"I had watched the show before for fun, often noticing various gender, class, and racial stereotypes and negative portrayals, but never looked at the show intending to do a feminist intersectional analysis, which I am now doing. I am not surprised to say that I have found a lot more I can talk about now, especially considering I am doing a feminist intersectional analysis focusing on gender, class, race, bodies/identities, and sexualities and how the shows portrayals of specific characters creates and/or perpetuates stereotypes which could (potentially) affect its audiences."

"The cast of RHOC consists primarily of White, (except Jo who is looks and passes for being White except when she uses her â??spicyâ? Peruvian descent to exotifiy herself a little bit or to make herself stand out when she needs to, more on this later) all-heterosexual, all-upper class men and women, with the women outnumbering the men doubly. All of the women in RHOC are prime examples as Michael Messner theorizes in his article, Becoming 100% Straight, of â??doing heterosexual.â? They dress up, look and act the part of the stereotypical valley-(heterosexual) girl. These real housewives of the OC are anything but; from the unlimited tanning packages, fake nail tips, platinum blond hair and extensions, silicon breasts, eyelifts, face lifts, monthly Botox injections, liposuctions, and gym/Pilates memberships, these women are carefully and precisely sculpted, chiseled, and toned â?? after all, they have the money, why not look every cent of it? The women are shown for a majority of the episode getting dressed, shopping, or partaking in â??typical girl-bondingâ? over lunch, manicure/pedicures, drinks, or facials while their men just show up and are there. A person who did not grow up or live in Coto might think that in California, all rich White women shop at Jimmy Choo and their only concern or drama has to do with the various men (husbands, fiancés, boyfriends, or sons) in their lives."

"The importance of class does not seem to be at all important to these five housewives, until someone gets divorced and loses a majority of her (husbandâ??s) income and is then replaced, when she has to leave the gated community because it is too expensive, by another affluent housewife who lives in Coto. These women do not shop like celebrities in that they are extravagant, but they do spend more than the average consumer. From spending thousands in shoes, purses, clothes, bar tabs, gifts, cosmetic surgery, and expensive real estate, these housewives are quite skilled in charging everything to their Black Cards. While there is no way an average person can compete with the power they have and can buy with their money, they are still one step closer to the average person, because they arenâ??t celebritiesâ?¦yet. With the exception of Jo, the housewives have married into money or made money themselves, I thought it ironic that the one Woman of Color came into money when her family won the California lottery â?? it was only then could she move into Coto and take up residency as one of the fab five."

"Race affects the audiences of RHOC very little, if that. Jo the only Woman of Color (WOC) is barely noticeable as a non-White female. She never does anything â??ethnicâ? or â??cultural,â? she doesnâ??t talk about her heritage, speak in any other language other than English and she never actually identifies as a WOC unless she is trying to spice up herself to her new target audience - the music industry. There are no other People of Color in the show at all, none in the high-end stores, in the pricy restaurants and bars, in the exclusive gym, in the gated neighborhood, or anywhere â?? itâ??s Whitesville! This is definitely a show that subscribes to the notion that if the issue of race (or lack of it) isnâ??t brought up, it isnâ??t present, and if it isnâ??t present, it doesnâ??t bother anyone and the cast seem to be quite comfortable with that."

"This show depicts a common portrayal of the perfect body image. Thin is in. All of the housewives, their daughters, husbands, sons, friends, boyfriends, and fiancées are in very good shape â?? the only thing I donâ??t understand is the camera never records anyone in the gym or purging after a meal. They are just magically thin, even though they are constantly eating out and drinking sugary alcoholic drinks. Tammyâ??s daughter Megan was some 250+ pounds when she was little and she told this sad story of being teased and picked on when she was a child because she was so fat. Now, she just smokes a lot and stays perfectly skinny,
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