Representation. A problem for philosophers and lesbians alike.
For philosophers, the more abstract question of how something can
possibly come to represent something else, for lesbians, the more
specific problem of a camera crew and a dozen twenty-somethings in
a bar.
Take my photographic accompaniment this week. Somehow, this
represents the banning of topless sunbathing. Somehow. Because
there are other equally valid interpretations of the same picture;
no awful haircuts perhaps. Yet it successfully conveys three
things; it's instructive, i.e. not simply for aesthetic enjoyment,
it's prohibiting and it's specific about what the thing prohibited
is.
So how does it do it? Because of the context. Firstly, it was by
a swimming pool. If it was in a naturist hairdressers then perhaps
we'd have favoured the follicle interpretation. Secondly, we live
in a society where a red line through a picture means 'don't do
it'. If a red line generally meant that the activity depicted was
encouraged then we would have inferred something completely
different and thirdly, the simplicity is consistent with the
pictures we use to inform not entertain.
And despite the increasingly vocal concerns of the lesbian
community, context is precisely the reason we queer women shouldn't
anguish over whether 'Candy Bar Girls' is a fair and accurate
depiction of lesbian culture. Despite its misleading name, reality
TV is not the go-to genre for impartial, well balanced
documentation. If people wanted reality, they wouldn't use a telly,
they'd use a window. Reality TV is concerned with archetypes and
fantastical situations, it's escapist and you don't escape into
'reality'.
If reality TV chose to offer a realistic portrayal of lesbians,
no one would watch. As we fall over ourselves to point out, being
gay or bisexual doesn't make us any more or less remarkable than
anyone else. Yes, the boozy antics of a group of young women is
probably more appealing to a mainstream audience if the girls in
question happen to be lesbians but I doubt a fly-on-the-wall
documentary about a randomly generated lesbian in her natural
habitat would draw much of an audience.
Positively or negatively the girls in question are only
representing themselves. Just as we don't draw conclusions about
other demographics from what we see on such shows, we shouldn't
assume that the general public will make general judgements from
'Candy Bar Girls' about us.
Whilst I haven't seen much of the programme, busy as I have been
getting snap-happy at swimming pools in southern Spain, I'm not
worried that I'm somehow being 'misrepresented'. I simply don't
think I'm being represented at all. That's not a complaint; it's
just that I need more than a shared sexual preference to feel an
affiliation with someone. As it doesn't reflect on me as a lesbian,
neither does it reflect me a woman or a twenty-seven year old or
(unlike our exhibitionist sunbather) someone with a
face.
So before you berate 'Candy Bar Girls' for doing lesbians a
disservice, bear in mind, it's reality TV; what were you
expecting?
