The major problem for reality TV is that real life is too dull to make for compelling television, but compelling television is obviously contrived. The most reliable way to smooth over this contradiction, to hold the spectre of phoniness at bay, is sex. We’re supposed to understand sex as the most authentic expression of our inner selves, where our drives and desires overwhelm our conscious, rational minds, where we drop the presentation of self in everyday life and get real. Just like football needs cheerleaders to distract from the obvious homoeroticism, reality TV needs sex to prop up its central myths. According to reality TV scholar Mark Andrejevic, the origins of reality TV are in the soft-porn world of 1990s webcams.
Read More | "Sex House and the Refusal to Fuck" | Gavin Mueller | ?Jacobin