Rhoda Bernard, Ed.D.

I was thrilled with the return of the TV Land original series, “She’s Got the Look,” a modeling competition for women over 35. It is refreshing to watch real women, people around my age whom I can relate to, striving towards their dream of becoming a model. The whole cultural fascination with modeling goes back a long, long way – decades before the reality TV competitions. I remember the Barbizon Modeling School advertisements in Seventeen Magazine and the commercials for the school, which used the tag line, “Be a model. Or just look like one.”

It seems that the modeling industry has long been capitalizing on the split and struggle that most women in Western culture experience — between being beautiful and being smart. It is commonly put forth that a woman can be only beautiful or smart, and not both. An attractive woman cannot be intelligent, and an intelligent woman cannot be attractive. One of many double binds that women face (madonna/whore is probably the best known). [I do not mean to suggest that men do not face double binds in Western culture, because they do -- certainly between being strong/manly and being sensitive/emotional, for example. However, as a woman, I am much more intimately acquainted with the double binds of womanhood in Western culture.]

Recently, I saw Pirates! at the Huntington Theatre in Boston. One of the many changes to the script was that, when the Pirates hooked up with their brides at the end of the show, the Pirate King told them to “tell the pretty ones that they are smart and the smart ones that they are pretty.”

This is all to say that I know many, many intelligent women who are fascinated by modeling in some way, and I would include myself in that category. I had more than a passing interest in the Barbizon School when I was younger, and I maintain an interest in beauty/fashion/modeling today.

What is unique about “She’s Got the Look” is that the youthful mandate of modeling has been jettisoned in favor of women over 35 with interesting experiences and stories to tell. Yes, looks do matter, but they are not the whole picture. I love that one of the finalists this year is 70 years old. And that last year’s winner was in her late 40s.

Only one episode of the new season has aired so far. The episode featured the auditions for this year’s contestants. And of course, there was a twist (we have come to expect twists in reality TV shows): 20 contestants were selected and brought to New York, where 9 of them were promptly eliminated after a runway challenge. The rest of the season will follow the remaining 11 contestants through the competition.

Check your local listings for “She’s Got the Look.” You won’t be disappointed.