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Lesbians Come Out of the Reality TV Closet in 2004

Lesbians did not fare well on network TV this year, with the number of regular lesbian characters at only three so far this season. But there is one area in which lesbian and bisexual women actually gained ground in 2004: reality TV.

The genre of reality (or “unscripted) television has taken off in the last few years as Americans have come out in droves for their chance to compete on-camera for dates, prizes, or just their moment in the sun.

But with the exception of MTV’s Real World and Road Rules franchises, lesbian and bisexual women have generally been absent from these shows. Out of the hundreds of reality show contestants on television in the last three or four years, only a small handful have been lesbian or bisexual women (not including the hordes of women on shows like The Third Wheel and Elimidate who appear willing to sleep with anyone).

The lack of lesbian/bi women on reality shows can be attributed to a variety of factors, ranging from the practical (many of these shows revolve around dating, which leaves lesbians out from the get-go unless it’s an all-lesbian show) to the socioeconomic (television is still largely geared towards a more conservative Middle America where negative social attitudes towards homosexuality are assumed to persist).

The first openly lesbian reality contestant, Beth, debuted on The Real World: L.A. (MTV) in 1992, when reality TV was still a novelty. She was followed by Genesis on The Real World: Boston (MTV) in 1997; Ruthie on The Real World: Hawaii (MTV) in 1999; Sophie on Road Rules: The Quest (MTV) in 2001; Rachel on Road Rules: Campus Crawl (MTV) and Aneesa on The Real World: Chicago (MTV) in 2002; and Ebony on America’s Next Top Model (UPN) in 2003.

There have been other lesbian and bisexual reality contestants whose sexuality wasn’t officially disclosed-like Sonja Christopher on the first season of Survivor in 2000-but no other openly gay women.

That brings to the total to seven openly lesbian or bisexual women on reality TV in eleven years, prior to 2004.

So the fact that we’ve had 10 openly lesbian reality contestants in 2004 alone–three more than in all of the previous years combined–is not insignificant. Not only have the numbers increased, but lesbian reality show contestants are appearing on a greater diversity of channels.

Making their debut on popular shows like Survivor (CBS), Starting Over (ABC) and Battle of the Sexes 2 (MTV), and on lesser-known series like Blow Dry (Bravo) and King of the Jungle 2 (Animal Planet), lesbian and bisexual women have finally come out of the reality show closet.

This year also saw a few reality show “firsts”: Survivor was the first network TV series to include more than one lesbian contestant at a time on a reality show, and Battle of the Sexes 2 featured an unprecedented five queer women on one show. Since Survivor consistently ranked in the top 10 series among adults and teens, tens of millions of Americans tuned in to watch Ami and Scout battle it out with the other heterosexual contestants week after week.

The lesbian/bi contestant (or at least, the lesbian hook-up, sometimes between bi-curious women) has become such a cliché of reality shows, in fact, that the new animated Comedy Central reality-show spoof Drawn Together even has a lesbian cartoon character.

Perhaps it was inevitable, given the sheer number of contestants reality shows churn through every year, that lesbians would eventually start showing up in the mix. Reality show burnout and declining ratings is also a contributor: as more and more reality shows compete for diminishing ratings, trotting out the lesbians is one way they can try to drum up a little controversy and stand out from the pack.

But while we might have come out of the reality closet this year, we still haven’t secured a place at the table. The number of lesbian/bi women on reality TV remains heavily skewed towards a single channel (MTV, whose Battle of the Sexes 2 accounts for five of the ten contestants this year), and network television accounted for only three of the ten (Ami and Scout on Survivor, and Leah on Starting Over).

Which means lesbian and bisexual women still make up only a tiny fraction of the total reality show contestants.

And although there is racial diversity among the contestants on Battle of the Sexes 2, all of the other lesbian reality show contestants are white. This is not inconsistent with the predominance of white contestants on reality shows in general, but it’s still an area that needs improvement.

Some would argue that more lesbians on reality shows isn’t necessarily a great achievement, given how poorly most reality contestants come across. But even with declining ratings, many of these series still command millions of viewers, and including lesbian and bisexual contestants gives the show an opportunity to challenge stereotypes, and gives lesbian and bi viewers a contestant with whom to relate.

Even if the quality of the visibility that reality shows provide us is questionable, all Americans should have the same opportunity to make fools of themselves on national TV, regardless of sexual orientation.

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