Trauma Porn
May 5, 2015 6:58 AM Subscribe
“This show, these people, it’s a disaster in my life,” said Kamylla, who spent weeks waiting for the promised assistance, quickly running out of money to support herself, her husband, and her children. They gave her a $200 fee and then did not follow through on promises of medical, dental, housing, and employment assistance, she told BuzzFeed News. “I kept on calling them, and nothing happened.”-- Sex workers who were filmed for A&E’s 8 Minutes, which says it provides resources for women who want to get out of sex work, allege that the production lied to them.
A&E has gone from being a solid choice on basic cable to a ratings-hungry, soulless machine over the course of just a few years. The fact that they have crap like this and the hell that is duck dynasty (and phil robertson) on the air is unconscionable.
posted by Fuka at 7:09 AM on May 5, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by Fuka at 7:09 AM on May 5, 2015 [10 favorites]
A&E has gone from being a solid choice on basic cable to a ratings-hungry, soulless machine over the course of just a few years.
See also TLC, Discovery, and The History Channel.
That's because the people who like learning stuff don't spend all their time watching fucking television.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:17 AM on May 5, 2015 [50 favorites]
See also TLC, Discovery, and The History Channel.
That's because the people who like learning stuff don't spend all their time watching fucking television.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:17 AM on May 5, 2015 [50 favorites]
I am incised. Also fuck gofundme for taking down their fundraiser. Many shitty shitty fundraisers have gone through those pages, and while I understand why their pulling some of the racist shit, they let far too many go in the past. Shutting down a woman in need because she was a sex worker is just... I don't know. It's just terrible.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 7:19 AM on May 5, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by [insert clever name here] at 7:19 AM on May 5, 2015 [11 favorites]
On the Media had a segment on the show this week.
posted by octothorpe at 7:19 AM on May 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 7:19 AM on May 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
I like the part where, because the show is no longer on the air, they have no responsibility to the people they made promises to. That's a hell of a convenient loophole.
The only answer at this point is a lawyer. An angry, smart lawyer. These women have no money, but I have to think A&E is a nice fat target.
posted by emjaybee at 7:19 AM on May 5, 2015 [15 favorites]
The only answer at this point is a lawyer. An angry, smart lawyer. These women have no money, but I have to think A&E is a nice fat target.
posted by emjaybee at 7:19 AM on May 5, 2015 [15 favorites]
Mod note: Couple of comments deleted. Please don't use the edit function to add or delete content -- other people respond to the first version and then their comments don't make sense after you change yours. Just add a second comment and flag your first one and we'll delete it. Thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:29 AM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:29 AM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
The only answer at this point is a lawyer. An angry, smart lawyer.
Really, where's Daredevil when you need him?
I had an awful sinking feeling about this show when I first heard about it. I think we're rapidly approaching the point where documentary-style reality television will become a fundamentally immoral genre, given the degree to which producers exploit, manipulate and deceive both their subjects and the audience for the sake of "good TV".
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:36 AM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Really, where's Daredevil when you need him?
I had an awful sinking feeling about this show when I first heard about it. I think we're rapidly approaching the point where documentary-style reality television will become a fundamentally immoral genre, given the degree to which producers exploit, manipulate and deceive both their subjects and the audience for the sake of "good TV".
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:36 AM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Most of them have almost exclusively reality show credits, but one (Bryan Valderrama), was AP on 19 episodes of Dr. Phil over three years and a five-part series entitled "Ask Oprah's All Stars" that included Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Suze Orman - a list of people that, in theory, could have been very useful for getting people the help they need during a crisis.
for example, Dr. Oz could have given them a jar of raspberry ketone, which promotes well-osity
posted by mightygodking at 7:59 AM on May 5, 2015 [46 favorites]
for example, Dr. Oz could have given them a jar of raspberry ketone, which promotes well-osity
posted by mightygodking at 7:59 AM on May 5, 2015 [46 favorites]
Weird. I could swear there was a previous post here on the blue about this shitshow, but I can't find it now.
This is, sadly, the opposite of astonishing to me. The discussion I had when the show was announced was primarily about how the sanctimonious judgmental bullshit of the show's producers was going to put these women in more actual danger ... and HEY! SUPRISE! it did.
