Acknowledgments

I first want to thank the thousands of students, faculty, and staff I’ve met doing media education programs at colleges and high schools over the last ten years. It has been a privilege to engage with you about what it means to think critically about media, politics, and pop culture. Your thoughts about reality TV have informed this book.

Heartfelt thanks to Ali Wicks-Lim for her wisdom, humor, and love. She’s everything I could want in a sister, which is handy since I don’t have any siblings. Thanks also to the endlessly supportive and hilarious Jerry Darcy, for showing me that love can change forms but family remains. I could not have survived writer’s block (or much else) without them, or without Heather Carleton, Kristen Harbeson, Beth Murray, Deanne Cuellar, and Veronica Arreola (a wonderful friend and activist, and a founding board member of Women In Media & News).

Joe Agostino fed me when I was too exhausted to cook. Jenifer Avery, Keely Savoie, Michelle Garcia, Pat Jerido, Bill Mazza (who designed the Backlash Bingo card), and too many others to mention allowed me to drop off the face of the earth while I was writing and welcomed me back when I was done. My parents and cousins understood when I had to ditch holiday gatherings to keep writing.

Key elements of Reality Bites Back wouldn’t exist without some amazing people, to whom I am indebted. If you find the resource guide useful, thank Cara Lisa Berg-Powers of By Any Media Necessary. The artwork from the greeting card on page 323 was created by David Dickerson, videoblogger and author of House of Cards. Sara Beinert, a founding board member of WIMN, produced an appendix for this book’s website, and is a constant source of enthusiasm, encouragement, and friendship. The fabulous Lisa Jervis (another WIMN founder) helped me hone my ideas about embedded advertising for a 2004 Bitch magazine series on product placement in pop culture; much of chapter 9 is based on those articles. FIT Media Coalition’s N. E. Marsden provided information on public policies governing stealth advertising, which also improved chapters 9 and 11. Feedback from Courtney Young, Bob Harris, Neil DeMause, Cinnamon Cooper, Andi Zeisler, Jennifer Smith, Melanie Klein, Sarah Jaffe, Jamii Claibourne, and several others was invaluable. (And Paula Ivins Kingston of Lucid Salon offered good cheer and a good hair day for that author photo.)

The media justice activists, writers, and media makers who contributed to chapter 11 inspire me every day. I’m honored to learn from and work alongside them, and other progressives too numerous to name. Same goes for all the diverse and dynamic women who blog at WIMN’s Voices.

I suffered a catastrophic computer failure halfway through writing this book. Eight years of research—poof. Luckily, Anita Sarkeesian, Brett W. Copeland, Kat Overland, Patricia Johnson, and Jessamyn Lidasan offered speedy research assistance and gathered data crucial to several chapters. Anyone willing to transcribe Flavor of Love, From G’s to Gents, Wife Swap, and America’s Next Top Model is really taking one for the team. Speaking of suffering for the cause, Sanford Hohauser came to my apartment several times a month for years, offering snark and sanity checks while I took notes on reality TV. (My apologies, Sanford, for getting you addicted to The Bachelor.)

Even as authors Paula Kamen and John K. Wilson kept pushing me to write a book, I didn’t consider it for years. I love having written, but I’m one of those for whom the process itself has always been rather torturous. My literary agent, Tracy Brown, finally convinced me. He had faith in my ability to take this on, even when I didn’t. Tracy is savvy, insightful, and loyal—no wonder so many young feminist writers trust him with our work. Thanks also to journalist Janet Kaye, who helped me believe in my abilities at an early age.

I cannot adequately express how grateful I am to Seal Press. They believed in this book when major publishers told me it would be a great idea to write about the political implications of reality TV—if only I wouldn’t focus on women. Since then, my incredibly patient editor, Brooke Warner, and generous publisher, Krista Lyons, extended the deadline several times while I wrestled to synthesize ten years of television. They not only understood why a feminist, antiracist analysis of reality TV is important, they were willing to wait for it. That’s nearly unheard of. I can’t thank them enough for the risk they took with Reality Bites Back. (Plus, my writing improved with Brooke’s voice in my head, reminding me that sometimes one word is better than, say, seven.)

Finally, reading Susan Faludi, Jean Kilbourne, and Laura Flanders when I was eighteen had a formative impact on my journalism and media criticism. It has been one of the biggest honors of my life to get to know them as colleagues and to learn that they are each as generous as they are brilliant. I can only hope Reality Bites Back has a tenth of the meaning for you that Backlash, Killing Us Softly, or Laura’s body of work has had for me.