‘Home Improvement” needed a remodel

Have you ever been to someone’s home and they only have the basic 30 channels? This becomes boring because you can either watch old shows or sit there and twiddle your thumbs. I just so happened to be in that situation and I tuned into the TV instead of being bored out of my mind. I flip through channel after channel but settle on “Home Improvement”.

My family used to watch that show all the time. I just remember it being one of those TV shows that made people laugh. But after rewatching it with an adult brain, I realized “Home Improvement” is actually extremely sexist.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love me some Tim Allen. He’s very funny and voices a beloved Disney character. However, that show is the voice of every manly man’s ego. If you’re not familiar with the show, it pretty much follows the life of Tim and his family. Tim is the stereotypical American male in that he’s very passionate about his tools, his handy work, and especially his ego. He is very adamant about showing off his manhood and taking care of everything a man should.

Every episode, and I mean every single one, Tim is doing things that belittle women, especially his wife. According to Complex Media, the first episode has Tim mocking his wife for wanting them to go the opera, dismisses her attempts to help him build a birdhouse, and claims that women shouldn’t be working on cars because men don’t work on washing machines.

What kind of humor is this?

You can definitely tell that the target audience for this show was middle aged white men who like to show that they are truly men. It’s actually atrocious and disgusting.

Each episode’s plot line is like a plea from every man saying, “I’m a man, you better believe it.” The male characters have to have a tool in their hand at least once a day and they have to make some comment about how they do man’s work while their wives are off taking care of the house and children.

This is not the olden days. This was only written in the 90’s. Women were oppressed in TV shows even just years ago. And of course, it’s still happening, but due to female activists, these kinds of shows are being put to a stop.

It’s insane to think that the humor of degrading women and putting men on a pedestal was seen as normal. And to think that I kind of grew up on that show disgusts me. But thanks to the changing world where women are charging towards equality, I know that this show is not worth my time, nor my laughs.

And to those who say it’s just comedy and that I just don’t understand the humor, you are proving my point exactly. If the world gives that sexist humor a platform, it will become a norm and be seen as acceptable.

But it’s not. Degrading females for being women is wrong in every way and it shouldn’t be made into a joke. A man can show of their manliness by doing what makes them happy, but in that process, they don’t need to put women down.

We can all live in a world where women can do the handy work and men can do the dishes and everyone’s ego can still be intact.

Tabitha Barr is a Nickerson freshman studying Media Communications and Production.

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