What kind of casual fling announcement has the power to garner an unfollow from Rihanna, spark multi-prong discussions about race and also rock the entire Bravo-verse? Well, some are calling it “Scamanda,” others have dubbed it “West Side Story” or “West-gate.” Whatever the name, when Summer House‘s Amanda Batula and West Wilsom announced they were a thing, digital pitchforks went up and large factions of the Black Bravo fandom were on guard. They were ready to defend Ciara Miller, the reality TV show’s current protagonist and one of the few Black cast members on the Bravo program, to the death.
The details of why this situation is so rotten spans over 10 seasons of Summer House, but the short and long of it is Ciara was a great friend to Amanda Batula and nurtured her through a volatile marriage and breakup. Ciara also dated West Wilson, a white man who publicly embarrassed her and led her to deal with swarms of negative online feedback because she “let a white man play her.”
Objectification is not flattering
This was a big topic on the show, especially in Season 10, Episode 7, where West and Amanda both try to console Ciara as she vulnerably discusses the emotional weight of existing as a Black woman on a reality TV show and dating within that space factors into her life. Add in Amanda calling Ciara one of her best friends, Ciara constantly comforting Amanda through her relationship woes with Kyle and you start to understand why Amanda and Ciara hooking up is strange enough to get Badgalriri herself involved. (The self-proclaimed Bravo stan allegedly unfollowed Batula after the news broke.) This wasn’t just about breaking girl code or making a messy love triangle. Scamanda is a symptom of the nefarious ways race impacts every area of our lives, including dating.
Desirability isn’t a defense against racism
One aspect of the conversation consistently lost in translation is the dissonance between Ciara Miller being lusted after as a Black woman by white men on the show, but not being taken seriously as a romantic interest. On the show, she is frequently fawned over for her good looks, which, on the surface, seem like a flattering compliment. As is the case with most things in the world, race adds another layer to this discrepancy.
On Summer House, Ciara’s looks have been a recurring topic amongst the primarily white men on the cast, framing her as this seductive temptress. This isn’t hyperbole. During Season 6, fellow cast member Austen Kroll called Ciara a Jezebel, a racist and sexist trope used to justify the assault of enslaved Black women.
Her subsequent on-again, off-again relationship with West Wilson also left her vulnerable to a breadth of criticisms regarding her relationship to her Blackness. Then, when fellow castmate Jesse Solomon asked West “permission” to date her, Ciara was very vocal about how dehumanizing it felt. It’s almost as if these men want cool points for their ability to find a Black woman attractive.
See, it’s not just a woman being betrayed. It is the disharmonious symphony of sexual fetishization, blatant disregard and racial vulnerability that makes this land a slap in the face. Beyond that, though, this situation has removed the thin societal veneer that suggests desirability will protect you from unconscious bias or racism.
No amount of white Bravo men calling Ciara their “hall pass” or saying that she’s “uh, like, she’s hot” will ever make up for the inherent divide that comes with dating interracially. Sexual desire (or objectification in many cases) is not the same as allyship, but the two are constantly being conflated. And Black women, on TV and otherwise, are the ones paying the price.