Today's topic is more about the "Real World." Not that I want to spend endless amounts of time writing about such a worthless topic as the "Real World," but something happened in this week's episode which just completely baffles me.

Basically, Cara, the Sarah Jessica Parker wanna-be Jewish one (which, of course, makes her character that much more interesting to me) ho'ed it up the past week and over the course of a week had three dates. Or, to be more exact, one official date and two hook-ups. One with the lead singer of Big Head Todd and the Monsters (although it got bleeped out so nobody would know who she groupied with) and one with a friend-plus from college (friend-plus, for those who don't know, are friends who you also occasionally sleep with). Cara has also just recently broken up with her year-long boyfriend, a guy who was completely in love with her and wanted to marry, but whom she broke up with partly because she got the "Real World" gig and didn't want to be in a serious relationship anymore. Fair enough, those are valid reasons for breaking up with someone or for maybe even ho-ing around. In this episode, however, we get shown that she still talks to the poor guy a lot and in one phone conversation, he even tells her not to do anything embarrassing because it would embarrass more people than just herself. In other words, don't be an idiot on the show because you'll hurt a lot of people, including my still completely broken-hearted self. And then she goes and sleeps around, including with a guy who is friends with the ex-boyfriend.

Now, there's nothing really wrong, per se, with ho-ing around. Especially after just getting out of a long-term relationship, but if you're going to ho around, why the fuck do you do it while constantly being videotaped by a camera crew to be aired on a show on MTV? Because there, for the entire half-an-hour, everyone who watched and who will watch, knows that Cara slept with a rock star and a friend of hers from college.

I guess the reason why I'm baffled by all of this is that if you're on a show that everyone in the entire world can see, including I'm guessing ex-boyfriends and parents, why would you let yourself get videotaped hooking up with someone? Everyone in the entire world knows that you just had sex with that particular person. Doesn't that bother anyone on the show?

Just think of all the people out there who just found out about Cara's sex life, besides us the viewers. There's the ex-boyfriend who at some point has to watch her hook up with a bunch of people, including a friend of theirs. Then there's friends of hers and people who casually knew her or knew of her beforehand. Even worse, there's the parents. I'm guessing that one of the worst things you could see as a parent is your daughter being shown coming home from a night of romping and discussing it with her roommates. Not exactly nice Jewish-girl behavior.

And yes, there is kind of a double standard involved. As anyone who watches the show knows, every African-American on the show (except for poor Malik) all tried their hardest to do the bling-bling and be a Playa. I'm sure they had no problems with letting everyone know that they were hooking up with everyone because it helps them live their bling-bling fantasy (and give it up for Tek who at least didn't bring them back to the house). It also probably helped them get laid much more often after the show was over. Then there's Mike on RW 11 who, being white, couldn't exactly be a Playa, but as a frat boy, still probably took pride in having the whole world see that he hooked up with a bunch of people and how hot they are. I'm sure when the shows aired, he was hanging out with his buddies high-fiving each other everytime he scored.

And, I'm also sure that the fact that you live in the Real World house probably helps you out with hooking up, as well as the fact that you're constantly being followed around by camera-crews. There are some people who would probably like the idea of going on a date or scamming with someone on the Real World because it'll give them face time on TV (oh boy!). So, I'm sure that the members of the cast are probably thinking that they might as well take advantage of it while it's going on and work it.

But the thing that really gets to me are the people who hook up with the Real World cast members. Because it's not like they get the fame and get to be known as a Real Worlder, but instead will forever be known and seen on tape as one of the losers whose shown getting together with a member of the cast. Like the waitress at the bar in Miami who will forever be known as a member of the threesome with Mike and Melissa. The clip of it happening and the sound of her moaning is broadcast on MTV everytime they show highlights from the series, which is a lot. Then there's RW 11's Mike's friend-plus from college, the one who comes to visit him for the weekend and has sex with him in his bed. The producers not only show a little footage of some bumping and grinding, but the whole rest of the episode is taken over by the rest of the cast-mates discussing the fact that they went at it while the other roommates were in the bedroom trying to sleep too. On the show, they never really show the girl saying much or doing much, she just comes, gets laid, and then goes goodbye. So now everyone at their school knows she's doing Mike, but everyone gets to see her doing Mike. Bet you she's real popular at parties now. And I wonder if she tells her friends "oh watch this episode, I'm on it!" Or if she told her parents "hey mom, I'm gonna be on tonight's Real World with my friend Mike." She basically did the sorority girl morning-after Walk of Shame, except did it in front of millions of people. And I'm not even gonna get into Jisela and Malik and her romping around in the Hamptons.

So what I'm basically trying to say her is this- what the fuck are these people thinking? Doesn't anyone care about having a little dignity? Are these people so excited over the idea of being on TV that they're okay with the fact that they'll only be shown having sex with people on the show? Are people really so desperate for their fifteen minutes of fame that they'll let everyone know what they're sex life is like?

And why the hell do I still watch this show?