https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/qmmunity/2009-03-05/751776/

Tricking Straight Women

By Andy Campbell, March 5, 2009, 6:30am, Qmmunity

When I look back at my blog posts, I get the impression that I watch entirely too much television. Confirm or deny? Confirm.

Today's catch of the day is Gay, Straight or Taken? on the vomitous LifeTime Television Network. The show started in 2007, and the premise, as you might guess, is that a lovely young straight women goes out on a group date with three young gentlemen (Sidebar: Can we talk about how weird the reality show group date as a form is? Confirm of deny? Confirm, again.), and she must choose based on her limited interactions with the men which one is taken (by another woman), which one is gay (and taken by a man), and which one is straight (and available for some horizontal happy times).

As you can imagine, this gay is fascinated and repulsed…

What's worse than the sunny disposition and bright colors of promo? Lots. The premise behind the show is to explore the minefield that single straight women have to navigate through every day of their lives, the long trudge up the mountainside that is their burden alone, the walk in the snow, uphill both ways, the… well… you get it.

Homo says no. We've all got it rough, sister. Let's not play the oppression sweepstakes.

These women make their decisions on who is who based on gut feelings (i.e. stereotypes) and then externalize their observations, saying things like "Brian, you didn't like bugs which led me to believe you were gay," or "Charlie, you weren't that coordinated at kickboxing… you're gay."

Grody.

And it's even more messy when religion is a topic – of course the baptist minister isn't gay! Riiiiiiight. We're not all the stereotypes we're cracked up to be, blah blah blah. But beyond this immediate criticism, I think the show keeps the women bachelorettes in a consistently fraught state, while the men are consistently having to lie so that they appear open and available.

IOW: Women are nervous wrecks, and men are stinking liars!

Confirm or deny?

That's what I thought.