There are people in sex work who want to get out. The ethical option is to provide them with the resources they need to make that change, and do it without invading and shredding their lives.
How is it that they failed at literally every single part of that simple fucking sentence?
posted by Myca at 8:12 AM on May 5, 2015 [7 favorites]
This is, sadly, the opposite of astonishing to me. The discussion I had when the show was announced was primarily about how the sanctimonious judgmental bullshit of the show's producers was going to put these women in more actual danger ... and HEY! SUPRISE! it did.
There are people in sex work who want to get out. The ethical option is to provide them with the resources they need to make that change, and do it without invading and shredding their lives.
How is it that they failed at literally every single part of that simple fucking sentence?
posted by Myca at 8:12 AM on May 5, 2015 [7 favorites]
See, this is precisely the enclosure feature of capitalism - using these real women's lives to create cultural capital for the producers without any regard for the economic or social consequences for these women. These women had something the producers wanted - a tasty, sellable story - and so they went on in and stole it from those women to make it into money. Like any big, unregulated business, they gave the women as little as they could get away with - which in this instance was very little indeed.
Everyone wants to be able to talk about sex work because it's titillating and it makes money. No one wants there to be no sex workers (or for there to be sex workers working in good conditions chosen by them) , because then what would we talk about?
The enclosure function of capitalism is where you turn anything at all into a kind of "natural resource" that you can just take - whether that's common land, fashion trends or people's life stories.
posted by Frowner at 8:14 AM on May 5, 2015 [44 favorites]
Everyone wants to be able to talk about sex work because it's titillating and it makes money. No one wants there to be no sex workers (or for there to be sex workers working in good conditions chosen by them) , because then what would we talk about?
The enclosure function of capitalism is where you turn anything at all into a kind of "natural resource" that you can just take - whether that's common land, fashion trends or people's life stories.
posted by Frowner at 8:14 AM on May 5, 2015 [44 favorites]
Associate Producers don't normally have all that much pull with the talent, if they're even allowed to speak directly to them in the first place. I'm sure if the production could have gotten a Big Name attached to the show, they would have. But that costs actual money, which this production clearly did not have.
"Unscripted" television is pretty much like a super low-rent startup culture - production companies float stupid idea after stupid idea in hopes one will blow up like Duck Dynasty or Dance Moms. Nobody made this show because of their deeply-held moral and ethical urges to get women out of sex work. They made this show because after sitting in a room for 14 hours writing words on a whiteboard they decided to pitch "like Intervention for hookers" instead of "like Dance Moms for chess players" because hookers are better TV, even if they're a harder sell for advertisers.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:17 AM on May 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Unscripted" television is pretty much like a super low-rent startup culture - production companies float stupid idea after stupid idea in hopes one will blow up like Duck Dynasty or Dance Moms. Nobody made this show because of their deeply-held moral and ethical urges to get women out of sex work. They made this show because after sitting in a room for 14 hours writing words on a whiteboard they decided to pitch "like Intervention for hookers" instead of "like Dance Moms for chess players" because hookers are better TV, even if they're a harder sell for advertisers.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:17 AM on May 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Wait, "anti-trafficking" organizations lied to and exploited sex workers for profit?
Color me surprised.
I could go way on and on with those links... sigh.
posted by straw at 8:23 AM on May 5, 2015 [10 favorites]
Color me surprised.
I could go way on and on with those links... sigh.
posted by straw at 8:23 AM on May 5, 2015 [10 favorites]
so, like, the only thing that they hate more than sex work is the sex workers?
posted by entropone at 8:51 AM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by entropone at 8:51 AM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Nah, they just hate the sex workers but you can't just straight up hate women in polite company so you have to pretend to hate something else.
See also; reproductive rights, the law, the entirety of human history and the horrible shit-show of a species we are becoming.
posted by fullerine at 9:23 AM on May 5, 2015 [9 favorites]
See also; reproductive rights, the law, the entirety of human history and the horrible shit-show of a species we are becoming.
posted by fullerine at 9:23 AM on May 5, 2015 [9 favorites]
This needs to spread all over twitter and the rest of the internet places where A&E cares about their image. Shame them good.
posted by orme at 9:35 AM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by orme at 9:35 AM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Really, where's Daredevil when you need him?
