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  • The '90s produced a lot of good TV, and a lot of those shows still inspire nostalgia

  • and frequent binge sessions from fans.

  • But even some of the best series of the era had their moments of missing the cultural

  • mark.

  • The result are some scenes that are just plain hard to watch in retrospect.

  • Here are some moments of misogyny you might've missed the first timebut will make you

  • cringe now.

  • The jock schlock

  • Thanks to the era's most unapologetically feminist small screen heroine, Jessie Spano,

  • there were plenty of moments on Saved by the Bell that took stabs at supposed gender norms.

  • Unfortunately, A.C. Slater was always right there to undercut her.

  • For example, in the episode titled "Mamas and the Papas," the Bayside bunch are made

  • to pair off in fake marriages for a school sociology project.

  • This culminates in Slater going nuts over Jessie wanting to keep her own last name in

  • her real marriage.

  • "This chick's crazy.

  • I bet you'd want me to have the kids too?"

  • How Slater managed to win Jessie's heart through all that open machismo remains one of the

  • biggest mysteries of that entire generation of TV.

  • "You macho pig."

  • "Oink oink baby."

  • Victim-blaming

  • The subject of Jen Lindley's active love life was always a little too taboo on Dawson's

  • Creek.

  • But the show's terrible treatment of her reached new heights when she was almost sexually assaulted

  • in the episode "Full Moon Rising."

  • After her Gram manages to stop their smooch-session from becoming full-on date rape, Granny decides

  • that's the perfect time to blame Jen for everything.

  • "You will treat me with respect and you will act like a lady."

  • "Have you no respect for yourself?"

  • The idea that it was her temptress-like behavior that started all this is shocking and a dangerous

  • example of rape culture, so yeah.

  • This is pretty uncomfortable to re-watch, thanks to the incident itself and Gram's shameful

  • reaction.

  • Field of vision

  • The fact that Elaine Benes was the odd woman out in a lot of her guy friends' misinformed

  • adventures on Seinfeld meant that sometimes she got put into situations that were less

  • than desirable for a woman.

  • One such incident happened in an episode titled "The Shoes" in which George Costanza is caught

  • looking at his prospective boss' daughter's cleavage.

  • "Get a good look, Costanza?"

  • He and Jerry then convince Elaine to bare her bosoms in front of the same boss to show

  • him that it's just a natural reaction to seeing cleavage within their so-called "field of

  • vision."

  • This all results in some excessive objectification of basically every woman on the show and advances

  • the narrative that men only act like boneheads around women because they just can't help

  • themselves.

  • Yuck.

  • "You can't control it.

  • We're like some weird fish where the eyes operate independently of the head."

  • Zodiac zinger

  • Yes, even on-screen children can engage in troubling "slut-shaming" behavior.

  • Full House might've been a family show, but in the episode titled "A Pinch for a Pinch,"

  • things got pretty adult in the barb department.

  • In the episode, DJ and Kimmy try to convince Stephanie to read their high school newspaper,

  • and things get a little heated.

  • "Check out my new column.

  • Madame Kimmy's horoscope."

  • "Horoscope?

  • What's that Kimmy?

  • A telescope that can only see YOUR face?"

  • A-plus on the zinger, Stephanie.

  • F-minus on promoting completely unacceptable language to talk about a woman.

  • Too much testosterone

  • Tim "The Toolman" Taylor was the father of three boys whose job was to spend a lot of

  • time grunting like an animal over power saws.

  • With that much testosterone going around, it's probably not too surprising that he spent

  • an exhausting amount of his spare time degrading his wife Jill.

  • But the worst moment of the show had to be when his brother and sister-in-law come for

  • a visit and he can't contain his thirst over his brother's wife.

  • A bad situation gets worse when he accidentally walks in on her showering and decides that's

  • the ideal time to compliment her figure.

  • "We have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of."

  • "Yeah, especially you."

  • As if all that wasn't weird enough, he then consults with his neighbor Wilson and explains

  • exactly why he can't contain himself.

  • "You expect family, your reaction to an 80 or 90 year old Grandma but Grandma never looked

  • like that."

  • It's basically the G-rated version of the "she asked for it" defense which isgross.

  • Grabbing a spoon

  • Friends might've been there for all of us with rapid-fire jokes, situational humor,

  • and tons of delicious drama, but there were still a lot of moments that wouldn't land

  • quite so well on the modern cultural landscape.

  • Remember when Ross wouldn't let his son play with a doll?

  • Perhaps the most egregious example of this antiquated worldview came in the series' first

  • episode, when Joey spun out an elaborate metaphor about how women are food items just waiting

  • to be dined on by men.

  • "Let me tell you something Ross there's lots of flavors out there.

  • There's rocky road and cookie dough and bing cherry vanilla."

  • What's worse is that it all culminates in him telling Ross that getting back in the

  • dating game simply means grabbing a spoon and digging in.

  • The intention might've been innocent, but comparing women to sweet and soft desserts

  • only meant to reward men after they've sampled the buffet of life is basically pretty gross.

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The '90s produced a lot of good TV, and a lot of those shows still inspire nostalgia

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