The Real L Word: Laughable

Anyone who knows me knows that I love The L Word. I have been a supporter of the show, and I used to watch it religiously. Many people (cough… cough… mostly Jill) liked to challenge me on my love of The L Word saying that it was not a feminist show/message. Articles / blogs were even written by prominent feminist sources condemning the show as anti-feminist. Still, I held my ground and did not waiver in support.

Rather than going into detail about why I believe The L Word is feminist, you can read this article which lays out the main arguments.

The L Word ended its 6-year streak and the debate seemed to die with it. However, I recently discovered that they are now coming out with a show called The REAL L Word. It is a reality show that follows the lives of real lesbians in L.A. that airs on Showtime, Sundays, at 10pm
Now, everything you just read in support of The L Word and my personal views on it as feminist is thrown out in The Real L Word. From everything that I have gathered from the website and all the videos, The Real L World, is not only an anti-feminist show but practically disrupts every argument made in favor of the original The L Word.

Now I have never been a fan of reality TV, but this show is definitely a slap in the face to feminism. If you watch the clip which gives an introduction to the show you might just see what I mean. First of all, one of the cast members has the audacity to say that they are a “diverse group” even though they all look pretty much the same to me (see the photo above). The reason I could justify the cookie-cutter characters in the original The L Word series is because it was not claiming to be reality. I’m sorry, but in reality not all lesbians are 1) that attractive 2) that successful (all of them seem to be doing extremely well for themselves) and 3) live the glamorous lifestyles portrayed on the show. It seems that this new series is truly the antithesis of what it is claiming: real. Therefore, I cannot even begin to try and defend this show as feminist or even ground-breaking. It is merely another cliché reality show.

Just incase this video is not working, here is the link to watch it.