world rather than just being a sidekick or love interest.

I think that young men are starting to get a lot of body issues from the media too (although they tend to be slightly different.) I've seen teenage boys who spend hours every day lifting weights, trying to build those sculpted muscles that aren't going to form on young teenage male bodies. I know of one teenage boy in particular who was so afraid of gaining weight that he subsisted entirely on cereal, milk, and protein shakes. I wouldn't say that men are exempt (and even if they were, the straight ones would then have to deal with the messed up body issues of their spouses and girlfriends. Even the gay ones would have to deal with the body issues of their sisters and nieces.)

(Boy, I didn't know I felt that passionately about TV... )