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Stereotypes In Reality Television

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Manipulation: to control (others or oneself) or influence skillfully, usually to one’s advantage” (thefreedictionary. com). This is what reality television manages to do to the world we live in today. Reality television in fact, is not always real. Many shows on television create a false sense of reality for their viewers. This influences people to think, act, and feel certain ways about others and the world around them.
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These reality television shows use stereotypes in many cases to continue to have an audience, and because people continue to watch these shows, these stereotypes are not only in television but they disseminate into …show more content…

On shows like these women are shown getting in something called “catfights” often.
These fights are over so many dumb things. Most of
Page 2 Reality TV Essay the time it is fighting over men. When viewers see things like this they begin to get the idea in their head that women are catty back stabbers. Pozner acknowledges the fact that “If millions of TV viewers believe that sisterhood is not powerful but spiteful, it becomes all that much harder for women to achieve any further social progress in America. ” (Pozner 108). Her point is that women need not let these shows affect them in the real world. Not only are women shown as backstabbers, but they are also shown as stupid.
Just about everyone today has had to herd of the saying “dumb blonde. ” This saying is influenced by reality television but not only for blondes, but for women in general. Pozner emphasizes on the fact that “Time and time again, we learn that the female half of the population is cringe-inducingly stupid. ” (Pozner 108). She continues to say, “In embarrassing scenes across unscripted subgenre, women are portrayed as ‘the dumber sex’” (Pozner pg. 109). Pozner also provides a great example from the popular show Bridezilla that mostly women watch.
It is a quote from the show that say’s “Thinking is a waste of time. Thinking is for people who have no brains” (Pozner 109). This is only one example, but it clearly proves that reality television is trying to get this idea into women’s heads and

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