The Normalization of Sexual Harassment on 1970s Game Shows
Lately, I have enjoyed streaming old game shows from my childhood.
There’s something about the combination of watching old school TV through a new format that I find comforting and jarring at the same time. The sets. The 1970’s celebrities. The dated references.
And the blatant displays of sexual harassment.
Growing up, game shows were my favorite thing to watch. The show that I tuned into every day was Match Game. Hosted by Gene Rayburn, who always reminded me of a cheerier Abraham Lincoln, the show was a quick lesson in sexual double entendres that easily confused a 10 year old.
One could certainly argue that maybe the adults in the household should have monitored my TV viewing habits more closely, but growing up in a progressive household where both parents worked to provide for our family, I was often the first one home for an hour after school. That meant I had the TV set to myself. My routine was to grab a snack, settled into my chair, and watch the antics of Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Sommers, Fannie Flagg, and others.
My Complicated Obsession with Richard Dawson
I really loved watching Richard Dawson on Match Game. He was funny. He had an uncanny knack for always matching the…