Patrick Wanis - Women's Issues

Women's Issues

Wanis has often criticized Hollywood, the media and advertising for their portrayal of women and the sexualization of young girls and babies. "Women are bombarded everyday with advertising and messages that there is something wrong with them, something missing – all of these shows target the insecurity of women" he told Fox News.

Wanis also claims the media often ignores domestic violence against women and instead gives priority to racism. Wanis criticized television executives for ignoring Charlie Sheen's violent behavior against his wife (Sheen pleaded guilty to assaulting Brooke Mueller in 2010) and for waiting for Sheen to make partial racial slurs against his boss before firing Sheen from the hit TV show "Two and a Half Men."

In July 2010, eight months prior to Charlie Sheen’s infamous meltdown, Wanis told Alan Stock of Newsradio 840 KXNT Las Vegas and Russ Morley 850 WFTL Newstalk radio Miami: "We are showing favoritism towards Charlie Sheen. We watch Charlie Sheen on his weekly TV show and for almost 7 years, and we welcome his TV character and welcome him in life as a bad boy but we refuse to see him as a man who has abused a woman. The reality of his abuse, of his violence against a woman, is ignored because people generally seem to like him, to find him affable, viewing him as basically just a boy who is slightly wild and has not yet grown up. If we had heard the conversation between Charlie and his wife, would we still be giving him the free-pass? People quickly condemned Chris Brown for assaulting Rihanna but was that because we saw the photo of her bruised face or because Chris Brown is black and so our bias and prejudice spiked our anger and condemnation?"

In March 2011, Wanis criticized toymaker Mattel for its Clawdeen doll stating that it is actually "encouraging a young girl to dress like a stripper" and to believe that she should be sexually enticing to everyone around her. Wanis also criticized clothing retail chain, Abercrombie & Fitch, for marketing padded bikini tops to girls as young as eight years of age, stating to Fox News that the padded tops are both disturbing and dangerous: "Are we sexualizing young girls to get the attention of men or to encourage women to use their daughters to compensate for their own lack of sexual appeal by living vicariously through their daughter?" Wanis asked. "Is this the extreme extension of the beauty-pageant mother who now seeks to make up for what she can never be?"

In March 2012, Wanis criticized Lifetime Television and Abby Lee Miller (the founder and chief choreographer of The Abby Lee Dance Company) for potentially creating a playground for pedophiles and sexual predators over an episode of the TV show "Dance Moms" titled “Topless Showgirls” which features girls as young as eight performing a sexually charged, provocative showgirl-like routine in a local dance competition, donning tiny sparkly flesh-colored bras and panties to give the illusion of nudity. In the TV episode, Miller recites to the girls as she teaches them the dance moves: “I’m hot, I’m mean, you can’t have me, you can’t afford me.” Referring to the simulated nude costumes and sexual dance movements such as thrusting their chests forward and backward, Wanis told Fox News that “This condones, encourages and motivates adults to imagine little girls dancing naked for their pleasure. ..Of course it will arouse pedophiles and offer them a new legal avenue to engage in their lustful thoughts as they watch the little girls ‘nude’ on television.”