What Women Want, According to ‘Jeopardy’: a Vacuum Cleaner, Tea, and Pilates
It’s an age-old question posed by some of history’s most famous men, from Sigmund Freud to Mel Gibson: What do women want?
A category on Monday’s episode of Jeopardy asked just that, and to the disappointment of women everywhere, it played on stereotypes redolent of the 1950s.
The clues? A pair of jeans that fit well ("What is Levi’s?"); a few moments of quiet to do this ("What is a crossword puzzle?"); some help around the house ("What is a vacuum cleaner?"); a cup of herbal tea from Celestial Seasonings ("What is Sleepytime?"); and a class in a discipline initially called contrology ("What is Pilates?").
Actor Sophia Bush tweeted, “For a ‘smart’ show, you just got srsly stupid.” Other women took to Twitter as well—with better answers.
#whatwomenwant What is equal pay? What is the right to make my own health decisions? What is treated like a human? @Jeopardy @SophiaBush
— Andrea Davis (@MissAndreaDavis) September 30, 2014Apparently we are back to the 1950s with @Jeopardy's "What Women Want". #whatwomenwant the stereotypical view of us to END @SophiaBush.
— Ksenya Gray (@tlmxo) September 30, 2014#whatwomenwant - to not be reduced to a sexist jeopardy category. @SophiaBush
— Lindsay (@agentLwalker) September 29, 2014How does a production like Jeopardy, which has avoided controversy for most of its five-decade run, display such a lapse of judgment?
According to Jeopardy’s website, it appears that only two of its nine producers and two of a seven-person research team are women. Those numbers represent an industry-wide problem. According to a 2013 report by San Diego State University’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, women only held 28 percent of behind-the-scenes positions, including creators, writers, and producers. That’s a 2 percent bump from 2011 to 2012—a historic high.
A Jeopardy spokesperson declined a request for comment.