11 Actually Pretty Shocking Things Friends Couldn't Get Away With Today

Sexism, homophobia and fat-shaming, anyone?

21 March, 2018
11 Actually Pretty Shocking Things Friends Couldn't Get Away With Today

Love it or hate it, there's no denying that EVERYBODY of a certain generation has probably seen an episode of Friends in their time - which makes the obvious sexism, homophobia and all round lack of diversity all the more interesting 20 years later.

1. Chandler's transgender father is mislabeled and the butt of jokes

Chandler's transgender father is often referred to as her birth name 'Charles' rather than her new name 'Helena Handbasket'. Incorrect labels are used when the cast are talking about her, lots of jokes are made about her gender and whether she has a penis, and there is definitely a bigger issue throughout the sitcom with transphobia.

2. Ross doesn't like Ben playing with stereotypical 'girl's toys'

"Why is my boy playing with a Barbie?" - Ross Geller, the mouth piece for conformity and stereotypes.

3. Homophobia

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There's a long running storyline that Chandler is gay, which considering the cast seem to view this as inferior, is the butt of a lot of jokes. Joey and Ross can't seem to share a hug without saying 'no homo' or questioning their sexuality, and a video editing together all homophobic moments from the sitcom racks up a whopping 50 minutes.

4. The cast lacks racial diversity

Racial diversity in Friends has always been a topic of contention. Considering how multicultural New York is, it's interesting that the 6 main characters all happen to be white, straight and middle class - and with the exception of Charlie aka Ross' paleontologist girlfriend, named black characters barely appear for more than three episodes in a row at a time.

5. The programme lacks diversity in general

Come the end of the programme, four of the six main characters were "coupled-with-children", the fifth was "coupled up" and the sixth character acknowledged that "coupled-with-children" was the end goal. Considering the breath of opportunities and differences there are between six real human beings, this seems ridiculous and narrow minded.

6. Monica's weight is a source of mockery

In college, Monica is only known as "fat Monica" - but after overhearing Chandler make fun of her size, she loses weight and is suddenly described with a whole wealth of other words. Obviously, fat-shaming and size-ism isn't tolerated nowadays.

7. Joey Tribbiani objectifies women

Every woman is a conquest rather than a human being for Joey, and he'll happily sleep with someone and never call her again, seek out a female roommate with the intention of having sex with her and generally is a bit of a sleazball. He's also prone to imagining his female friends in lesbian/threesome scenarios and ain't nobody got time for that sexism.

Oh, and he also compares women to ice-cream and tells Ross to "grab a spoon". No thank you.

8. Speaking of sexism, it's a thing in Friends

Remember that time when Ross got mad at Rachel because she hired a male nanny? "That's like a woman being a…"- a what ross? A doctor? A banker? What male stereotypical job were you about to come up with? A large part of it falls down to stereotypes, but Ross Geller also struggled to accept women as equals rather than inferior.

9. Gender stereotyping also pops up. A lot.

So Monica's the erratic one in the kitchen, Phoebe's a masseuse and Rachel's in fashion - sounds a bit predictable, no? And don't even get us started on the lack of equality in the household. Chandler's forever watching tv to get out of cleaning, Ross doesn't seem to have equal childcare with Carol over Ben and Joey's extremely lazy.

10. Joey and Chandler are grossed out my breast milk

Literally, what? Joey asks: "If he blows into one, does the other get bigger?" and we just cannot. BREAST FEEDING IS A THING THAT WOMEN HAVE TO DO.

11. Chandler's anti-feminist treatment of women

He chooses a roommate because his sister is a porn-star, suggests deciding "who has the nicest ass" during the ski trip in season 3, and strings Janice along despite constantly whining about how annoying she is. He struggles to embrace his emotions, comes across as fairly desperate and actually a bit menacing when it comes to snagging a girlfriend.

THEY'LL BE THERE FOR YOU.


Credit: Cosmopolitan
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