A Shot at Change with Tila Tequila

With "A Shot at Love's" first season winding down and having just watched the all-day marathon, I was inspired to write a post.

This show has gotten a lot of flack for being yet another show that exhibits the slut culture that America loves, and for good reason. The girls wear shirts that display their Vaseline shined cleavage and the guys' lack of shirts displays their Vaseline shined abs of steel. There's a little bit of eye candy for all of us. But that's hardly the reason why I'm writing this post. "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" is the first reality television show that puts a spotlight on lesbian/bisexual people. Watchers of the show couldn't care less about the guys! It's all about Tila Tequila and her lesbian harem trying to win her love. As the guys and girls compete for Tila's affections, the show tells MTV America a little bit about the struggles that lesbian and bisexual women endure.

The most prominent offense to the lesbians on the show is the confusion that many of the guys posses. They have been called "he-she's" and one guy described them as "technically men" even when they all identify as women! This is an EXTREMELY common error that average heterosexual or even gay people make. Regardless of whether or not a lesbian identifies as a "butch" or "femme," they are still women and should be regarded as such. Another thing the show manages to do is to show stereotypes of "butch" or "femme" while softening the stereotypes and making the girls human, with real emotions, and less like a parody. All of the women who are on the show are genuine and personable, with the exception of the whores who make their way onto any dating reality show.

Kudos to "A Shot at Love" attempting to bring some awareness of Bisexual and Lesbian culture to the masses, but it might take another season or two to make the change stick.