I recently talked about some ways in which Scrubs gets gender wrong, and now I want to talk about something I really liked on it, despite its being way too brief: the buddy relationship that developed between Elliot and Molly. TV and movies don’t feature nearly enough buddy relationships between women. There are a million possible reasons why, but I think it all boils down to an assumption that the target male audience doesn’t care about relationships that by definition … READ MORE

Scrubs is a wacky silly show that dares not to have a laugh track. Sometimes it’s hilarious:

“Hey, how come Frankfurt and Hamburg have nothing to do with frankfurters and hamburgers?”

“How come your Lake Titicaca is not filled with boobs and poop?”

And sometimes it’s brilliant on gender, like when Elliot and Turk are arguing over which it’s harder to be in medicine: a woman or black. A black woman doctor walks by, and they both give uncomfortable gestures or verbalizations of … READ MORE

There’s a pervasive cultural myth that all a woman has to do is flirt, and men will give her everything she wants. Angry Men’s Rights Activists kvetch about it in forums all the livelong day. Spice Girls Feminists brag about it and think it’s great for women. And some of us don’t think it’s the big solution to women’s problems it’s cracked up to be.

Of all the sources for deep thought, a Scrubs re-run really got me thinking about this … READ MORE