Nearly every night on every major network, “unscripted” (but carefully crafted) “reality” TV shows routinely glorify retrograde stereotypes that most people would assume got left behind 35 years ago. In Reality Bites Back, media critic Jennifer L. Pozner aims a critical, analytical lens at a trend most people dismiss as harmless fluff. She deconstructs reality TV’s twisted fairytales to demonstrate that far from being simple “guilty pleasures,” these programs are actually guilty of fomenting gender-war ideology and significantly affecting the intellectual and political development of this generation’s young viewers. She lays out the cultural biases promoted by reality TV about gender, race, class, sexuality, and consumerism, and explores how those biases shape and reflect our cultural perceptions of who we are, what we’re valued for, and what we should view as “our place” in society. Smart and informative, Reality Bites Back arms readers with the tools they need to understand and challenge the stereotypes reality TV reinforces and, ultimately, to demand accountability from the corporations responsible for this contemporary cultural attack on three decades of feminist progress.
Jennifer L. Pozner is founder and executive director of Women In Media & News (WIMN), a media justice group that amplifies women's presence and power in the public debate through media analysis, education and advocacy. She is also managing editor of WIMN's Voices, the popular group blog on women and the media. (See http://www.wimnonline.org )
A widely published journalist, Pozner serves on the board of editors of In These Times magazine. Her work has appeared in corporate media outlets (eg., Newsday, Chicago Tribune, Boston Phoenix), independent magazines (eg., Ms. magazine, The American Prospect, Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture), online media (eg., AlterNet, Salon, Huffington Post), among others. She has served as an adviser for and has been featured in several documentary films, including "I Was a Teenage Feminist" and "Miss Representation."
Pozner's first book, "Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV," will be published by Seal Press on Nov. 1, 2010. For a reality TV blog, book excerpts, essays, media coverage, and media literacy resources (including reality TV drinking games, Mad Libs, and a deconstruction guide), see http://www.realitybitesbackbook.com
Prior to writing Reality Bites Back, Pozner contributed essays to anthologies including "Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century," "BITCHFest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism From the Pages of Bitch Magazine," "The W Effect: Bush's War on Women," "What We Do Now," "Uncovering the Right on Campus," among others.
Pozner has appeared as a commentator on NBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ABC News Now, GRITtv, Democracy Now!, National Public Radio, and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." And, because she's a sucker for punishment, she's gone head to head with some of the most blustery boys of cable news, including Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Joe Scarborough.
A noted lecturer, Pozner has spoken on women, media, politics and pop culture at more than seventy colleges across the country, on topics ranging from portrayals of women in reality television, to gender and race biases in journalistic coverage of elections, to media coverage of war, poverty and natural disasters. She conducts media literacy workshops and media trainings for women's groups, youth, and social justice organizations. (See WIMN's website if you are interested in organizing a lecture of media training, or email info[at]wimnonline[dot]org )
Prior to founding Women In Media & News, Pozner directed the Women's Desk at the media watchdog group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR.org), where she wrote for Extra!, the media criticism magazine, and contributed to CounterSpin, the nationally syndicated radio show.
In 2007, Soroptimist International of NYC honored her with their "Making A Difference for Women" Award. In 2006, she was selected as one of "The Real Hot 100," a Girls In Government project honoring young women leaders making change in their communities. The "Certificate of Hotness" they gave her for media activism still makes her happy four years later.
Forbes magazine named her one of "20 Inspiring Women To Follow On Twitter," and where she regularly livetweets analysis of reality shows in relation to her book, Reality Bites Back. If you'd like to join the conversation, send questions, comments and analysis to @jennpozner.
