much respect...*this is gonna be long*
it seems that there have been quite a few contradictory issues about whether Segun should or should not have been selected for the Real World Ten. what i have read is that initially...people looked at him as feminine because of some lotion gloves. Which seemed to make individuals feel uneasy about him "representing". Then oh no it wasn't just that...i mean the brotha cried...and then he was actually real about a taboo subject in the black community---homosexuality.
And its because of the combination of his: obsession with beauty (i.e. lotion gloves), his crying, and his honesty about homosexuality that he is not a good representative on the real world.
Well folx, first of all if white people were going to stereotype black men they already had 7 individuals by which to make that assumption. And Segun has already made his presence known on television...so...if he was gonna be a "stereotype" then he could reasonably already be one.
also lets look at the 7 individuals:
-kevin (new york): when the filming of the first show took place he was arguably the stereotypical black man. while he was educated he had a short fuse and was accused of violence against a poor defenseless white girl (julie) (see episode 111). so he was already what supposedly white america believed about black men. angry, violent, bitter.
-david (los angeles): accused in episode 207 (by a white girl) of trying to rape tami (a black woman) and also prior to this we see david in episode 204 attempting to strangle jon (the pure white christian man) because he is angry. he gets kicked off. again america is shown black men are: angry, violent, bitter.
-mohammed (san francisco): he was the first black man who actually was just chillin. notice that he was also not completely seen until he was in episode 316 breaking up with his long time girlfriend, Stephanie and then going off with another girl...and then crying and getting back with her...or at least trying to patch up the damage. he was just too "normal" so of course there is very little seen about him.
-syrus (boston): this is the first sign of the black man in his other stereotype...the black man as player, pimp, hustler...who always wants to get in bed with a white woman. syrus screwed several white women during the show. and most of his drama was revolving around women.
-stephen (seattle): a return to the bitter, angry, violent black man...whose home life was so dysfuctional that he doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. what is he known for? for smacking a white girl for...*gasp* questioning his sexuality! *methinks doth protest too much* if anyone had gay vibes it was him!
-tech (hawaii) he was a mans man right? interesting...he is a return to the black man as pimp, player, hustler. he slept with so many women on the island that he and ruthie shared a conquest! (episode 817).
-david(new orleans): this is mtv’s favorite representation black man as: player, pimp, hustler. he embodied not only stereotypical black man but men in general. he reveals that after getting dumped by a female he pumped up and vowed not to love again. so he becomes emotionally unavailable. *he’s a mans man right?* in addition, he fine tuned the art of dating every woman outside of your race imaginable except in one episode where they showed him sexin a black woman. (which if you want to say theres some stereotyping you could say that the black woman who sleeps with david after a couple of hours of knowing him is similar to the one that white america had of black women. (peep: urbanentertainment.com for the documentary on the sexualization of black women).
so ladies lets just be honest. the reason why Segun would not be a good "representative" is because of what those of you with latent gay-dars call his homosexual tendencies. although it does make me laugh that these so-called tendencies are in some ways less than bad and more good. he was emotional, he cared about his appearance, and he was honest and confortable in his sexuality. dag if he is gay then what does that say about str8 men? oh and by the way...everyone’s guy, angel, if you watch the show closely he does his share of crying too. and being rude to jisela. he was quite frankly and asshole.
i think that we need to start getting real and lets face our internalized homophobia.
btw...most of the people on the show do not have talent! unless being whiney bellyaching generation x'ers is a talent. i have seen few people on there actually go on to be successful with their talent. the only one that really comes to mind is Kevin. he is an accomplished writer and journalist....and probably would be without the real world.
peace
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