Racist Bullying or "Girls Being Girls"? Untangling Constructions of Race and Gender in Celebrity Big Brother

It has been suggested that an integrated view of racism that focuses on its complex relationship with hierarchies of gender and class, and other such identity constructions is vital to understanding the differing ways in which racist structures and discourses perpetuate inequalities and resulting positions of oppression or privilege (Hoagland; Schloesser). This article looks at a recent example of what has been termed "racist bullying", which occurred in the 2007 UK Celebrity Big Brother series, and undertakes an examination of the racially privileged position held by the three British women who were accused of racism toward Bollywood actress, Shilpa Shetty. The analysis to follow investigates the manifestation of racism through the complex intersectionality of race and gender. More specifically, this paper will examine the ways in which particular rhetorical devices were deployed to justify the privileged position held by these three women, and the denial of this privileged position through an ongoing construction of "girls being girls".