Reality Television & Women: A Semi-Intelligent Post November 13, 2008

Since yesterday was my token “I’m in Blogher under the category Relationships I should probably write something about boys” post, today it’s time to fulfill my “I’m in Blogher under Feminism/Gender” quota.*  So today I’m gonna talk about reality television.

In a recent discussion with my lovely mentor, I had an entertainment epiphany. The majority of reality television stars are women. Almost all** reality spin-off stars are women. New York (I Love New York), Adrian (Top Model turned Surreal Life turned My Fair Brady), The Charm School women, The Bachelorette, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback, now a full time member of The View; and Kristin Cavallari, who went from Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, to become a television host and actress and in Britain, Jade Goody went from Big Brother 3 to selling books and a perfume line, among others. Let’s not forget the household names of Amorosa, Kim Kardashian, LC, Audrina, The God Warrior and probably the biggest reality stars-Paris and Nicole. And as we can see, a lot of these ladies became successful due to their stint on reality television.

Unfortunately, we made them successful by making them continue to prove to us that they are ridiculous, catty, and in some opinions, crazy. Besides maybe Hasselbeck (and that’s up for debate—remember the “Rosiegate” situation) all of these women have at some point done something so “outrageous” that America wanted to keep watching them. And because if you give the people train wrecks, the people will watch, TV execs decided these women deserved their own shows.

I can’t decide if it’s admirable or depressing. Part of me wants to applaud these women for their cunning business skills; their ability to turn their 15 minutes of fame into an hour (or two if you’re Paris—why won’t she just stay off my tv?!) They played up the stereotypes, the drama, and the girl fights in order to capitalize on the buzz these things generate. They succeeded in out earning a lot of their male reality co-stars. For this, I respect them. However, I cannot say with any certainty that their moves were indeed calculated. I can’t know for sure that they stepped on the stage with the intention of making this their big break and playing up the stereotypes and cattiness in order for the payout. To the contrary I think in some cases, they were just being themselves. I think some of them really were trying to fall in love with Flava Flav (WHY?! Good god, why?!), I think some of them really are self-absorbed and completely materialistic and morally retarded. And that my friends, makes the feminist in me cringe.

I think it’s despicable that so many of these shows pit women against one another, sometimes even stripping them of their names and making them compete in “challenges” about who can pose for the best calendar shot (Flavor of Love). Even the shows that are not directly involved in romance, like Top Model, end up pitting the girls against each other. And I understand it’s a competition, but shouldn’t the focus be more about individually taking the best photo rather than bad-mouthing the other girls and hoping they fail at looking “fierce?”

This phenomenon doesn’t occur to the same extent when the casts are mixed gender. And, maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t think of a single show that had a completely male cast (tell me if there is such a show, I’d be interested in watching and comparing).

I’d venture to guess that women make up the primary viewing audience of most reality shows, which may or may not be true but it seems I hear way more women talking about “The Hills” than men. I’m not sure why this is, and I’m not going to make any remark about women being the caretakers through millennia and thus having a keener sense of awareness in the lives of others, but the fact remains that the female gender tends to be more interested in the lives of other individuals than the male gender. Case in point: Blogging. Primarily dominated by women, if you stick to the “life blogger” genre. We enjoy following the daily life of other people, no matter how unglamorous their lives, just the fact that they are the “other” makes them interesting.

With all these women, most of which are intelligent, educated individuals, captivated by the realness of reality television, why haven’t we started to make shows that inspire positive change?*** Think of the power this has, think of the changes we could make if the reality television medium was directed in a positive way. If we used reality television for good instead of evil…well, we might be able to do more for humanity in general.

*I know there’s no real “quota” but sometimes I imagine new readers finding my blog and thinking, “this has nothing to do with gender/relationships..peace out!” But then again if you still say peace out you’re probably stilling donning a scrunchie and I can no longer respect your opinion. Oh 1992. What a good year.

** “A Real Chance At Love” or whatever the hell that show is called is the only show I can think of where male cast members were crazy enough to warrant their own spin off.

***Yes I know there’s been Oprah’s Big Give and Extreme Makeover Home Edition on the “good for humanity” side but the scales are still tipped in the direction of train wrecks (My New BFF?! Come on!)