Taking Shots at Tila

I have a confession to make — I’ve been watching the show “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.” The premise is that “MySpace star” (MTV’s term) Tila Tequila is bisexual, and straight men and lesbians are competing for her affections.

Now don’t get me wrong — the show is definitely not good. In fact, it’s a trainwreck. But like any trainwreck, I can’t look away.

I think I’m just most struck by the fact that these random people are actually fighting for a chance to date this girl. I mean, how does one become a “MySpace star?" More importantly, why am I not one?


Tonight’s show involved a “bi-athlon” (yes, really), in which the winners (the girls) spent quality time with Tila in heaven, and the guys in hell. Heaven involved the girls wearing angel outfits, while in hell the guys had wax poured on them.

And now we get to the point of this: perhaps the most interesting moment of the show was when Tila announced her bisexuality. Up until that point, the men thought she was straight and the women thought she was a lesbian. Some of the men were excited at the thought of sharing a house with a bunch of lesbians, and some of the girls were bothered by the idea of being around men. Which wasn't really surprising, but it seemed to make the guys feel the need to assert their masculinity — almost all the guys declare that they’re “not gay,” which is unnecessary, and one refers to the women as “he-shes.”

But for all the trash, the show has the capability to make a statement about bisexuality — should Tila choose a girl to win, then perhaps the MTV generation won’t perpetuate the bad rap that bisexuals get. People will be able to see that bisexual women don’t just hook up with other women for the sake of men’s enjoyment.

MTV, however, has selected a group of people to make the show as entertaining as possible — teachers with a penchant for getting into fights, clowns, gogo dancers, etc. — and who seriously looks for love on television? But then again, how am I to know who Tila likes to date? So I hardly expect her to choose a woman, and the show will just become another opportunity for men to ogle women kissing.

Sidenote: if Dani, the firefighter from Florida who is way too normal to be on this show, doesn’t win, she can call me up any time she wants.