Stereotypes and TV

Tuesday night I saw the Bravo lineup of gayness: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, then Boy Meets Boy, then more Queer Eye.

Boy Meets Boy, the most frivolous of them all, is perhaps the one with the most redeeming social value. Sure, it’s a mean-twist dating show, but on the other hand, it really forced me to examine my preconceptions. I kept expecting the suitors to be having rampant casual sex, or for the ‘leading man’ to sleep with each of them to see which he preferred in bed. But he spent a lot of time talking about values and relationships and emotions. Then there was one boy who actually said, honestly, “well, you know, you’re a great guy, but I’m not feeling the kind of electric connection I had hoped for. I’d love to be friends but I don’t think we should date.” He basically kicked himself off the show– I was thinking, dude, how could you NOT LIE! There’s fame and money at stake here! But they were all quite honorable and friendly. Although two of the suitors are definitely starting a romance of their own. Still, I couldn’t help but note the serious reinforcement of heteronormative values: one guy got tossed for having a sometime-boyfriend back in NYC. And of course there’s no real talk about maybe picking two of the suitors or any of that.

Queer Eye is also real reinforcement of heteronormative values (not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you). All the straight slobs are trying to learn how to shape up for their girlfriends and wives. But for the most part, it’s frivolous and doesn’t examine stereotypes: just some fairies come and make the house neat and trim your nose hair. Half of it is pimping for West Elm and DWR and the value of back-waxing.

What I’d like to see is “Butch Eye for the Straight Girl” in which five sensible-shoe-wearing lesbians arrive in a Volvo station wagon to the Bridget-Jones apartment of some ditzy fashion-victim girl, educate her about dioxins in bleached tampons and the medical establishment’s sexism, teach her how to play folk songs on the guitar, and help her dress for comfort rather than to please others, and show her how not to care about body image, and learn to love herself as she is. Then she’d go out for coffee with her female friends and not talk to any of the boys or care about them, and just be self-sufficient for once.