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MASH was one of my favourite shows, and Hot Lips an awesome character.
There were little glimmers that broke through. There were some brilliant female characters on TV - but they were always kind of undercut by their novelty - they were the ones who were good at being a cop/medic/serious character, despite their womanhood. Hot Lips wasn't like the other women - she was almost like one of the guys - she wasn't hobbled by her sex.
I also recall that a lot of tv shows overtly tackled and referenced the changing gender roles. I remember being conscious of that - the storylines of women trying to make it in male fields - the novelty of their presence in those fields (whole sitcoms based on the premise of a woman doing a man's job or vice versa) the hilarity of Les Dawson's comic vision of a distopian future where women are in charge and men are enslaved.
Thinking about it, even just a decade or so ago the idea of a man staying home as homekeeper or being left to raise a baby was considered funny in and of itself.
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