On Tuesday, Jezebel posted (and Gawker cross-posted) an excerpt from the violence against women chapter of Reality Bites Back, focusing on “The Exquisite Sadism Of America’s Next Top Model.” By 9am today, the post had received more than 31,000 views, 315 comments,

and 414 “likes” on Facebook.

When Jezebel asked to excerpt that particular section, I had a feeling it might strike a chord. In all the press since the book launched on Nov. 1, no media outlets have picked up on my discussion of the way reality TV both normalizes and glamorizes violence against women. (A few have asked me about the many male participants in reality dating and lifestyle series who have had restraining orders, arrest histories and even jail sentences in their past for harassment, battery or sexual assault.) So I was glad to know that their readers would be able to sink their teeth into this analysis of the dangerous messages Tyra Banks sends on America’s Next Top Model, in the name of “empowering” girls.

This 800+ word excerpt is just a small taste of a 10,000+ word chapter, but I hope you’ll enjoy it. If “enjoy” is the right word for an essay about girls being instructed that, for

If you’ve been reading the blog recently (or media outlets from The Vancouver Sun to The Frisky), you know I launched a satirical book trailer and webisode series this week, Reality Rehab with Dr. Jenn, which spoofs — and then liberates — reality TV’s stock characters through media literacy therapy.

Who’s the latest to check in for some Reality Rehab? Introducing Webisode 4: The Top Model. In this episode, The Top Model (Kendra Leigh Landon) explains just how seductive is when fashion and beauty advertisers build modeling shows around clear instructions about which makeup and clothes to wear in order to be beautiful, valuable, and successful. Through media literacy therapy, she learns how and why most women will never achieve advertisers’ definition of beauty–and how important it is to think for herself:

Like Reality Rehab’s Top Model? Blog her, tweet her, post her to Tumblr, share her on your Facebook wall — let’s make this Top Model go viral, so that all the girls who watch America’s Next Top Model can hear her speak.

What, you say you haven’t seen the previous webisodes? Well, then, as Veronica Arreola says, “you’re missing out on a world of funny.” Check out — and then share/tweet/blog about — the whole series:

OK, it’s official: my summer reality TV fast (a needed respite after sending the Reality Bites Back manuscript off to my publisher) is over. To mark the occasion, I’m going to be livetweeting analysis of the season premiere of America’s next Top Model, Cycle 15 — yes, 15 — tonight at 8pm EST. (UPDATE: Full feed of the livetweeting session below.)

Long-time readers of my other blog (WIMN’s Voices, the group blog of Women In Media & News) know that I’ve monitored this series since it debuted, often to horrifying results. Not surprisingly, then, ANTM features quite often throughout Reality Bites Back, in chapters on body image, race, and product placement advertising and media economics. But the show also has the distinction of being the only reality series of the decade to get its own chapter in the book: “Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls, and Cha Cha Divas: Race, Beauty, and the Tyranny of Tyra Banks.” Let’s see if tonight gives us a glimpse why…

Send your questions, comments and snarky hashtags about gender, race, beauty, product placement, manipulation, Tyra Banks’ batshit crazy antics, and anything else ANTM-related to @jennpozner on Twitter, or post your questions to the comments section below. (You can connect to my Twitter feed by clicking on the blue “t” icon on the sidebar at the right of this page.)