This morning I was doing my usual Facebook/ YouTube scroll for newsworthy topics and stumbled across TLC's latest contribution to reality TV called "Virgin Diaries". Before I get into why the idea behind this show and the show itself is so awful, let me start out by saying that reality TV has never made good television. While the ratings are usually pretty high, the standard for quality footage and well done acting is not.In the show, Americans of all ages and genders are interviewed about their choice to wait for physical intimacy until marriage, ranging from sex to kissing. Some people on the show are in relationships, some are not. Some are virgins and some have made the choice to start over and try again.
While I certainly have issues with the theme of the show in general, what bothered me most was the way these people are portrayed on television. I felt that the cinematographer, director, and everyone else had set out on a mission to make virgins look stupid, as if somehow people reach a new level of intelligence when coitus is finally achieved.
The biggest example is the engaged couple waiting to share their first kiss at the altar. They share their values on the air and when the big moment finally comes, they try to swallow each others' heads! I'm sure that first kiss is public was awkward, but somehow it looked even worse on camera.
The theme continued when the director interviewed three roommates in their thirties. All of them sit on the couch or the bed doing massage lines in their braided, naturally blonde hair and minimal makeup. The TV crew had done their absolute best to make these women look uneducated and unattractive.
While I personally believe that waiting for marriage is well worth the effort, I'm not here to argue the point. My beef is with the goofy way these people are approached. Being a virgin doesn't make you any less intelligent or less equipped to live in the real world.
To state what should be obvious, virgins can dress well, climb the professional ladder, and somehow or another manage to not look like idiots.
PS: Would we ever see a show titles "Diary of a Slut"? ............oh, wait..............I forgot about Jersey Shore.
