One sided?

Hello everybody,

I am going to address an issue now that has caused me some concern of late. In emails at the show I have gotten a couple of comments in which I have been accused of gender bias. Some say that I am too tough on the guys especially the black ones. So I have been watching my show lately with that in mind and guess what: I do see how one could get that impression. It does look that way.

The thing is I try very hard to be balanced. VERY HARD. That having been said I am going to work harder to improve that. In my own defense however I would like to point out the following things that may add to an impression of bias.

1. We can only air the couples we get. The vast majority that we find are women who want to come on the show who have been wronged. Men who have been made fools of cheated on or are hen pecked to death are less likely to be comfortable telling the world about it. Women - we don't mind so much. So I get more of "this guys done me wrong" cases than the other way around.

2. Each show takes 40 - 45 minutes to tape but we only air 18-20minutes. They edit the show so we can get the story told and the most exciting parts on. Sometimes a lot of what I say gets edited out. (I have been able to talk to those who editt and they are aware of my balance issues and are keeping that in mind)

3. It might seem that I am always yelling at black guys biut we get a lot more black couples than white who call in. (A cultural thing?) I don't know. That's just how it is.

4. A couple people say I always start with the woman. That goes back to the story telling thing. Our only rule that determines who we start with is who is the best talker. Who is going to get the story out quickly but thoroughly. We women talk a lot. We talk about our relationships all the time. We already have it in story form so more often than not we start with her because she can 'set up the show' better.

Having said all of that I am still going to watch my p's and q's on this issue. One can never be TOO balanced.