“Reality TV has been functioning as backlash on women’s rights, cultural progress and social progress,” Jennifer Pozner said in her presentation “Project Brainwash: Why Reality TV is Bad for Women.” The event occurred in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
Pozner, a media critic and journalist, founded Women in Media & News as well as publishing her book “Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV.” Her lecture addressed how reality TV emphasizes women’s beauty over all other qualities. “On ‘America’s Next Top Model’, women have to measure up, literally,” Pozner said. The women on the show must meet a certain height and weight standard to compete, and one medical student was told she lost because her level of intelligence may seem condescending to agents. Additionally, Pozner showed a clip of the producer of “The Bachelor” stating, “most importantly, they have to look good in a hot tub.”
“Reality TV shows that are supposedly about talent turn into beauty contests among women,” Pozner said. She used “American Idol” as an example, in which Simon Cowell told one contestant she needed to lose weight to become famous. “This is an image-based business,” Cowell said. He told another contestant who sang her entire song flat that she was “not the best singer in the show, but was the most commercial.” Pozner said that women are portrayed as commodities like cars rather than as talented or intelligent.
“Fat wallet plus skinny chick. Poof. Love,” Pozner said. She added that reality TV portrays marriage to a man like “Prince Charming” as the only way for a woman to be happy and fulfilled in her life. She continued the fairy tale theme by stating that many producers frame their shows as perfect fairy tales. The shows ignore the economic role women play in society and encourage men to be the “bread winner” for the family. “They treat grown women like little girls who never outgrew their bedtime stories,” Pozner said. However, she said that the majority of couples who get married on reality TV shows split up shortly after, citing that only three of “The Bachelor” couples stayed together after the show ended.
The media often excuses some of the degrading stereotypes on the by stating that they are only attempting to meet the public’s demands. “Reality TV is created to meet advertisers’ needs and not our needs,” Pozner argued. Many companies, such as Sony and Coca-Cola, pay to have their products advertised on the shows. Even if a reality TV show has lower ratings than another TV series, the reality show will continue to air because they make more money for the producers. “Reality TV can collect millions of dollars before they ever air,” Pozner said. “The main purpose is to make money for a small amount of media companies.”
Reality TV is only scripted about 50 to 65 percent less than a regular TV drama. Before the show ever airs, the producers have already formed an overarching storyline for the season through their casting decisions and editing. Pozner shared that only about one percent of what is filmed is aired. Often the shows use what Pozner identified as “frankenbits,” in which the producers take the quotes from cast members out of context to add drama or perpetuate their plot line.
Pozner also addressed some on the standards men are held to on reality TV shows. She said that men who act violent and chauvinistic receive praise. Some of the men on the dating shows also have criminal records for assault, domestic violence or even murder. “Sometimes Prince Charming himself is violent and degrading,” Pozner stated. She showed a clip in which one man was berated for allowing women to buy their own drinks, order their own meals and open their own car doors. The show host acted outraged that the man wanted equal roles for both the man and the woman.
Those who do buy in to the media ideals of romance and marriage are often portrayed as “bridezillas.” Pozner stated that many myths on reality TV, such as women being catty, stupid gold diggers only serves to further degrade women. She stated that if someone only learned about American culture from reality TV, “You’d get the impression that the women’s rights movement and the civil rights movement never happened.”
