reality TV

Trauma Fishbowl: Reality TV Is Costing Survivors More Than Privacy

Daisy Coleman, a white woman with shoulder-length blond hair and a neck tattoo, looks at the camera

by s.e. smith

September 10, 2020 at 9:00am

These events are a stark reminder of the price of fame.

Sima Taparia, an Indian woman with shoulder-length brown hair, stands in front of portraits of front of a series of Indian people on dates

Eugenics as Entertainment: “Indian Matchmaking’s” Lighthearted View of Caste Oppression

by Aditi Natasha Kini

August 4, 2020 at 11:00am

Indian Matchmaking reveals all the isms associated with arranged marriages—colorism, casteism, sizeism, ableism, and classism—without criticizing any of it. Read more »

Two people, both white, one man, one woman, stand laughing on a beach. They both have words written on them in paint.

“Too Hot to Handle” Is a Conservative Nightmare of a Reality Dating Show

by Erin Taylor

May 15, 2020 at 7:38am

The premise is simple: for the duration of the season, no one can have sex. Read more »

Madison Prewett, a white woman with long, light brown hair and blue eyes and a dark tan, speaks to another woman, who has her back turned.

She’s so Pure: “The Bachelor” Still Has a Virginity Problem

by Ilana Masad

March 5, 2020 at 2:04pm

Madison’s “purity” rhetoric illustrates a much broader, scarier problem with her virginity-focused narrative arc. Read more »

Carlton Morton, a Black man, wears a suit and a bow tie. He is bald and wears a serious expression while sitting on a couch.

“Love Is Blind” Shows There’s No Bisexual Boom for Black Men

by Rachel Charlene Lewis

February 27, 2020 at 12:12pm

Televison’s “bisexual boom” hasn’t yet reached Black men. Read more »

image of model with long, bright orange hair with a pixelated-looking face

The Lie That Feeds Our Ugly Fascination with Makeover Shows

by Dara Mathis

February 19, 2020 at 9:00am

How do you produce a show that purports to make women more beautiful—presenting them as undesirable as is—and still manage to preach self-love? Read more »

photo of a woman and man embracing and kissing in a field with colorful trash bags over their heads

On “90 Day Fiancé,” Love Is a Form of Capital

by Jordan McDonald

November 11, 2019 at 8:49am

90 Day Fiancé exposes the attitudes and practices that have foreground America’s history of anti-immigrant sentiment, nativism, racism, and xenophobia. Read more »