Today’s guest blog comes from Kate Buffery, former TV actor and founder of The Debate website.
The way women are presented on TV has an enormous influence on how we perceive ourselves and how we are perceived. As an actor in TV drama , I have, along with many other actors and writers spent many years fighting the way TV portrays women: – generally a triumph of style over substance. But we have not won the war and the status quo that exists continues to promote diminished version of what women are and what we are capable of. ‘Real’ women are undermined on TV; ‘real’ men celebrated.
I challenged this vision very directly in one particular job, and was quickly replaced by a much younger model. I made a legal claim which was successfully resolved in a mediation. I am far from extraordinary, but I had to use a degree of intelligence and courage to do so that is there in so many women I know personally or indeed meet on a daily basis, but in so few women that are represented as our daily fodder on TV.
I am no longer treading water. I am now studying for a law degree and have helped Equity set up a petition about inequality in the Arts. I have also set up a ‘magazine’ website, asking users of the site to contribute news, views and any initiatives that might move us forward and linking up with initiatives from other organisations.
I want to collect a bedrock of articles before the site goes public and the first articles have been both interesting and informative. The site is a tool for all of us who interested in moving forwards in our joint quest for genuine equality . If you have an opinion on the subject of ‘Gender Equality in the Arts and Media’ – please write an article for us: thedebate.uk.com