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[sophiaserpentia]

"Reality TV" is quickly becoming a venue, like the Coliseum in ancient Rome, where the human spirit is demeaned and desecrated.

This was mentioned today in transgender:

A controversial new reality series is expected to bring huge ratings to Sky One this autumn.

Find Me A Man, due to begin on November 15, features seven "lively and outgoing" young men competing for the affections of a lady whom, unbeknownst to them, is actually a man.

The six-episode series was recorded in Ibiza last summer. According to this week's Broadcast, the men were asked to select the woman they found most attractive from a lineup which included Miriam, a pre-op transexual. All seven chose Miriam.

Before Miriam's secret was revealed, the contestants had to sign eight-page consent forms allowing the footage to be shown. A Sky spokesperson told the magazine that no complaints had been received from any of the participants afterwards, adding that all those involved had been offered psychological counselling before and after the show.

I'm not sure where to even start pointing out how many ways this is demeaning and insulting. Not just to the men involved, or to Miriam, or to transsexuals. What saddens me is that at the moment they met her, Miriam struck the men as charming and attractive, yet when her "secret was revealed," this suddenly meant nothing. It really is too bad that we don't have a model of attraction that teaches us that we are attracted to people, not things, because of who they are, not because of what they can do for us. A model like that would be far more respectful on many different levels.

Comments

[archanglrobriel.livejournal.com]

There are no words for how disgusted I am by this, but yet, not surprised. I figured something like this was in the works since there was such a big ruckus raised about "tricking" the gay boy by throwing straight boys into the mix on "Boy meets Boy".
What better way to "trick" straight boys than with the ultimate taboo..and it's a lot more settling to middle america to be shocked and horrified by this than by say, having an episode of "The Bachelor" in which femme lesbians have been hidden and should he choose one, she'll get $10,000 and he'll get bubkis.

And of course, the executives will try to justify their actions by talking about how they were just trying to "show how you really can't tell and that we should all treat each other equally because transsexuals are people too..." blah blah blah all the while playing the whole situation for laughs.

We can't have a respectful or accurate model of attraction, this is television after all...