Misogyny in popular culture: A study of mysogyny effects in a sample domestic tv series

The purpose of this study is to determine how often misogynistic elements appear in TV series, which are now an important part of popular culture, and to point out how some certain biased attitudes against women can be consolidated, encouraged and created by means of the most commonly watched TV series. Misogyny which has been reflected to the society by the elements of popular culture emerges as the existing hatred, hostility against and humiliation of women due to their gender, being seen as a sexual object (objectification) and legitimization of all type of violence against women. Mass media tools are the most important means of feeding and spreading popular culture. Through these tools, the misogynistic elements in the society are becoming more widespread and reinforced. TV, being one of the primary means of mass media, has a considerable effect as it is easy to access and widely-used. The TV series, films, TV programmes, commercials and video clips provide content that cause gender discrimination and misogyny. In that sense, it is commonly believed that the TV series that enable misogynistic elements to be easily and effectively conveyed to viewers should be handled and examined with sensitivity. This study was performed with the aim of exploring misogyny by working through a sample domestic tv series. For this purpose, the tv series which is the sample of the study was analysed in depth according to the conceptual framework derived from literature review and in terms of the themes reflecting different aspects of misogyny. Accordingly, sixteen themes relating to the origins/sources of misogyny, the ensuing attitudes and behaviours and the results of these for women were explored and data reflecting these themes were collected. The first part of this study gives information about different aspects of misogyny based on literature review. How misogyny is created through popular culture elements is mentioned in the second part of the study. The third and the last chapter adresses its method and findings of the field study. This study is intended to explore the content and frequency of misogynistic themes presented in popular tv series and how the creation of misogynistic image affects the society and also to show how existing patriarchal structure reveals and supports misogyny by way of popular domestic tv series. In summary, it was found that 16 different themes of misogyny, among which violence is the most common, have appeared quite often in the popular TV series. It has calculated that these 16 themes have appeared 448 times in 24 episodes of the popular TV series "Paramparça", with an average of 18 times per episode. These findings show that a TV series, which was once the most widely watched for quite some time, makes the audience internalize and reinforce the misogynistic mindset in the society. Namely, it has been concluded that the inherent misogynistic point of view in the society is consolidated through TV series. Keywords: Misogyny, Popular Culture, Popular Domestic Tv Series