I’m all for being free and getting naked (my office is my home, so my “official” work outfit is no pants + T-shirt). But now, it appears that reality television is going to exploit and creep all over humans in their natural state.

That’s right, folks. There are at least two reality television shows that require contestants get naked. One is called “Dating Naked,” the other: “Sex Box.”

“Dating Naked” follows people who are dating while naked! I’m guessing that a lot of the show’s viewers hope to catch a glimpse of a nipple, or a penis, and guess what — those viewers were rewarded on July 31.

Jessie Nizewitz and a dude she was dating were wrestling naked on a beach. For a brief moment, Nizewitz’s crotch was revealed. She is now suing VH1 for $10 million.

“Sex Box” is pretty much what you think it is, too. A couple gets inside a soundproof box and has sex. After the couple has sex, they come out of the box and discuss the sex with a “group of therapists and sex experts” while a studio audience gawks. So. Hot. (Not.)

WE, the lucky network that will air “Sex Box,” is proud of the show. Marc Juriz, the network’s president, was quoted in a Washington Post blog, saying that “Sex Box” will be “one of the most unique and compelling show concepts we’ve ever seen.” We’re sure it will.

These two reality television shows are by no means unique additions to the creepy, reality television world. Another network, FYI, recently launched “Married at First Sight,” which like the two above shows, is what it sounds like. Three couples get married the moment they meet.

We all know reality television can be pretty sleazy, but why is the genre reaching new lows? I’m sure it has to do with ratings, but damn. I suppose these shows wouldn’t bother me so much if they weren’t promoted as being helpful. I doubt “Married at First Sight” and “Dating Naked’s” aim is to help couples find real love. And there’s no way that “Sex Box’s” real goal is to help couples have better intimacy. Also: Being naked isn’t that big of a deal! All ladies have the same equipment. All dudes have the same attachments. Yawn. So boring. Let’s move on.

I have an idea for an intelligent, but equally cringe-inducing reality show called, “Breastfeeding in Public.” The shocking premise: Lovely new moms breastfeed in public, as normal, baby-having women do. The television audience watches in horror as some rude passersby tell the mothers they are acting obscene. Next, the rude passersby are swooped into an intervention-like session where an expert tells them to “get a grip — this is real life and it’s beautiful.”

Now THAT’S a reality show I would support.

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Pivot TV’s new reality show about converting waste materials into new better quality stuff, is changing the definition of trash TV. The new half hour comedy show, “Human Resources,” premiers August 8. It’s based on the eccentric staff at New Jersey upcycling company Terra Cycle.

The world of reality TV has few, if any, boundaries. The era of weird people’s life on camera has included such Emmy worthy programs as “Vanilla Ice Goes Amish” and “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” And then there was the ever twisted reality show “The Swan,” which took women deemed “unattractive” and gave them extreme plastic surgery-laden makeovers. But that’s not quite the flow for “Human Resources.”

According to Terra Cycle CEO Tom Szaky, it’s all about eliminating the concept of waste by making things that were formerly unrecyclable, recyclable. They reuse, upcycle, and even recycle nearly everything that you could imagine. It’s a nutty crew in a nutty workspace with daily lunch yoga, rain dances on the front lawn, superhero sock day, and vegan lunches.

But most importantly, the show is shining a light on a really cool company whose mission is to create waste collection programs called Brigades for things that are traditionally difficult to recycle. The waste is transformed into brand new products from recycled park benches to upcycled backpacks.

Terra Cycle is trying to fix a big problem, considering that 90 percent of the stuff we buy will be in the dump within the year. But by changing our perspective, nothing needs to be trash because one system’s trash is another system’s food–just like in nature. Either way, it’s certainly an upgrade from “My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé”, “I Cloned My Pet”, or “Living Lohan.”

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Image: Sabrina Dalman

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Which came first – the reality TV show or reality? Sometimes I’m not quite sure.

Participating as a voyeur in other people’s lives – watching them lose weight, survive on desert islands, swap wives and attempt to woo fashion industry professionals – is sort of fun. We ask questions in private like “Will the chunky guy go back to eating excessively?” “Will the villainous bunch of survivalists win, or will the heroes who always play it safe?” (We keep our fingers crossed for the contestants with the attitudes so we can hate them more and are guaranteed good office fodder later.)

Finally, while watching the popular fashion show where mostly young designers compete, we look for the scapegoat because we always have to pit forces of evil against someone young and pretty.

We’re all sort of suckers for this stuff, but sometimes there’s a line that gets crossed. Don’t blame Project Runway for all of it.

The Project Runway producers are only doing their job editing the show to make you feel one way or another, cutting out pieces that really happened and obscuring them somehow behind a dramatic lens which makes us tune in weekly. We’d be bored stiff if they didn’t.

But here’s where we really pay attention, when Gretchen Jones, Project Runway’s only sustainable designer, advances each week and our love affair with her becomes difficult at times thanks to careful editing on the part of the show. I guess I also find it hard to digest comments I’ll see on the show’s Facebook page when reality junkies (the likes of which perhaps never make it out of their parents’ basements) say things like, “When Time Gunn yelled at her it made my whole week!” or “Did you see how robotic she was talking to her mother? Like she couldn’t care less!” or one of my favorites, “Time for the bitch to go home!”

Really?

Who are these people who can freely dish out comments like that or pretend to understand anything about a young woman who gave up everything to be on this show? Social media, in conjunction with bad behavior, allows anyone to say whatever they want without full commitment to what they’re actually writing. Imagine saying the same things you write in conversations with actual people?

Everyone knows I love the girl, but maybe this is a long look at a woman’s right to be strong and straightforward in American society. Are we really that scared of it? And if a woman like Gretchen does make dumb mistakes because of the pressure of TV and losing everything, are we really that mean that we can call her out as a bitch? A villain? I like to imagine if Gretchen acted like Cassanova and threw a fit on the couch because people didn’t like her designs, she’d be despised too – but that cute accent and being gay makes him exempt? Is it because she’s a woman? Inquiring minds want to know.

For Gretchen, this faux reality just might bite, but we know she’ll stay strong and hopefully we’ll see the bad ass bitch make it to the end.

Top Image: Lisa Warninger

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