Listen, I don’t have anything rad to tell you that you should check out or buy this week because I am far too outraged about the new ABC sitcom Work It to complete full sentences related to anything else at the moment. What the F is this bulls–t about, you might ask. Well let me tell you. It’s pretty much the most sexist mockery of cross-dressing that I have ever seen in my life.
I waited to bitch prior to today, trust. I had to wait until that first god-awful episode premiered so that I could properly and fairly evaluate the horror, and let me tell you, it did not forsake me. Oh sure, ABC claims that a large part of the premise is that the guys “just have a lot to learn,” but the entire idea makes me want to puke. They are somehow managing to objectify women while simultaneously and openly making fun of how “terrible” (#sarcasm) men look when wearing women’s clothing.
Let me just summarize a portion of it for you: Lee goes through his wife’s jewelry box in order to hock a pair of her bedazzled earrings because he had to pay for his doctor’s appointment when the insurance company didn’t cover his bill. He then gets the brilliant idea (whilst catching a look at himself over his wife’s dress in the bedroom full-length mirror and holding the about-to-be pawned off earrings) to dress up like a woman in order to get a job, because you know, obviously that would be easier. They then like to point out how blatantly obvious it is to the rest of the world how hideous and unconvincing he (as she) is.
Since the show is set in Missouri, I’m going to assume that this is the network’s quite flawed attempt at starting to build the bridge between Middle America and the Mos? I really, really hope not. Let me repeat: No. Beyond all the barf in every part of the context of this show, we have to deal with truly trashy wardrobe choices? Let’s be real, St. Louis – no one I know would be caught dead in K-Mart.
If you want to form an opinion of your own, you can watch the pilot episode of Work It online. I kind of want a few more folks to watch it so that I have someone to commiserate with. I’m glad to know that I’m not alone in the matter and I want to remind the planet that wearing clothing in any way that one may choose and expressing yourself by doing so should never be used as a point of mockery.
One last thing: Hey Kelly, thanks for assuming that just because a woman doesn’t have a husband that she’s a lesbian, betch.
