Cougars vs. Kittens: Claws Come Out Again on Reality TV

June 28, 2007 — -- A new reality TV show promises that the claws will come out in the battle of the cougars vs. the kittens, and it's not happening on the Discovery channel.

"The Age of Love," on NBC, pits 40-something women (cougars) against 20-something women (kittens) in a heated battle for the love of one man, the 30-year-old Australian tennis star, Mark Philippoussis.

The network calls the show a "social experiment," and tries for a wink and nod toward feminism and anti-ageism by asking if age really matters when it comes to love.

The first bachelorette given the boot, Jodi, a divorced 46-year-old business woman, says in her farewell speech, "I hoped I've helped show that a woman in her 40s is sexy and interesting and powerful."

A number of media critics and at least one self-described "cougar" aren't buying it.

Jennifer Pozner, the executive director of Women in Media and News who is writing a book about women and reality TV, says there is nothing redeeming about "Age of Love's" attempt to show older women are still desirable.

The program recycles the same basic premise as so many other reality shows -- pitting women against one another.

"I really believe that reality TV -- these dating, mating and modeling shows --are the cultural arm of the backlash against women," she says.

"Everything leads to the money shot -- of women's humiliation, crying and sobbing, 'Why can't anyone love me as me?'"

But this time, the show plays on our culture's fear of aging and obsession with youth and beauty.

When the 20-something kittens are introduced, they "descend from the sky in a giant glass stripper box," Pozner says. Later, the kittens are shown in their apartment hula hooping. Cut to the cougars' apartment, where they are quietly doing needlepoint and laundry.

As viewers are reminded during the show, there's nothing more terrifying for many woman than to be over 40 and single.

"Do producers really want to prove that he could fall in love with an older women?" Pozner says. "You brought them here because you want to humiliate a bunch of faded old crones."