By Leah Rogers
Contributing Writer
Everyone has a dirty little secret, whether it is sneaking an extra piece of cake late at night or Facebook-stalking your latest crush. For many of us, that little secret happens every Thursday night at 10 p.m.–watching Jersey Shore.
MTV’s popular show is on its third season now and it’s still going strong, attracting 8.4 million viewers for the season premiere. For those of you who don’t know, Jersey Shore follows the lives of eight New Jersey Italians, who refer to themselves as “guidos,” although we now know that not all of them are truly from Jersey, or even Italian.
Their lives consist mainly of “GTL,” more commonly known as gym, tanning and laundry, and they love to party all the time. They occasionally work in a T-shirt shop on the Seaside Heights boardwalk, but their attitudes at work are always pretty poor.
Although the concept of the show–getting paid to party and be on TV–is ridiculous, millions of people still enjoy watching it every week. The group goes out to clubs and drinks large amounts of alcohol most nights of the week.
This sets a poor example of behavior for many teens today who are struggling with increasing alcohol consumption at younger ages. However, this does not stop anyone from watching it.
The show also has consistently had a degrading view towards women. The main goal of the guys on the show when they go out is to find a woman to bring home with them. Younger teens who watch this will think that non-committal, mostly sexual relationships are the norm.
The “guidos” also refer to ugly girls as “grenades” and refuse to stay with them. This shows younger teens that they have to be good-looking for guys to like them and increases body image issues in a world where many young girls are already struggling with them. However, once again, this does not stop anyone from watching the show.
People love watching Jersey Shore. They know in the back of their minds that the show sets poor examples and paints New Jersey in a poor light, but they don’t care to say anything about it. Some people think the Jersey Shore lifestyle is ideal and strive to be like the characters on the show, but most people have a little more common sense.
Many people still watch the show for their own entertainment, but since it sends out many poor messages, people feel the need to refer to it as their dirty little secret.