'Jeopardy!' 'What Women Want' Category Is A Major Sexist Fail

'Jeopardy!' 'What Women Want' Category Is A Major Sexist Fail

Whoever writes the categories for "Jeopardy!" seems to have little idea what women actually want.

On Sept. 30, "Jeopardy!" featured a "What Women Want" category alongside "State Capital Nicknames" and "2014 Bestsellers." Since the answers didn't include equal pay, the right to affordable and safe abortion or anything else women actually want, the show left many wondering who signed off on this.

what women want board

Mashable's Neha Prakash rounded up the clues included in the category. In just five questions "Jeopardy!" perpetuated almost every female stereotype in the book:

pair of jeans
Answer: "What are Levi's?"

a few moments of quiet
Answer: "What's a crossword puzzle?"

help around house
Answer: "What is a vacuum cleaner?"

bear
Clue: "Before bed, a cup of this herbal tea from Celestial Seasonings. That's the logo seen here."
Answer: "What is Sleepy Time?"

pilates
Answer: "What is Pilates?"

At this point, it should be understood that women want a whole lot more than a working vacuum cleaner and jeans that make our butts look good.

Considering that one in five women will be raped in their lifetimes, women are still paid 77 cents to every man's dollar and the fact that there has yet to be a female president in the U.S., ladies have much larger things to worry about than a hot cup of Sleepy Time tea.

As Jezebel's Tracey Moore pointed out, the average age of a "Jeopardy!" viewer is 64 years old. So although a "What Women Want" category might not have seemed so out of place in the 1950s, it's still sexist nonsense.

Many took to Twitter to voice their outrage and clarify what women really want:

#whatwomenwant equal rights, equal pay, the rights to make decisions about our bodies... Not vacuum cleaners and sleepy time tea @Jeopardy

— L Thornton-Cronin (@Lesley_TC) October 1, 2014

#whatwomenwant - to feel safe walking down the street & not be told they were "asking for it". Wow @Jeopardy just wow #disappointed

— Kristine (@Kris_in_MN) September 30, 2014

While some might brush off a "Jeopardy!" category as not worthy of outrage, Moore noted why the game show's sexism is a real problem:

Stuff like this -- how we reflexively think about gender when no one makes us think even a tiny bit harder -- reveals our biases. It proves that many people don't recognize that there ARE bigger issues for women than how they look, how tight their Pilates game is, or where the tea is, and that it even matters when you reduce them to such trivialities.

Women's true wants and needs are not the stuff of quirky rom-com one-liners. Do better next time, "Jeopardy!"

Watch the clip below:

Before You Go

"I've always wanted 'made to order dimples!'" -- said no woman ever.

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