A Discussion of the Women's Movement and the Top 5 Worst Women on The Real World

            Last week I wrote an article discussing the worst Real World cast members of all time. It was a list of 5 and I stand by it. The one glaring point that was made to me later was the fact that there were no women on the list. I’ve thought for a little bit as to why that is. I certainly considered putting women on the list, but the reality of the situation is perhaps more offensive than placing them on the list could ever be. I think women were left off the list because I feel sorry for them. The opinion is as condescending as it gets, but I think that’s truly why they were excluded. No matter how terrible a Real World girl was, I always hated the bully mentality of their male counterpart more. The men that I chose seemed to fight to be awful; it appeared to be a choice that they made. Conversely, the women on the show appear at least to me to be victims of their own circumstances. Perhaps years of watching The Challenge has let me peak behind the curtain a little too much. I heard too much about what goes on behind the scenes. I’ve heard too many male cast members talk about the girl’s “daddy” issues. I’ve seen too many steroid induced tirades unleashed upon hungry girls with new breast implants whose only defense is to cry and hope for the mercy and pity of their attackers. Our culture is almost certainly too hard on women in general and the Real World is no exception. I think that the problem is two fold one is the Real World rule that states that a physical altercation is automatic grounds for expulsion, but another is the women’s movement as a whole.

Even as I write that it feels terrible to say, but hear me out. The quest for equality is not simply the path to being paid 25% more. On a deeper level, it’s challenging the ruling class, it’s redefining how society sees you, and unfortunately for women it’s attempting to share power with an entity that is physically stronger and more aggressive than yourself. That is not to say that it isn’t a fight worth fighting, but it is a fight and fights by their very nature leave the challenger bruised and broken and to some extent that’s what we see on the Real World. Equality, on some level, legitimizes victimization. In a fight between person A and person B, if A is commonly accepted as superior, then any attack on B by A would be interpreted as victimization and bullying, but if A and B are equal than a fight between the two is a fight about issue where whoever is right wins. The problem is in a fight between a man and woman the man will almost always have the upper hand because he has the physical advantage, if negotiations break down he can simply decide to hurt the woman, she doesn’t have that same option. Therefore, to some extent her victimization is legitimized by her own struggle for equality. To some degree it is the women’ struggle for equality that makes the despicable action of yelling at a woman justifiable. Either that or the men on the show are cowards.

Many of the fights that occur on the show between the sexes are the result of a women fighting for something and the male seeing that as an opportunity to cast aside any semblance chivalry and merely attack a weaker opponent. I’m always amazed at the fact that when a man is yelling at a woman on the Real World you almost never see another man rush to her defense. I’m always screaming at my television wishing that someone would put the bully in his place, but to the contrary the male cast members almost without exception choose to stay above the fray when it comes to fights that do not directly involve them. That leaves only the fellow female cast members to come to the defense of the woman in the argument. In addition to the women’s movement, the other factor that cannot be ignored is the Real World’s embargo against physical altercations.

Physical fighting is not always a bad thing. At its best it can level the playing field. It keeps people from saying things they shouldn’t. It lets people know where they stand. It can teach lessons and keep people in check. For me personally, getting into fights as humbled me and made me less brash, but on the Real World being humble and less brash are two characteristics that will lead to you getting less screen time. That may be the exact reason why the rule is there in the first place. The drama that is created by people simply knowing that they can’t be hit in the mouth for what they say has led to some of the greatest moments on the show. Who would say anything to CT if he knew he could just hit you and go on about on his merry way? Maybe people would tease Dunbar less if he were allowed to commit the atrocities that must be constantly running through his mind. That rule could be to blame for so many women getting screamed at over the many seasons of the Real World. If no one can get hit and the only thing that would usually stop a guy from yelling at a girl is the threat of him getting punched then removing that threat might give him free rein to be as monstrous as he wants to be. In any case it is the consistent victimization of the women on the show that was probably the driving force behind their exemption from the list of worst cast members, but alas their day is over because now it is time to countdown the top 5 worst female cast members of all time.