Generally, comatose, alcoholic, or, in one instance, an actual demon.
posted by maxsparber at 9:48 AM on May 5, 2015 [8 favorites]
Generally, comatose, alcoholic, or, in one instance, an actual demon.
posted by maxsparber at 9:48 AM on May 5, 2015 [8 favorites]
It's pretty certain that there's at least two levels of production company between A&E and the sleazeballs who preyed on these low-income women, so there's plenty of room for legal buck passing. And it's similarly likely that the execs at A&E don't give a damn, and if they feel any remorse at all for this exploitation similarly feel absolved by having canceled the show.
And I'm with mightygodking: The fact that people associated with this production might have had contact with Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Suze Orman is further evidence of malicious intent by those involved, but, alas, too circumstantial to be used in court.
posted by straw at 10:21 AM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
And I'm with mightygodking: The fact that people associated with this production might have had contact with Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Suze Orman is further evidence of malicious intent by those involved, but, alas, too circumstantial to be used in court.
posted by straw at 10:21 AM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think we're rapidly approaching the point where documentary-style reality television will become a fundamentally immoral genre
Approaching? The genre blew past that sign post more than 10 years ago.
posted by Squeak Attack at 10:58 AM on May 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
Approaching? The genre blew past that sign post more than 10 years ago.
posted by Squeak Attack at 10:58 AM on May 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
How is it that they failed at literally every single part of that simple fucking sentence?
Because that was never, ever the plan?
They said it was. But they said it in the same way a kid tells his parents he's going over to Billy's house to play games, when in reality he's only going over there because Billy's parents don't give a shit and they can leave on the bus all day and go to the arcade and throw eggs at cars.
Selling the story they were helping is good marketing. Actual helping is expensive and complicated.
If I was in the position to get fucked over by this, I'd be trying 110% to prove they never had any intent to help.
And I bet it wouldn't be awfully hard to prove they had never even put anything in place, and may have even discussed via email(or text, or g hangouts, or whatever) that they didn't need to plan for X part of it.
Because yea, I really believe they never intended to help. Helping is hard. They may have vaguely planned on it at the beginning, but to go back to the little kid analogy, it's the difference between wanting a cake and being told you can have as much cake as you want if you bake if yourself.
posted by emptythought at 11:41 AM on May 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Because that was never, ever the plan?
They said it was. But they said it in the same way a kid tells his parents he's going over to Billy's house to play games, when in reality he's only going over there because Billy's parents don't give a shit and they can leave on the bus all day and go to the arcade and throw eggs at cars.
Selling the story they were helping is good marketing. Actual helping is expensive and complicated.
If I was in the position to get fucked over by this, I'd be trying 110% to prove they never had any intent to help.
And I bet it wouldn't be awfully hard to prove they had never even put anything in place, and may have even discussed via email(or text, or g hangouts, or whatever) that they didn't need to plan for X part of it.
Because yea, I really believe they never intended to help. Helping is hard. They may have vaguely planned on it at the beginning, but to go back to the little kid analogy, it's the difference between wanting a cake and being told you can have as much cake as you want if you bake if yourself.
posted by emptythought at 11:41 AM on May 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
Also gotta say I'm proud of team mefi for dumping on this shit so hard in the original thread. It was basically called way out that this was going to be a fucking disaster. I'd put an lmao in there if it was funny, but this isn't one of those situations where everyone is shit and you can just point and laugh like most reality show disasters. It's just sad and fucked up.
Dammit a&e. And I kinda like bates motel.
posted by emptythought at 11:49 AM on May 5, 2015
Dammit a&e. And I kinda like bates motel.
posted by emptythought at 11:49 AM on May 5, 2015
So they pretended to help save these women from exploitation... And ended up... Exploiting them.
My imagination tells me that these women all signed waivers that included provisions against suing the producers for false representation, etc.
Normally when they get fucked they know what they are getting into. This was a lot less consensual than that.
posted by el io at 11:50 AM on May 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
My imagination tells me that these women all signed waivers that included provisions against suing the producers for false representation, etc.
