Is MANswers Racist?

MANswers is, overall, a show I enjoy watching. This might seem surprising since I am certainly not in the demographic audience for which the show is created. I’m not a man. In fact, being a lesbian might make me even less targeted simply because so many lesbians are labelled as anti-male. I don’t fall into that crowd, I’m more of a tepid feminist, I guess. I believe in equality in the true sense, none of this battle-of-the-sexes bullshit. Yes, men and women are different – get over it. Anyway, I try to avoid my socio-political viewpoints on this blog simply because they don’t belong here, but I felt I needed to explain a bit so you’d understand why MANswers isn’t exactly “my type” of show.

Basically, I like trivia. That’s the only way I can explain it. It is usually the type of entertainment I avoid, but I find the questions – albeit often gross – interesting. Sure, I could do without the objectification of women and general vulgarity of the show, but I understand that the show is on Spike and intended to be exactly as off-putting as it is.

I also understand that the audience for which MANswers is intended would be just as bored or annoyed by my favorite television shows (Project Runway, anything on the Discovery Channel). The overabundance of poop and sexist boob remarks aside, I also enjoy the mix of drunk-asshole-on-the-street interviews and expert opinion. Taking the often lewd tone of the show in stride, there are two things that actually bother me about this show.

First, I hate – and I mean HATE – the announcer. Most of the time I try to tune him out. It’s just so over-done fratboy. I understand that the idea is to speak – both in tone and voice – to the intended audience, but it’s just so over-the-top. I can imagine that even the fratboys watching this show often look at one another and say, “Dude! This guy is soooooo annoying!” Yes, I’m stereotyping, but isn’t that the point of finding a demographic?

As an aside, there was a commercial during one episode of MANswers that intrigued me. It was for Women’s Extenze. Apparently it’s “our turn” (the “our” being women who have found their libidos waning and their husbands none to pleased with it) to experience the wonder of Extenze. Um…? I understand a guy wanting his girl’s libido to match his, but will it really make my penis bigger?

Anyway, moving on.

The second thing that bugs me about MANswers is even more concerning. I understand that the show is not designed to be politically correct or socially intelligent, but – and I hate to throw this word out there – I often find the show flat-out racist. I guess they can get away with the exclusive use of Asians whenever martial arts or samari swords are mentioned. However, can they explain why nearly every bully or guy with a gun is African American?

It seems to me that every time MANswers mentions someone being shot or beat up, the reenactment features some big African American guy – often sporting a shiny grill? I’m not black or male and I find this extremely offensive. It perpetuates the idea that African American men are universally violent, dangerous guys. That sucks, MANswers.

I know the show itself – and perhaps even one of the points of the show – is meant to be as vulgar and “Dude!”-oriented as possible, but I think that their casting goes a bit too far. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just being oversensitive?