Reality Bites

Emily Simski

April 10, 2015

Blog Post

Reality Bites

            In the world of TV today, women in reality TV are being portrayed as bitches who will do whatever they can to make a name for themselves. These girls in reality TV will go out of their way to make other girls around them feel like they’re not important enough.

            TV shows such as Survivor, My Super Sweet Sixteen, The Bachelor, and America’s Next Top Model are a few examples of shows that display women as being bitches to each other as well as acting like someone else just to make a name for themselves. When the audience is watching the shows, people believe that what they’re seeing is true because we believe that these are real life people. However people do enjoy not knowing what happens because according to Susan J. Douglas, we can be on guard and off guard at the same time. Also in the chapter, Douglas lists ten reasons of how women in reality TV are being portrayed. Some of these depictions include women being judged by their appearance. If she’s not beautiful, then no one will give her respect. Another reason she mentions is that women fight with each other as well as stab each other in the back. This example can be seen in shows such as Jersey Shore as well as the Real Housewives series. Here people love to see women beat each other up as well as call each other sluts and bitches.

            Watching women treat each other badly make TV sometimes pretty upsetting to watch. I've seen a few clips of some of these shows and it’s a little disturbing in my opinion to see some of these images such as women pulling each other’s hair and punching them in the jaw. It seems a little jarring to watch these women as well as see that men don’t get treated the same way as women do. In my opinion, the producers like to take whatever they see from the recordings and determine what goes on TV and what doesn't. This is why women in reality TV are shown as being snobby bitches who only care about the prize at the end.