Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1993 | Page 73

Race, Class and Gender on T h e Cosby Show"

71

about his eating habits and is known to be jealous, and her husband's
humor and sexuality frequently get the best of her. We see Clair at
work or with colleagues far less frequently than we do Cliff; most of
the time she is presented inside the home, fulfilling traditional roles
of wife and mother. Her character is not a true representation of a
working woman with a family, and perpetuates the idea that the
family dynamic doesn't have to change greatly to accommodate a
working mother (Press 239).
Perhaps this covert sexism would be less unnerving if the show
didn't vocally endorses a non-sexist ideology. Issues of class and race
never receive the open treatment that sexism does. In this scheme,
"sexism is, though, a phenomenon basically exemplified by callow
youths” (Downing 59). Elvin—Sondra's boyfriend and eventual
husband—served for several years as the show's resident sexist; the
humor of his role largely stemmed from his outrageous chauvinist
attitudes. The implication is that these young people (usually
friends of the Huxtable children) will outgrow their attitudes, with
the help of the good example set by the Huxtables. (Clair
presumably worked a similar transformation on the young Cliff.) The
overt sexism on the show—the attitudes which Cliff and Clair
preach against—is usually so extreme as to seem comical. The more
covert examples, however, are threatening and troublesome, perhaps
because they are presented as natural aspects of the program, and
because the show itself seems so oblivious to them.
The male characters often act with an "us vs. them" attitude
towards female characters; they are repeatedly victims of "the
women's irritated responses, but [are] always allowed the last, jokey
word" (Downing 59). One episode found Cliff, Elvin, and Martin
(Denise's husband) secretly challenging each other to a "romance
test." They would each purchase a gift for their wife, and the one
with the most romantic gift would win. The wives, meanwhile, learn
of the contest and decide to turn the tables on their husbands by
refusing to betray any emotion or reaction to the gifts. The willpower
of the women proves no match to the ingenuity and thoughtfulness of
their husbands, however. Each wife, one after the other, breaks into
tears, while the husbands continue to argue over who has won the bet.
An episode from the same season centered on the developing relation
ship between Cliff and his new son-in-law, Martin. As the script is
plotted, their relationship is cemented when Cliff coaxes Martin into