Back in the day, and by that I mean the mid-80s, there used to be a show on television called G.L.O.W, an acronym for The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.
The best way to describe GLOW is that it was the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) with women. But these weren’t the typical buxom sidekicks we see now in today’s male-dominated sports. No, these women had identities of their own; they were both heroes and villains, athletic and thick, and had names like Palenstina, Mt. Fiji, California Dolls, Heavy Metal, the Housewives, Spanish Red and, my favorite, Coronel Ninotchka. And more importantly, they were badass – well, at least for the 80s.
I remember the show being a staple in our household. My brother and I would settle in front of the television and watch a bunch of women go at it in the infamous GLOW Battle Royales and debate who was the better competitor. The show quickly became the favorite amongst us young girls, who would christen ourselves the name of our favorite character and try to emulate wrestling moves like pile drives and body slams on school yard playgrounds during recess.
Like most wrestling shows, it was filled with lots of scripted drama and high-flying stunts. That didn’t bother us so much because it was entertaining – at least for a short while. But after a time, our attentions began to dull to the show when the orchestrated drama began to overshadow the real talent of these women – that they could jump, kick and body slam as hard as the men. When that happened, we got over it.
Anyway, I thought of GLOW recently when I started thinking about my obsession with reality shows, particularly the messy ones like Basketball Wives, Love & Hip Hop and Bad Girls Club. Last night I watched a bunch of episodes of the BGC and came to the conclusion that I really think I’m through. The show, which documents the exploits of seven ill-behaved women, some with behavior and possibly physiological problems, living in a cartoonish style mansion, has finally gone too far for my liking – hard to believe that about a show name Bad Girls Club, right? But seriously, this season was the absolute worse.
Besides the fist-fights, hair pulling and name calling we come to expect, one of the new girls to the house was jumped by all six of her other cast mates for no other reason than being the new girl to the house. I don’t know about you all but that certainly sounds like a gang initiation.
Point blank, jumping someone is just cowardice personified. In those instances I certainly understand the usefulness of laws like Stand your Ground. But this is television, more specifically BGC, so the more appropriate response for the jumpees would have been to stand to their feet, throw up factious gang signs and say, “This is the Bad Girls Club, Biyatches.” But it is not just Bad Girls Club. More and more we are seeing a growing distain for the aggressiveness of characters on shows like Love & Hip Hop and Basketball Wives. Viewers, at least verbally, seem to have grown weary of the volatile tempers and verbal outbursts -so much so that a boycott and petition has been created to protest the characters for allegedly encouraging bullying.
