I have grown bored with Reality Television writ large; however, I am enjoying the reality television that is video-blogging (VLoggin). As a person who watched the first season of the MTV’s Real World, I have given reality television more than a chance. But with the advent of the sensational coverage of Jon & Kate Gosselin’s marriage woes, and the fake drama of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, I have reached my limit. I am no longer entertained by this type of media that allows for a voyeuristic pleasure of the viewer and the tyranny of the visual to destroy familial relationships.
As a feminist, I am especially worried about the continued fetishization of the female body that occurs on these types of programs. Although this fetishization of the female body occurs across all media outlets, it is one thing when dominant groups produce images of women that adhere to archaic gender codes, it is yet another to create an environment where women are asked and prodded by producers to contort themselves into these positions for the pleasure of the viewer.
A prime example is the fetishization of the female body is The Girls Next Door. On this show, Hef’s three girlfriends (and I use the term girlfriend loosely), are all young, platinum blonde, thin, and white. None of them work, unless you count being Hef’s girlfriend, and yet the producers seem to be able to piece together a 30 minute show every week that features their activities and thoughts, ‘confessions.’ Clearly, the emphasis of the show is to feature their bodies, which are always scantily clothed and their materialism.
Each girlfriend claims to love Heffner, despite the fact that he will just replace her with another blonde clone, when she decides to leave or grows ‘too old’ to be his girlfriend. The problem with this show is that women are objectified and hegemonic masculinity is revered, even if it is creepy. Although the women are the feature of the show they are not the star. The star of the show is the phallus. Hugh Heffner’s penis, masculinity, wealth, and heterosexuality are the stars of the show. I do think that Heffner exists on the margins of heteronormativity because of his polygamist ways.
But what do we make of our society that says it is illegal to have more that one marital partner, but allows, even applauds, and gives a half-hour of cable television time to men who maintain multiple partners outside of marriage? Ask yourself, how long would a show with a woman who maintains three boyfriends stay on the air. Sure Tiffany (New York) did it, but she lasted three television seasons, while Heffner has been applauded for this behavior since the 70s. Tila Tequila had a bisexual harem for two seasons, but was recently (11/2/09) lamented en masse on twitter for being a “loose” woman.
The sexual double standard still exists and reality television shows exploit it for ratings. The lucky woman is able to turn that exploitation on its head and create a place for complex representations of the female body and subjectivity in the media. Alas, more often than not, by the time the women wise up to confining representational space they are allowed, they are tossed to the side for the next unsuspecting victim. 
Some of you are probably thinking that women are not unsuspecting victims in the reality tv show game. I agree with you, to an extent. As reality television proliferates, the women who inhabit the genre become more sophisticated. For example, this year on the Real House Wives of Atlanta there is a pair of friends, Nene and Kim, that have gotten into numerous fights and then miraculously reconciled. When I began to watch the show their friendship seemed to be the most genuine on the show. As the show progressed, they seemed to be at each other’s throats. Now they are friends again, after supposedly getting into a physical altercation at a mall (which was not caught by the cameras). I am starting to think that these two friends are falsifying dramatic situations in order to remain on the show. They are aware that the good girl of season 1, Deshawn, was cut from the show’s line-up because she did not add enough drama to the storyline. I believe that they are falsifying dramatic storylines in order to stay on the show.
Instead of women manipulating money, beauty, and drama to maintain the spotlight, I would love to see women on television that are smart, funny, and talented. There is an audience for smart women lead characters, if only television would allow more on the air.
