I was around at a friend's last night for a cup of tea. While there, I watched a bit of tv that was on. First was 'My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance'. Second was Sex And The City.

Now, I don't watch tv at all. The above are good reasons why not.

My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance: a man and a woman come together to get married, and there's a prize of $1,000,000 if the woman can get her family to agree to the wedding and support her in it.

A million dollars for this woman to get married with the support of her family.

It was another example, yet again, of what I consider to be media conditioning of western society towards relationships existing only for the monetary benefit that's involved. Relationships are only newsworthy and notable if there's a lot of money involved.

Relationships = money. No money, no relationship. No money, not worth being with. This is the social conditioning that's occurring through the media, which conditions us to accept it.

Sex And The City: this episode was, apparently like many other episodes, about the main actress going out on dates with this guy. He was in his 40's, seemed very calm and sensible, mature, controlled, worthwhile. During the conversations I picked up on, she talked about how she had a friend who had been diagnosed with cancer. He said he had a friend with cancer who died as well. She said her friend's fine, he said his friend died. She called him insensitive to her feelings, and he said that his friend actually died. She told him that he wasn't listening to her, and he said she wasn't listening to him. She said her friend is fine, he said his dead friend's name was Sophie. She called him an arsehole and he called her childish. She said she's leaving, he told her she can get out.

I couldn't believe this attitude being so prominent in such a popular tv show. More social conditioning. The man isn't allowed to talk about his dead friend, because the woman's needs are more important than his, even though her friend's fine. Her ignorance and her childishness were incredible.

My friend said that he wasn't listening to her. I looked incredulous at her. Excuse me? She said that he wasn't very sensitive to her needs. I said what about HIS needs? His friend had died, hers was still alive and fine, apparently. She wasn't listening to him and yet accusing him of being insensitive to her.

My friend related to the feelings of the main actress of Sex and the City. I looked at her and said, I can see why you're still single too.



I never watch tv. I catch bits of two different tv shows, and I find sudden reinforcement in my beliefs about the media and western social conditioning of what relationships should be.

Who writes these shows? Women? What message are they trying to get across? That the best relationships are ones where there's lots of money invovled, and where men have to shut the hell up to be considered worthwhile?

I'll continue my habit of refusing to watch the absolute rubbish that's on tv.Women