Normally when they get fucked they know what they are getting into. This was a lot less consensual than that.
posted by el io at 11:50 AM on May 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
That's because the people who like learning stuff don't spend all their time watching fucking television.
I watch waaaay more television than I should and I love learning stuff, which makes the dominance of reality television on Discovery, the Science Channel, the History Channel, TLC, etc that much more frustrating.
Won't someone create a channel for learning?
posted by LizBoBiz at 12:29 PM on May 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
I watch waaaay more television than I should and I love learning stuff, which makes the dominance of reality television on Discovery, the Science Channel, the History Channel, TLC, etc that much more frustrating.
Won't someone create a channel for learning?
posted by LizBoBiz at 12:29 PM on May 5, 2015 [5 favorites]
A&E has gone from being a solid choice on basic cable to a ratings-hungry, soulless machine over the course of just a few years.
See also TLC, Discovery, and The History Channel.
That's because the people who like learning stuff don't spend all their time watching fucking television.
Smart people figure out how to get to the BBC on iPlayer so they can watch hour long documentaries without twenty minutes of commercials and thirty minutes of pre and post commercial recaps.
Others just fall asleep listening to Ken Burns make a 1 hour documentary into 13 hours.
posted by srboisvert at 1:41 PM on May 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
See also TLC, Discovery, and The History Channel.
That's because the people who like learning stuff don't spend all their time watching fucking television.
Smart people figure out how to get to the BBC on iPlayer so they can watch hour long documentaries without twenty minutes of commercials and thirty minutes of pre and post commercial recaps.
Others just fall asleep listening to Ken Burns make a 1 hour documentary into 13 hours.
posted by srboisvert at 1:41 PM on May 5, 2015 [3 favorites]
That's because the people who like learning stuff don't spend all their time watching fucking television.
I like learning stuff and I used to watch a lot of television. Now I watch a lot of documentaries on Netflix. It's not the fact that it's film that's the problem; it's the structure of the market.
We'd be saying the same thing about books if the production costs and delivery system had similar constraints. It would be like only being allowed to read what's on the bestsellers shelf at Barnes & Noble. Once in a while, you'd get a Cosmos, but most of it would be "America's Dumbest Criminals" or illustrated Koontz.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:52 PM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I like learning stuff and I used to watch a lot of television. Now I watch a lot of documentaries on Netflix. It's not the fact that it's film that's the problem; it's the structure of the market.
We'd be saying the same thing about books if the production costs and delivery system had similar constraints. It would be like only being allowed to read what's on the bestsellers shelf at Barnes & Noble. Once in a while, you'd get a Cosmos, but most of it would be "America's Dumbest Criminals" or illustrated Koontz.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:52 PM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
The phrase 'production lied to them' sums it all up.
I worked a few reality shows in the early aughts, but will absolutely not go near them now. Even shows I should like working on, cooking & travel shows, bring in reality showrunners who need to 'amp up' every interaction, turning what could be harmless- even informative- fluff into reeking garbage. The production companies that pitch the shows often aren't given a choice on this, the networks demand it.
It's a pestilence and I don't know what the solution is. It's shameful that producers exploit any 'civilians' in the name of entertainment, but that's the way these shows run now.
posted by rock swoon has no past at 2:52 PM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I worked a few reality shows in the early aughts, but will absolutely not go near them now. Even shows I should like working on, cooking & travel shows, bring in reality showrunners who need to 'amp up' every interaction, turning what could be harmless- even informative- fluff into reeking garbage. The production companies that pitch the shows often aren't given a choice on this, the networks demand it.
It's a pestilence and I don't know what the solution is. It's shameful that producers exploit any 'civilians' in the name of entertainment, but that's the way these shows run now.
posted by rock swoon has no past at 2:52 PM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Smart people figure out how to get to the BBC on iPlayer so they can watch hour long documentaries without twenty minutes of commercials and thirty minutes of pre and post commercial recaps.
Ah, the good old 10-40-10. Watch the setup, click to last 10 minutes on your pc/on demand/XBMC box, watch the finale that explains how it actually worked. Skip all the commercials.
