No Tequila for Me, Thanks
by Racialicious special correspondent Wendi Muse
This post won’t be deep.
Nope, not nearly as deep as the disdain I have toward Tila Tequila (trademark) and all the other televised, world wide webbed, and radio-aired exploitations of women. And as a person who identifies as a bisexual woman of color, I’m disappointed that images perpetuated by the media, by attention hungry faux-lebrities like Tequila who cling to stereotypes as if life itself would dissolve if they failed to exhibit characteristics oft-associated with their respective background by people on the outside looking in, are the ones everyone likes to remember.
Tequila is not the only one for whom I reserve such hatred, but she just so happens to be in the forefront of my mind because the garbage that is MTV (which I admit sometimes satiates my desire to indulge in a guilty pleasure or two…like, OMG, THE HILLS!) is airing a new show of hers very soon. The title? “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.” The premise? Tequila comes out as a “bisexual freak” (her words, not mine) and has a Flavor of Love-esque harem-fest, only this time, with (straight) men AND (lesbian) women (hmmm what about bisexual men and women? Wouldn’t they want to join in too?) Jon Lafayette at TV Week reports:
“Tila Tequila made a name for herself by doing things her way, captivating legions of fans online, both men and women. Now she is taking that attitude and sex appeal to her own TV series where she is looking for a mate…by again, captivating a group of both men and women,” said Tony DiSanto, executive VP of series development and programming for MTV. “The show is a rollercoaster ride of drama, conflict and emotion, busting stereotypes and challenging the norm—proving that the rules of attraction are made to be broken.”
Busting stereotypes? The only busting I can see going down on that show involves silicone and a push-up bra. If anything, the tv commercial clips for the show highlight a few stereotypes that, just in case the American public (straight and gay) didn’t already hold enough negative stereotypes of bisexuals, most of us can’t forget:
1. They are polyamorous. All of them.
2. They have to decide whether or not they like men more or women more.
3. They choose their mates based on sex appeal, as sex will be central in the relationship.
4. They are freaks (in the bed…and, well, in public too).
5. Volition to engage in group sex is a prerequisite. They never have one-on-one sex.
6. They cause strife within the lesbian/gay community and the straight community because they can’t make up their minds.
7. They dress provocatively (see points 3 and 4)
Don’t get me wrong. I am sex-positive, meaning I respect the individual decisions that one makes with regard to his/her/hir (for you gender neutral folks) sex life. If someone likes sex, I say good for him/her/hir. Be adventurous. Be bold. Think outside the box. It’s just sex, afterall, right? BUT when a certain sexual behavior is permanently affixed to any group, it rubs me the wrong way.
We’ve had similar discussions here at Racialicious about the sexualization of women of color and cross-posted a NinjaPants article by Pat M on the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality here:
Tila Tequila is a little bit of a different story; her “I Love U” gives us an image of Asian America in music that gives us something to argue about. Her bipolar “I love you” and “I’ll fucking kill you” , her alternating “I’m what you need” and “Gimme what I need”, her riding crop and her submissive moaning; all of these link back to classic images of Asian women as dominant and submissive, “dragon ladies” and “geisha girls”.
Tequila’s media presence begs the question: are we continuing to be forced to view ourselves via stereotypes, are we involved in the creating the stereotypes, or are we looking for stereotypes to pin on someone who may just being her/himself? It’s hard to tell.
What is pretty easy to tell, however, is what MTV is doing with the previews for this show alone (though I guess I will have to wait until the full-length show airs to find out if my fear is correct):
Presenting stereotypes of Asian-Americans: 30 seconds
Presenting stereotypes of bisexuals: 30 seconds
Presenting stereotypes of women: 30 seconds
How long the aforementioned stereotypes remain in the minds of the public, to the point that they bring out prejudice, discrimination, and general hate: basically a lifetime
How many years such stereotypes will continue to be perpetuated: end unknown
So while this post, as I warned before, is not deep or intensely researched in the least, it makes me think of why I am even writing it in the first place. Will there ever be a time when I don’t feel like people who identify in similar ways as I do are forever trapped in stupid caricatures of themselves, forced to either be thought of in that way by others or to mimic them on their own for others’ entertainment?
Can someone just put me out of a job already?
Blog fight!
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
A Shot at...Diversity? Tila Tequila and Reality TV at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 16 Oct 2007 at 3:04 pm
[...] really muster up any righteous indignation. (Wendi can though – if you missed it, check out No Tequila for me, Thanks to get a more critical look at Tila’s [...]