True Story: What Reality TV Says about Us

by Danielle J. Lindemann

Reality programs have also played with traditional gender expectations in ways that go beyond trans representation—giving us drag queens, female bodybuilders,34 and boys who love sewing dresses (Project Runway: Junior, Lifetime, 2015–2016). And while many reality programs perpetuate the cultural narrative of men as financial providers and women as domestically oriented, there are also moments when the genre drops the veil and reveals that the heterosexual breadwinner/homemaker model is not a universal, historical truth. I’m not the first to point out that The Real Housewives is a misnomer, as a lot of these women are single and/or have paying jobs—and, technically, they’re all running afoul of the definition by getting paid to appear on the show. And despite the Kardashian/Jenner women’s professed devotion to their men and to traditional gender roles in some ways, they are actively reaping the rewards of capitalism—not sitting on the sidelines, as they would within Hartmann’s model.