You can marathon an entire season of some "how it's made" type show that's edited in a totally bullshit way in like an hour and a half this way.
posted by emptythought at 3:58 PM on May 5, 2015
Ah, the good old 10-40-10. Watch the setup, click to last 10 minutes on your pc/on demand/XBMC box, watch the finale that explains how it actually worked. Skip all the commercials.
You can marathon an entire season of some "how it's made" type show that's edited in a totally bullshit way in like an hour and a half this way.
posted by emptythought at 3:58 PM on May 5, 2015
That also basically covers Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 4:27 PM on May 5, 2015
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 4:27 PM on May 5, 2015
Well, this provides today's ration of awfulness. I would love for there to be consequences for the perpetrators, but that is sadly unlikely.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:44 PM on May 5, 2015
posted by Dip Flash at 5:44 PM on May 5, 2015
Won't someone create a channel for learning?
I'm watching some series on BBC (Two?) about farming in various eras (Tudor, Edwardian, WWII, etc) and it's amazing. Youtube has them. I'd consume much more like this.
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:47 PM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm watching some series on BBC (Two?) about farming in various eras (Tudor, Edwardian, WWII, etc) and it's amazing. Youtube has them. I'd consume much more like this.
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:47 PM on May 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I want to revise something I said about this whole concept before. I mean, the idea that conservatives in the US totally dismiss low-income working women and wouldn't really want to offer jobs to former prostitutes themselves still holds. But I was thinking about this and so many other reality shows and--I think the people who end up working in reality TV have a fundamental lack of respect for reality. They don't seem to have a good handle on the fact that most people have families and bills to pay and that they require steady employment to cover those things. That this steady employment is not generally compatible with the sensational editing to "make a better story". Every time they edit some show to make a participant look stupid or irresponsible, they're ignoring that this person is almost certainly going to have to go find work again.
Take that whole general attitude and apply it not to middle-class people who want to go on Biggest Loser but to people in already-fragile economic situations, and I guess this sort of bullshit is inevitable? But I say inevitable not like "not a big deal" or "they should have known better than to go on TV" but like I'm going to have to start seriously thinking about whether I'm okay with watching reality TV at all. (Cooking shows might still be all right, though Kitchen Nightmares was already on the list of things I can't stomach.) The industry as a whole, anyway, seems to have crossed that line from amoral to actually evil. I could believe at one point that this or Intervention or Hoarders was trying to do some good but just wasn't succeeding. I'm past being able to believe that, now.
Though--the fact that those were the three examples that came to mind as the most egregious and they were all on A&E says some particularly bad things about A&E.
posted by Sequence at 9:37 PM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Take that whole general attitude and apply it not to middle-class people who want to go on Biggest Loser but to people in already-fragile economic situations, and I guess this sort of bullshit is inevitable? But I say inevitable not like "not a big deal" or "they should have known better than to go on TV" but like I'm going to have to start seriously thinking about whether I'm okay with watching reality TV at all. (Cooking shows might still be all right, though Kitchen Nightmares was already on the list of things I can't stomach.) The industry as a whole, anyway, seems to have crossed that line from amoral to actually evil. I could believe at one point that this or Intervention or Hoarders was trying to do some good but just wasn't succeeding. I'm past being able to believe that, now.
Though--the fact that those were the three examples that came to mind as the most egregious and they were all on A&E says some particularly bad things about A&E.
posted by Sequence at 9:37 PM on May 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Roland of Eld: "I'd consume much more like this." (and others who've expressed similar sentiments)
By expressing a desire to learn, you have demonstrated that you are not an easily swayed consumer, and therefore not a part of a demographic that advertisers would like to purchase access to.
I believe this is related to Sequence's point: These shows are by their nature ugly because they appeal to the sort of people that advertisers want more exposure to.
Something to think about any time you're consuming advertiser supported media.
posted by straw at 7:08 AM on May 6, 2015
By expressing a desire to learn, you have demonstrated that you are not an easily swayed consumer, and therefore not a part of a demographic that advertisers would like to purchase access to.
I believe this is related to Sequence's point: These shows are by their nature ugly because they appeal to the sort of people that advertisers want more exposure to.
Something to think about any time you're consuming advertiser supported media.
posted by straw at 7:08 AM on May 6, 2015
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