I'd Rather have a Coke and Rum

Tila Tequila is the new hit reality show on MTV about a bisexual woman who must chose one person out of 16 men and 16 women who compete for their “shot” of love with Tequila. The season finale ended with Tequila choosing Bobby, a man from New York. Last night, in the company of three close friends, was the first time I watched the show . While I was extremely intrigued by the program, soaking in every moment, much of this intrigue was simply an attempt at trying to figure out what has happened to our world. So, I have taken only a few hours to work out what bothered me so much about the program…and I am not sure that I have figured it out…but, I thought “what better way to work it out that to blog it out online?”

At first, it seems nice—a reality show that has a member of the LGBT community as its star—representation!...a voice!...yay!... But, then the reality sets in…so, here is a comparison if you will: what if one of the first heterosexual female reality stars was…oh, I don’t know, Paris Hilton or Post-2004 Britney Spears or Pamela Anderson or some figure of that sort. (side note: I actually really enjoy Paris Hilton’s music so nothing against that…she just doesn’t scream women’s rights in my view). In a culture when members of the LGBT community are already inaccurately portrayed as promiscuous and hedonistic, Tila Tequila is just not helping to advance the cause. Go to her myspace—what do you see? Tequila, legs spread, in lingerie. Enough said. I admit, in some twisted way, this gives visibility to the LGBT community, but gee, I think this is the kind of visibility I could do without..

Why post this on a feminist blog? The first and obvious answer is that women’s rights and lesbian rights are inextricably connected—one cannot happen without the other. Secondly, its not a “lesbian” or “bisexual” issue that I am discussing—it is one about the portrayal of women on TV and what happens when the one who is sending the bad image is the woman herself? I love when women shake things up, say things they aren’t traditionally supposed to say, step out of the box we did not create for ourselves, but there is a line between that and degrading ourselves for attention. It’s a line that Tequila crosses.

Those are my initial thoughts—if I have any more, I wont keep them to myself.