Gay Reality-TV Dating Shows — A History of Subtle Femme-Shame
What exactly is a “masculine” man?
Ever since I was a kid, there have been innumerable reality TV shows on every channel, full of mostly vapid, backstabbing people, manufacturing histrionic drama we can hardly call “reality”. So suffice it to say, to avoid rotting my brain, I’ve abstained from watching most of these programs.
The one reality show I was addicted to as a kid was The Mole, hosted by a still-closeted Anderson Cooper. Looking back, what endeared me to it was the runner-up contestant, Jim Morrison — the first gay person I saw on TV who seemed authentically himself, who I could see myself reflected in.
From Lance Loud of An American Family, the first out gay man on TV, to Pedro Zamora, a brilliant young man on The Real World who humanized the AIDS epidemic, to even Richard Hatch on Survivor — reality TV, for all its flaws, has changed people’s hearts and minds about LGBTQ+ issues.
Of course, these shows usually had just one queer person in the ensemble.
Meanwhile, reality TV dating shows would exclude gay people altogether, out of…
