Born Again Virgin is TV One’s comedy series about about a young woman named Jenna (Danielle Nicolet) who gives up sex and blogs about her experiences as a (you guessed it!) born again virgin. On last night’s episode, Jenna gets a job ghostwriting the blog of a fashion mogul named Quinn Reid (played by Survivor’s Remorse star Tichina Arnold), who is a notable “staunch feminist” and “single-handedly employs more women than anyone in the industry.” This is all super exciting, until Jenna finds out that Quinn is a lesbian, and wants to hop in bed with her, like, immediately.
It’s so disappointing to Jenna and viewers, both, that Quinn is most interested in having sex with her new employee. It’s part of the tired, creepy lesbian boss trope we’ve seen too many times before. Jenna considers it, though (“Okay, I’ve been through sleepovers, college, even spent the night with a drunk Tara in my bed, all without once considering having a lesbian affair, but God and Ellen DeGeneres help me if I wasn’t thinking about it now.”) She talks with her friends Tara (Eva Marcille) and Kelly (Danielle Nicolet) about her plight, and finds out that both of them have had sex with women before. (“You know I was on the college basketball team. Things happen at away games,” Kelly says, before declaring it a phase.) There are jokes about “muffin-diets” and questions like, “Do lesbians bone?” And the conversation ultimately turns into Jenna wondering if having sex with a woman would be violating her whole born-again-virgin thing, like sex with a woman is somehow not equal to sex with a man.
Jenna decides to tell Quinn she can’t sleep with her, but Quinn beats her to the punch, saying she’s not giving up (ugh) but she’ll lay off for now. Jenna gazes at Quinn in admiration, calling her her “girl crush.” So while Jenna would appear to be bicurious (or, at the very least, not completely opposed to a physical relationship with a woman), she is not interested in bedding her boss, despite having an attraction to her. The problem is that the only queer-identified woman who is in the episode (and doesn’t refer to it as a phase) comes off predatory unprofessional. It’s beneath Tichina Arnold, frankly, who plays the loving mother to a gay daughter on Survivor’s Remorse on Starz.
While this episode of Born Again Virgin was not completely tragic like other similar-themed episodes of television have been in the past, even the moments of light humor about lesbian sexuality are frustrating in that they perpetuate myths about queer women and sexual fluidity and don’t seem to take any of it very seriously. Lesbianism or bisexuality is something to try on for personal gain or boredom; it doesn’t “count.” Also, that lesbians will use money and power to get young women to sleep with them. It’s a shame it came from a network that won a GLAAD Award for the R&B Divas episode where Monifah and Terez were married. That’s the kind of visibility we need more of, especially for black queer women.
You can watch the whole episode below.
