Real Housewives of New Jersey: Teresa Giudice

The second most popular complaint we receive here at ItalianAware (behind the Jersey Shore) is The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Many people specifically say "Please stop Teresa Giudice."

Admittedly, before the complaints rolled in, I never watched the show. And I wasn't about to rail against a person that I never knew existed.  After the complaints, however, I have noticed that the show (and Teresa Giudice) are a problem for the Italian American identity.

(While this post is aimed at Teresa Giudice, the rest of the cast is just as poor of a representation of Italians.)

Apparently, Teresa Giudice is on a mission to prove to the world that Italians are the most aggressive, uncivilized people alive. She chalks this up to her being a "feisty Italian." The rest of the world, however, would chalk it up to her being unrefined, violent and ill mannered.


Here is a sampling of Teresa Giudice in action, being "feisty."






Now before you say, "Wait, she lost her temper- big deal. Just because an Italian on TV lost her temper doesn't mean that represents all Italians.." here is Teresa throwing a temper tantrum (and a table) and blaming it on her being Italian:




In her own words," I just got mad, I guess its an Italian thing and we just do that. My father did it, my brother did it, I did it."

So, according to Teresa- Italians don't know how to use their words to resolve issues. They have to resort to flipping over tables and throwing things to get their points across. Like cavemen.

I guess Teresa wasn't satisfied with her efforts to dismantle the Italian image on TV, and she turned her sights to the fashion industry. Teresa is a fashion designer and on the heels of her "success" on the show, she launched a new clothing line: TG Fabulicious Guidette. How did the line of clothing become popular? She made her children wear it during their appearances on the show. Fantastic parenting, and a great way for her kids to get to know their heritage.

People tell me that when an Italian does these things, its not anti-Italian. I respectfully disagree. Teresa Giudice is no different than Snooki or Mike the Situation- they all sold out their heritage for fame. They played into what they thought people wanted to see Italians do (be violent, aggressive, stupid, shallow) - like trained monkeys. In my opinion, that is not an Italian. Italians take pride in their culture and heritage, and cheapen it for no one.

If the Teresa Giudices of the world are willing to sell out the rest of us, we should be willing to dissociate ourselves from them and say what they are doing is anti-Italian. Their actions are hurting our image, our identity and giving non-Italians the wrong idea of who we are. Such behavior, whether it comes from Italians or non-Italians, is anti-Italian. Plain and simple. 

This idea was best shown on a little talked about episode of Dr. Phil- where an Italian American producer on the show stood up for Italians against the housewives. The producer said the word "Guido" and the glorification of the guido lifestyle is highly offensive to Italians. Kudos to Kathy Giaconia for defending us on national television!