The television show that I chose to analyze is “CSI: Crime Scene Investigations.”  I chose to analyze this particular show because the female characters are portrayed in occupations that are somewhat gender atypical, yet the females are still presented as being very feminine and in need of protection or saving.  The show takes place in a special investigative unit of the Las Vegas crime lab.  The characters are police officers with specialized training in forensics and other sciences.  When a crime is committed on the show, the five main characters, three men and two women, are called in to investigate with various types of sophisticated equipment.  The characters somehow always manage to crack the case in just short of an hour, every time.
         One of the characters that I chose to focus on is Catherine, a female CSI officer.  Catherine’s occupation is gender atypical because she is not only a police officer, which is somewhat rare for a female, but she is also part of a special investigative unit.  Aside from being a police officer, Catherine is also a single mother.  Catherine’s actions as a single mother are not portrayed in a realistic manner, however, and her role as a mother is not stereotypical.  She is portrayed as being in the crime lab and investigating cases all hours of the day and night, which would seem unrealistic for a woman with a small child at home.  Her ex-husband does not have any responsibility for the child and the program never shows the daughter, much less discusses who is caring for her while the mother is working the long hours.             Therefore, Catherine’s character is portrayed as being superwoman at her job who can investigate crimes at all hours without a care in the world.  Whereas, in the real world Catherine would have not only the burden of being the breadwinner who is trying to support her daughter, but she would also have the burden of caring for and nurturing her daughter as well.  In reality, it would be very difficult for a woman to work as much as Catherine does and bear the responsibility of having a child.
        The supervisor of the unit, on the other hand, is a male character who has no family responsibilities.  This particular male character is also the one who seems to come up with the right answer just in the nick of time at the end of each show.  The rational and aggressive male behavior clearly illustrates the point that the male characters on the show have more power than the females.  Catherine’s character is never assigned to investigate the big cases alone.  She always has a male partner.  The males on the show generally have the honor of coming up with the essential piece of the puzzle, leaving the females looking as though they only assisted the males in the bigger task at hand.  This illustrates the point that women are not capable of solving crimes by themselves.  The female characters are shown as being weak and unable to come up with the essential information without the help of their strong male counterparts.
        Catherine and the other female characters also seem to get stuck going out to investigate and collect evidence when a crime is committed.  This part of the job appears to be the dirty work.  Often the female characters are forced to take samples from dead bodies, lift fingerprints, or to take part in various other unpleasant tasks.  The male characters, on the other hand, typically do their work in the nice cushy environment of the lab.  The show generally depicts a sense of harmony between the male and female characters, however, because a case needs to be solved and the investigators must work together in order to get the job done.  The female characters never protest their situation of inferiority, rather they are portrayed as though they are more than happy to do the dirty work and let their male counterparts take all of the credit for solving the case.  The deference to male superiority again displays the point that the men on the show have more power.  The females seem to know their place and are depicted as being submissive and accepting of their roles as assistants to the more important male officers.
        The male and female characters are also presented as being very different on the show.  The females are depicted as being beautiful and glamorous, no matter what the situation.  The males, on the other hand, are displayed in a casual and comfortable manner at all times.  The male characters on the show typically have casual, loose clothing on and they are usually wearing goggles or some other type of protective gear.  These items do not enhance the male character’s looks in any way.  The female officers, on the other hand, always look attractive and made up.
        On the most recent episode, for example, Catherine and another female officer were out in the middle of the night investigating a case where a body had been found in a deep ditch on the side of the highway.  The women both had on high heels and dress suits.  Neither of the women had a hair out of place and both had make-up on, lipstick included.  The male supervisor on the scene, however, had on jeans and a sweatshirt.  The fact that the females were expected to be dressed to the hilt, regardless of what task they were performing, proves that society holds men and women to different standards.  The show is clearly sending the message that women are judged solely by the way they look and that the women are supposed to look pretty no matter what.  The male characters are not subjected to the same rules of the game, however.
        Another way that the show depicts males and females as being different is by giving Catherine a shady past.  The program never shows the male characters in their home environment.  It never discusses the male character’s pasts or talks about their personal lives.  The female character’s lives, on the other hand, are hot topics of discussion.  On the episode that I chose to analyze, where the female characters were investigating the body found in the ditch, there was also a smaller plot that told the story of how Catherine became a CSI agent.  She had formerly been a stripper in a nightclub.  A male CSI officer, who frequented the nightclub, had befriended her and helped her to get out of the nightclub and get a job as a CSI officer.
            The story into Catherine’s background portrayed her as promiscuous and seductive.  It also showed her as being capable of supporting her daughter only by using her body.  This plot conveyed the message that, because Catherine is a woman, she could not have possibly gotten a job on her own, using her brain.  It sent the message that she needed a man to save her from her terrible life and lead her on the right path.  The story led the viewer to believe that Catherine would never have gotten out of the strip club had a man not come along to take her away from that life.  Therefore, the show is sending the message that women are promiscuous and devious and if left to their own devices will ultimately make bad choices in life.  However, if they have a rational and aggressive man to save them from themselves, they will be successful.
            “CSI: Crime Scene Investigations” is a television show that has many underlying meanings and messages about gender and gender relations.  The main message behind the show appears to be that women can have the same careers as men, they will simply be held to different standards.  On the surface, the show sends the message that it is acceptable for women to have the same job as men because it portrays women in a gender atypical occupation working beside their male counterparts.  Beneath the surface, however, there is a definite unequal balance of power.  The female characters are expected to be glamorous and beautiful despite being depicted in situations that do not always call for glamour and beauty.  The show is also conveying the message that men are more rational and aggressive because the male characters always solve the crime and are assigned to the better job tasks.  By dredging up Catherine’s past, the show is also sending the message that women are in need of saving and, without men, they are unable to make rational choices for themselves.  Therefore, men and women are held to different standards in society and although it may appear that they have equal job positions, one need only look a little deeper below the surface to see that is not necessarily the case.