Women endure a lot on TV— whether they’re being exploited as shallow and stupid on “Beauty and the Geek” or having their determination written as off as being “witchy” and “uppity” (both insults leveled at Hillary Clinton by that champion of feminism, Chris Matthews). So it certainly seems odd that of all the atrocities to speak out against, a women’s rights leader is taking Tyra Banks to task for a relatively uneventful episode of “America’s Next Top Model.”

Sonia Ossorio, president of the New York City Chapter of the National Organization for Women, told the NY Daily News that a recent episode in which the aspiring catwalkers played dead— all victims of model-on-model crime— was not cool. “Violence against women is such a reality in our society that I certainly don’t need the entertainment industry making light of it.”

Now, I consider myself a feminist, hands down. But has Ossorio never turned on a TV before? She is aware that women have been killed off on TV before, right? And most of the time, they don’t get right up and finish the episode, as these girls all did. Crime shows such as “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” “CSI” and “Without a Trace” have practically made their own genre out of exploiting dead females. Even “America’s Next Top Model” itself has been down this road before— in cycle four, when the girls were made to try their hands at dead-girl chic by posing inside a coffin.

The broadcast world’s fascination with dead (mostly white) women can indeed be very disturbing— consider the around-the-clock coverage given to real-life dead girls such as Anna Nicole Smith, Natalee Holloway, Chandra Levy, Laci Peterson and JonBenet Ramsey. But given TV’s tendency to indulge this tendency, Ossorio’s decision to speak out against this particular episode seems downright bizarre. Women obviously need groups like NOW to take up their cause— but considering the immense amount of sexism on TV, each battle should be chosen wisely— and this one simply wasn’t.