Date:12/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/12/stories/2006011207340100.htm

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Tamil serials give women bad image: study

M. Dinesh Varma

"Many programmes project them as evil, plotting and abusive characters"

CHENNAI: Is the woman on prime-time TV a violence-prone caricature and a bad influence on millions of women?

A study of the portrayal of women characters in many popular Tamil serials claims that women are negative stereotypes in most programmes and warned that this trend could unleash sociological havoc in the long term.

Responding to a questionnaire-survey by Indian Science Monitor (ISM), a non-profit organisation, most young women interviewees felt that serials only reflected a distended version of social reality. Older persons termed such over-the-top portrayal as outright unethical and dangerous to the social fabric.

The study was done to gauge women's perception of they being consistently typecast as evil, plotting and abusive characters, who go to any extent (even hiring goons) to settle personal scores.

In all, 200 respondents said they habitually watched serials more than two hours everyday; 70 per cent of them in the 30-55 age group vehemently opposed such negative characterisation of women while 5 per cent called for some form of curbs.

TKV Rajan, Director, ISM, says the dangers are all the more given the huge popularity the serials enjoy, with some of running for a year or more. Compared to the bad portrayal of women in a two-and-a-half hour flick, programmes on TV were more harmful. "Generations grow up reading about the Kaikeyi character in the epic, but the results of this typecasting on television can be dangerous," he said.

Shalini, psychiatrist and a consultant for the study, says such evil characters could become role models for the less-educated or rural audience. Also, the `evil woman' was conceived by male writers. "What we are seeing is a grotesque synthesis of two very different approaches to violence and reprisal."

Such programmes could generate trouble even in the short term, said Dr. Shalini. "There is ample evidence from Western studies about televised violence inspiring actual violence."