I know little about big brother, but I'll say this for them that their audience seem to be pretty open-minded with regards sexuality, gender, disability and race. Wasn't one of the previous winners transgender?

_________________
That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

*Snortgiggle* They're open-minded in the way most gossip rags are.

_________________
Changin' avatars like there's no tomorrow

What I mean is that they don't seem to automatically vote out all the black, Asian, gay and disabled contestants first in the way that Mail readers would.
As I said, I'm not an expert, please correct me if I'm wrong.

_________________
That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

Idunno.

On the one hand, BB certainly gets on contestants who are 'guaranteed to get people talking' - that's talking spelled G-A-W-K-I-N-G. Whether it's transgender folk, people with tourettes or whatever else, they tend to be racked up at the start as defined by that characteristic.

Now, on the debit side, a lot of BB viewers may well be watching 'for the lulz' as I believe the young folk say. Watch the tourettes guy say something sweary! Gawp and gasp at the trans person wearing clothes and walking around and talking and having, like, opinions and stuff!

But on the credit side, the BB people can say that in fact they offer people a better insight than average into contestants' lives and personalities and show that there is more to them than just the (sorry about this) 'freakshow' characteristic. That a trans person spends just as much time as anyone else wondering about what to have for tea tonight and stuff, much more indeed than they do about gender and identity. That gay people don't just think about gay stuff all day long, but about whether they've put the bins out and that. That in effect, they're normal people, just with something a bit out of the ordinary about them. Hell, we still live in a society where Asian actors in soaps complain about always getting saddled with the arranged marriage plotline. So there's a long way to go before people from outside the home counties white hetero bracket are viewed by society at large as not worthy of special comment.

If someone really 'gets into' BB and watches it for hours a day, then good luck to them. Personally I try to treat all people as individuals and as worthy of respect anyway. But if it does open a few eyes and minds, and makes a few people - who otherwise wouldn't - see the contestants (and others in society) as 'real people' worthy of respect, and not as exhibits in a modern freak show, that has to be a good thing. I think.

_________________
Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

But there's far better ways to do so, and chances are the BB-watching, gossip rag-digesting masses wouldn't really be interested in not viewing 'different' people as freaks.

_________________
Changin' avatars like there's no tomorrow

Maybe, but you're guessing, you don't know and neither do I. You're right that it's unfortunate that some minorities only seem to get exposure via Big Brother, but at least they are getting exposure. As Andy suggests it does change at least some minds.
A few years ago there was a contestant with tourettes. At the time I was teaching a group of teenage girls who were all avid watchers and used to talk constantly about it both to each other in my earshot and sometimes to me. At the start of the series I don't think they had ever heard of tourettes but I watched them move from taking the piss out of the 'weird sweary bloke' to adopting him as their favourite. Now all I'm suggesting is that if they ever meet someone with tourettes, they might treat them with more respect than they would have before they saw the show.
This isn't a defence of Big Brother btw, it's a pile of crap which I've seen very rarely over the last 10 years. However very few things are totally without ANY merit in my experience.

_________________
That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

I'm not saying you're wrong, but it shows up a lot of issues in our society - namely that this public parading around with your pants on your head is a quick way to fame, and that no matter how pointless your existence, people will tune in to watch you scratch your arse on live TV in their thousands (if not millions).

Big Brother showcases these people as a byproduct of its nature. I don't think the show would truly be any different if it was full of Straight White Working Class People (or, more technically, Straight Orange Working Class People) - as evidenced by the popularity of absolutely mind-numbingly pointless drivel such as The Only Way Is Essex & Geordie Shore - but it includes 'controversial' people simply to boost ratings, not raise awareness.

The Bolshevik & C4 have, in recent years, broadcast a few documentaries about transpeople - and largely respectful at that - but even then there's an element of 'freakshow' about it, especially as it's less about the situation and more about the general basics of their transition.

_________________
Changin' avatars like there's no tomorrow

Arent you stereotyping them in exactly the same way you accuse them of stereotyping others?

Hey, they bite me, I bite back

_________________
Changin' avatars like there's no tomorrow

Well that sounds like a bloody good defence of Big Brother to me. They're completely non-discriminatory, they treat everybody like they're idiots, contestants and audience.

_________________
That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

_________________
Changin' avatars like there's no tomorrow

Surely though, such documentaries, 'respectful' as they are, show people as defined by their 'interesting' trait rather than as people who (cliche alert) just happen to be trans or unipeds or existing in two dimensions and able to pass under doors or werewolves or whatever, and actually more concerned about Wolves vs West Brom than about gender realignment, what to do with all those spare shoes, which bank to rob or staying away from silverware.

And for a lot of the BB watchers, they will watch BB, they won't necessarily watch some well-meaning documentary. Or if they do, it'll be seen by them as preachy and they'll laugh at it. Or ignore it.

Basically Althea, what do you want? Because at the moment you're coming across just a little bit as determined to play the martyr. Which I'm sure is not your intention.

_________________
Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

What I want is what I'm sure most of us want - respectful, honest TV that seeks to educate the masses about real issues in the world and makes them think about the lives of people around them.

I don't really put much stock in exploitative TV, but then again I do like shows like Oops TV, You've Been Framed! et al. But I suppose they're 'different' in that you voluntarily send those clips in, and it's usually your accident that's funny, not *you* as such.

_________________
Changin' avatars like there's no tomorrow

Big Brother's got a werewolf ???

_________________
I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

So documentaries which will have relatively low ratings, largely preaching to the converted which focus on (and therefore emphasise) people's differences rather than their homogeneity.

_________________
That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...