Whose Objectified and Sexualized Body Is It Anyway?

On July 16th, 2013, Whose Line Is It Anyway? came back to television to the excitement of viewers everywhere. The show had been off air since 2007, so its return was a noteworthy event. I sat in anticipation, one of 2.92 million viewers, as the new host welcomed the audience to Whose Line Is It Anyway?, “the show where everything is made up and the points don’t matter”. My initial excitement, however, slowly turned to uneasiness as I noticed a subliminal point made week after week during the game, “Living Scenery”: that women are sexual objects defined by their attractiveness.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, “Living Scenery” is an improvisational game that requires celebrity guests to stand in as props for the actors. The guest stars on Whose Line are almost always female and, in the case of many athletes, wearing very little clothing.

For example, in episode five of the new season, Mary Killman and Mariya Koroleva, two Olympic Synchronized Swimmers, walk on stage in their swimming attire- two nude-colored bathing suits decorated with purple and green abstract designs. Before the game begins, Collin Mochrie, one of the actors, turns to the swimmers and says “I’m so sorry”, suggesting that he foresees the compromising positions (no pun intended) these women will no doubt be placed in during the game. Before the game begins, the host, Aiysha Tyler refers to Collin and his acting partner, Ryan Stiles, as “the two luckiest men in the entire world” because they are able to use these incredibly attractive women as props.

During the scene, Collin and Ryan pretend that the women are their sleeping bags. As the synchronized swimmers lie down silently on the ground before the two actors, the crowd goes wild. Ryan looks down at the two women and attempts to spare them from being sexualized by turning to Collin and saying, “You want to stay up and talk for a while?” Collin, however, expresses an eagerness to lie down on his “sleeping bag” when he shouts, “Let’s hit those sacks!”. The crowd again bursts into laughter at the suggestive scene before them: the women lie, unmoving and silent, unable to voice any sort of consent as they play the role of objects.

Throughout the entire episode, the synchronized swimmers are reduced to pretty things to look at, to voiceless bodies to be used as props. They enter the stage without speaking, spend the entire episode this way, and exit in the same manner, their bodies alone emphasized as sexual objects.

The same is true of an episode in which Legends Football League special guests Chloe Butler and Monique Gaxiola enter the stage, wearing football jerseys cut out to expose their chests and stomachs. As the game begins, the hash tag, #PrettyProps, appears in the bottom corner of the screen. Only a few seconds later, the women have already been reduced to the appearance of their bodies. Playing the part of a fire fighter, Ryan turns to Collin and says, “I’ll slide down the pole”. He then proceeds to slide his hands down the body of the still woman acting as his prop. Collin also sexualizes the woman acting as his prop by announcing that he will take a shower and proceeding to turn imaginary knobs in front of her breasts. The crowd laughs uproariously every time the women are turned into sexual objects. Near the end of the scene, the women lie down as the imagined victims of a big fire and Collin proceeds to lean over and put his lips to one of the women in order to “bring her back to life”.

watch the #PrettyProps episode

Although the women who guest star in these episodes may have signed a contract permitting their bodies to be used this way, the inability of the women to give or deny consent during the actual scenes is troubling, as is the depiction of women as literal objects (no male guest stars were sexualized or used as props in the game “Living Scenery” during this new season of Whose Line). The employment of women as sexual objects seems to be a choice made on the part of the producers to please the audience, who no doubt reacts positively every time the women are turned into sexualized objects. As long as the audience continues to voice its approval in hearty laughter, women will no doubt continue to be sexualized and objectified on this show.

Whose Line is back and aiming to please an audience that enjoys seeing women used as sexualized objects. The show is promoting the objectification and sexualization of women. Moreover, by denying these women the ability to voice or deny consent, it is also promoting rape culture. Welcome to Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the show where everything is made up and the point of using women as sexualized props does, indeed, matter.