Has anyone seen the show "A Shot at Love with Tia Tequila?" I've watched it a few times, and I just don't know what to make of it...
The first time I saw it, I thought, "oh, great, here we go. Here's a hypersexualized woman playing bisexual for a heterosexual male gaze. This is another typical porn lesbian/bi representation..." But, the more I watch it, the more I wonder if it has possibilities for subversive representations.
Amongst the contestants competing for Tia's attention is a very butch, perhaps trans lesbian, Dani. When I was first started watching, I was weary of how she'd be represented and I thought she'd be eliminated immediately. But, she's actually stuck around for a while and has been depicted really positively. She's portrayed as intelligent, sincere, kind, and friendly. And, even though Tia has made it clear that she's usually not attracted to butchy girls, she seems to like Dani...
I ramble on about this because this otherwise trashy show is significant in portraying a butch lesbian. This is a show for mainstream audiences, yet pretty queer in content... However, it remains to be seen whether she'll pick a boy or a girl. I'd be willing to bet Dani doesn't win the show, guess we'll have to see...
2 comments:
I'm extremely wary just because we have such limited representation of bisexuality in the media. I've only caught a few episodes but the previews certainly played up the "she doesn't know if she likes men or women" angle, and I just know that whoever she chooses will be seen as representative of "what she really is": if she chooses a man, she's "really" straight; if she chooses a woman, she's "really" a lesbian; if she chooses one of each she's "really" a "greedy slut who can't make up her mind" (this is of course not my opinion, but the way I anticipate it being recieved). The whole attention-seeking aspect of "reality dating shows" makes the whole thing dubious and I have almost no doubts that the final ep of the show will be artificially constructed to either a) shock people, or b) confirm heterosexist standards.
That said, it is nice to see a butch lesbian represented in such a positive manner.
im addicted to this show..i think it does need more of a variety of so called "lesbians". All of these lesbians were straight out of the lword and some dissapointingly were hypersexualized strippers, others were flirting with the guys and of course there is youre token butch dike..but tila doesnt show any preference which makes me believe shes genuine
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