There was a lot going on with part one of the Vanderpump Rules reunion show. LaLa Kent made her big return (AKA argued with Stassi Schroeder, Katie Maloney, and Kristen Doute), Ariana Madix did her best Stassi impression, and James Kennedy crawled on the floor like Gollum. But amid all of this wonderful madness one startling trend stuck out and that was rampant, unapologetic slut-shaming.
The reunion’s dragging of female sexuality began at the very top, with everyone debating whether or not Kristen “went down” on Jax Taylor’s girlfriend Brittany Cartwright during a drunken night. If Jax was upset his partner had possibly cheated on him, that would be worth talking about. Instead, the bartender and host Andy Cohen simply questioned if the “salacious” rumor was true because, apparently, lesbian sex is so crazy.
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Jax wasn’t even apologetic for blabbing to everyone and their mom about his girlfriend’s alleged private encounter, saying, “I’m going to live my life the way I want to live my life. I’m going to talk about what I want to talk about,” and that includes Britt’s sex life.
The Kristen-centered slut-shaming really took hold at the end of “Part One” when a conversation about James’s scheming to join the Pump group turned into an investigation into Kristen’s sexual history. "We getting ready to move in together and [Kristen] started fucking [James]," Tom Sandoval yells about his ex. "Another one of my friends."
James piles on against Kristen, adding, "Well, there's three guys on this side of the room and she's banged all of us.” Even Andy has a mean joke about the SUR alum, saying, "I'm the only guy who hasn't had sex with Kristen?" In unison half of the group assures Andy, “Schwartz hasn’t.”
Firstly, ew. Secondly, once again, none of these comments actually have anything to do with whether one of the Pump Rules ladies were unfaithful to their partners. This is all about shading a young woman for having multiple sexual partners. Known playboy Jax didn’t have the same experience at any point during “Part One,” as every mention of his free-wheeling behavior was given a wink and a nod.
In a saving grace moment, Katie apologizes for previously slut-shaming LaLa from the moment she met her. “I don’t like to sling insults like calling people whores. That was an ugly moment for me to watch,” the newly married woman said through tears. “I 100 percent apologize for saying that.”
Is it too much to hope Tom, Jax, and James offer up the same types of apologies in “Part Two” of the reunion?