Can Only Women Be Labelled a Bitch in the Big Brother House?
“How did these self-proclaimed ‘evil bitches’ make it to the end?”
This was a question host Julie Chen asked the audience on the finale of Big Brother season four. The “evil bitches” in question were finalists of BB4 Alison Irwin and winner Jun Song. Though the two women dubbed themselves with this title, this was the sentiment felt amongst the rest of the contestants of this season. Ali and Jun were seen calling other contestants (and even each other) “whores”, “bitches”, “sluts" and making incredibly targeted personal attacks against their fellow houseguests behind their backs. However, BB4 aired in the Summer of 2003, a time in reality tv that held incredible scrutiny on the women on our screens, and held more grace for the men in comparison.
Why were Ali and Jun labelled as “evil bitches,” yet the male houseguests spoke just as vulgarly, and even acted violently towards others without public scrutiny?
Big Brother is a reality game show in which the contestants, referred to as houseguests, are locked inside a house without access to the outside world and filmed 24/7 through surveillance cameras throughout the house so that the public can watch them in real time. The houseguests compete in competitions for power, form alliances, and eliminate one another from the house until there is one houseguest left to win the $750,000 cash prize.
Throughout their run on Big Brother, Alison and Jun were seen constantly speaking negatively about the women houseguests. The two would talk about other women’s bodies, commenting on how skinny houseguest Amanda looked and comparing Michelle’s body, the youngest houseguest at 19, to a little girl. Alison calls fellow houseguest Dana a “schizophrenic psycho” and “man troll” and refers to another houseguest, Erika, as a “backstabbing conniving bitch-whore with no meat on her bones,” and a “slut bitch.” These comments from Alison and Jun are catty, demeaning and bitchy, but they were not alone. Houseguest David calls Dana a “psycho crazy bitch,” and refers to all the women of the house as “sniffling whiny bitches,” before he gets evicted from the house. However where the men depart from Alison and Jun, is that the men sexualize the women and make predatory remarks. Houseguest Nathan remarks in week one that he would put Michelle up for eviction if she does not sleep in the same bed as him. Houseguest Jack says Dana has the sex appeal of a “buzzard's crotch.” David even references wanting to inflict violence by saying he wanted to slap Dana for his eviction when she was in power for the week. The women are labelled bitches for being catty, but there is no vitriol for the men being predatory and wanting to hit the women houseguests.
BB4 was filmed in the Summer of 2003, a time when thinness was desirable and women were recovering from the heroin chic era of the mid-to-late 90s. Women's bodies were constantly gawked at and prodded on camera, and this season of Big Brother was no different. Earlier I had mentioned Alison and Jun's commentary on the women's bodies in the house, but in a later episode of the season, a montage was dedicated to the amount of weight Jun had gained throughout the season. The montage included a side by side comparison of her in a bikini on day 5 compared to day 25, eating food throughout the house, other houseguests talking about the amount of food she is eating, and shots zooming in on her stomach with accompanying bouncing sound effects. The segment treated her as an animal in a zoo to be gawked at and encouraged for her body to be a topic of discussion. The men of the house never have a dedicated segment in the house towards the negative side effects of living in the Big Brother house, in turn houseguest Robert has a dedicated montage towards his muscle gain throughout the Summer and how proud he is to have his dream body. The edit is wanting to embarrass Jun and laugh at her weight gain, but praise Robert for putting effort into working out. A multibillion dollar network would rather perpetuate thinness as desirable and fitness as the goal to achieve, and scrutinize a woman who gained weight.
Big Brother is a social game. Alison and Jun both implemented a “floater” strategy in which they would align themselves with whoever was in power that week. This meant certain alliances would have to be dropped and left blindsided in order to better their own position. While this was a successful strategy for Alison and Jun, other houseguests took the blindsides personally, and thought it spoke of their character with how easily they could lie and manipulate. During week 8, houseguest Robert was left blindsided by Alison and Jun because they voted out houseguest Jack. Robert angrily yells that they are “evil girls,” they are “shallow and evil,” and expresses, “the more evil you are and the more you lie and the bigger scumbag you are in real life, the better you do at this game.” In conversation with Houseguest Jee, Robert says “these bitches are not going to the end like this,” and Jee responds in reference to Alison, “she’s a spineless bitch and she played that way and no one’s going to respect that.”
Despite Robert's harsh words, he was rewarded and seen as an underdog fighting against villainous women. With the show happening in realtime, production is able to have the public vote for their favorite houseguests to receive special privileges or power in the game. Season 4 had two public votes, which Robert won both of. By Robert winning the public vote, America is siding with Robert and agreeing that Alison and Jun are “evil” and “bitches,” and the rewards he was given by the audience incentivize him to continue calling Alison and Jun names, allowing him the comfortability to do so without backlash.
There are no rules when it comes to strategy in Big Brother, and a common sentiment spoken amongst houseguests is they didn’t come to make friends and came to play the game. But when the women make strategic game moves, talk trash, manipulate and lie within the game, they are reprimanded by the men and think it is a reflection of their character. When the men do the same thing, they win public votes and are praised for finding the time to workout while playing the game. Women are scrutinized and labelled “evil bitches,” the men are rewarded.
When Julie Chen asked Alison to reflect on her strategy in the house and why she and Jun spoke negatively towards fellow houseguests Alison answered,
Comments