Gay, Straight, or Taken Strategies Defy Stereotyping
Gay, Straight, or Taken Strategies Defy Stereotyping by Roxanne McDonald
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Blind dates, questionable mates, and personalized rates, oh my! |
The format and function of the show “Gay, Straight, or Taken?” turns anti-stereotyping on its head, for the woman trying to figure out who is who tries to rely on her intuition, then tries to play a guessing game, then resorts to which guy fits the “stereotype”.
But here’s the tricky thing: stereotyping, or any sort of generalizing, won’t work. Straight men, gay men, married
or taken men can exploit a stereotype (by exaggerating an affect, for example), they can be the one individual of their group who is atypical to their orientation, or better, they can of course lie—which is possible for any male of any sexual orientation or relationship status.
A kind of “Third Wheel” meets “Playing it Straight,” “Gay, Straight, or Taken?” puts one woman in touch with three men—one of whom is gay, one of whom is straight, and, yes, a third who is taken. As soon as she meets the three men, she receives two phone calls—one from one of the guys’ girlfriend and one from another of the three’s boyfriend.
Cause the wrong choice on the woman’s part means the gay or taken goes on the prize trip instead of her and her chosen.
So how does she choose? How does she distinguish? Sherial, a budding starlet, considers
-who is best dressed—who, she wonders, wears coordinating shoes
-basketball-playing skills, body language, and comfort with displaying physical prowess (ahem, on the court)
-how comfortable one guy is using her as a paintbrush to paint a skyline
-how uncomfortable another is doing an interpersonal communications exercise—whereby the two have to stand really close and talk
Gay, Straight or Taken To Air on Lifetime
Gay, Straight or Taken To Air on Lifetime by Roxanne McDonald
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The promos claim that it’s a “new” kind of dating show, but… |
Lifetime is running ads for the upcoming dating/ real-ationship show, “Gay, Straight, or Taken,” with the claim that it will be a “new” kind of dating game. However, it’s not all that new—conceptually or otherwise.
First, there was the then-unique but short-lived “Playing It Straight,” wherein one female (Jackie in the U.S., Zoe in the UK) dated a group of men, all of who were “posing” as
heteros. She had to then eliminate one man a week until she ended up with her chosen man, whom she had hopefully correctly inferred was straight.
Next, in an even more dynamic version, “Boy Meets Boy,” a man must decide by process of elimination and keen discernment which of his group of suitors is gay. As Blurred Reality recaps, out of fifteen men to start, seven were straight and eight were gay.
And finally, while Lifetime does not disclose in the promos whether they are borrowing the concept, The same show with the same title is evidently already in the works elsewhere: that is, also according to Blurred…, “The UK’s ITV is planning Gay, Straight, or Taken, in which ‘three contestants—gay or straight—will be sent out on dates with three potential partners, one of whom will be gay, one straight and one married. They will then be asked to decide which is which…’”
It doesn’t matter, I guess that the adjective “new” is tossed about so recklessly by an otherwise quite responsible network. Maybe it was an oversight. Maybe it will be a new version of dating shows or even of—Lord help us—reality TV.
Only time and repeated viewings will tell. Then I will, you can be sure, tell you.
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