Coming in at number 5, a big name, Irene from Seattle. Irene was immortalized in Real World lore due to the parting shots that she made to fellow cast member Stephen. She asked to speak to Stephen alone and in that final moment she told Stephen that he was a homosexual. Following that interaction, Stephen brandished the stuffed animal that he had stolen from Irene, threw said stuffed animal in the water beneath their home on Pier 70, and capped the entire interaction by stopping her car and slapping her in the face. Honestly, this move almost exempted her from this list and added Stephen to the previous list. Stephen was an idiot and has since come out of the closet, but on a week to week basis Irene was not fun to watch. Over the course of the season Irene’s biggest obstacle was the fact that she had Lyme disease. In interviews following her appearance on the show she claimed that it was MTV’s manipulation and not her disease that led to her erratic behavior. Irene was bothersome on a couple different levels. She tried to come in between Nathan and his girlfriend. She attempted to talk fellow cast member Janet to leave the show. She complained more than any of her house mates and she would go on long rants about whatever would come to her mind. She was by far the most manipulative of all of the cast members and in a wonderful act of irony has done more complaining about MTV’s manipulation of her than maybe any cast member in the history of the show. Irene was a dazzling mix intelligent for her age, but stupid for a person. Her intelligence brought with it an arrogance and penchant for malevolence that never seemed justified. In general I didn’t like the fact that she agreed to go on the show well into the show’s run and then was deeply offended in the way the show was run. I feel like she should’ve known what she was getting into.

Coming in at number 4, a personal favorite of mine, Brooke from Denver. Brooke was a special kind of crazy. On the surface she was a perfect southern belle, but beneath her beautiful visage laid a troubled girl on the edge. Her most shining moment came when she went to get her nails done. She took to the streets of Denver on her own looking for the nail salon. After her odyssey took her through what she described as the ghetto she returned home frazzled and weary. She shared news of her ghetto exploits which were not taken well by her black roommate Tyrie, she then exploded, called her mother, and complained that she was in Hell. I’ve always enjoyed Real World cast members lost on their own because simple logic dictates that if we are able to see her, she wasn’t alone. She had to have been flanked by at least one camera man, a sound guy, probably a PA, and a story producer all of which probably had a van waiting for them around the corner. She couldn’t have been a likely target for any sort of crime. I just love that while we are watching someone go through the great turmoil of being lost there is a team of people that know exactly where they are and where everything is and the only thing they do to help is stop themselves from giggling (probably), but I digress. Brooke was a prissy and whiny as anyone who’s ever been on the show and her outbursts were numerous and loud. Her face would concoct in mysterious and delightful ways. She’s on the list, but her mania was truly the highlight of an already great season

Coming in at number 3, we go from my favorite on the list to my least favorite, Montana from Boston. Montana was awful. She was the hipster archetype before such a thing existed. She had all of the irritating foibles of Summer from 500 days of Summer only she didn’t look like Zooey Deschanel. I know how shallow that statement is, but let’s face it, awful behavior is more palatable coming from an attractive person. Montana was pretentious and judgmental. She had a long term, live in boyfriend in New York however that did not prevent her from straying. She carried with her a sense of entitlement, but that sense brought with it no accomplishments. She once complained that she tired of living with 18 year olds. It’s important to note that she was confiding this fact to her 18 year old roommate Elka. She was nearly removed from the show when she allowed the children whom she was responsible for to drink wine. Basically, she was wanted the world around her to be mature and sophisticated, but she was neither of these things.

Coming in at number 2, Kimberly from Hollywood. Kimberly was the second coming of Brooke. She too was a southern belle with all sorts of entitlement and she too had a slight penchant for the word ghetto. When in an argument with her roommate Brianne she requested that she “not get ghetto with her.” Her big goal was to be an entertainment reporter for E News, but aside from attending one audition which MTV set up for her she made no attempt to make that dream a reality. She had possibly the strongest accent that the show has ever seen and made no attempt to lose the dialect. She was the epitome of every person with big dreams and no action. In addition to that she was basically drunk most of the time, she was rude to her roommates, and generally had an air of superiority, but unlike Brooke, she wasn’t really fun to watch.

Coming in at number 1, the grand mother of them all, Beth S. from Los Angeles. Beth was the model by which all irritating women on the show would be judged. We saw her first in the show’s second season, but we got to know her even more in later years on the challenge. Beth has never been popular. She never really yelled or did any action that was overtly extreme. Her biggest foible was basically falsely accusing someone of rape. Dave the comedian from LA was kicked off the show after an incident with current Basketball Wife, Tammy. What started off as a playful interaction turned ugly when David pulled the covers off of underwear clad Tammy. It was Beth who fanned the flames and eventually led the charge for kicking David off the show, comparing what he did to rape. Beth was always in everyone’s business, seemed to relish controversy, and was generally annoying, which is probably her biggest quirk. Erratic behavior can be forgiven, but being annoying is unforgivable and that’s what Beth was until the end.

So there you have it. That’s my list. Please don’t be mad.