Culture

Is Tyra Banks’ Empowerment Rhetoric Really Just A Cover For Selfishness?

Like any girl coming of age in the mid-2000’s, I remember turning on the CW on a weeknight and finding “America’s Next Top Model.” Though the show has changed hands, judges, and networks since then (it’s now in its 24th season), there was something gripping about the reality show element to the competition format.

By Gwen Farrell3 min read
tyra banks shutterstock_29978617
Shutterstock/Rena Schild

Contestants are pitted against each other for a chance to become (as you might have guessed) America’s next top model, with the winner landing a contract with a global cosmetic brand or modelling agency and a cover on a well-known magazine.