“The Bachelor” always seems to be everybody’s favorite beginning-of-second-semester show, but I really don’t agree with it.
I’m sure you have seen the ads for it and you may even know the concept of it, but I’ll give you a little summary just in case. Basically, one bachelor is presented with a pool of young women, with the intention of choosing one to propose to at the end of the season. Each week he has different dates with the girls– one on ones, small group dates, big group dates, etc. The group dates also normally include a game of some sort, in which the contestants have to compete in some physical challenge to win the bachelor’s attention. At the end of each week he gives a rose to each of the girls he wants to stay, then those without a rose go home.
Basically, I think this whole show is archaic. Making women compete in physical challenges for not only the attention of a man, but also to be rewarded with a singular rose, is entirely anti-feminist, and it simply goes against what I believe in. The women on the show are made to look like fools, when in reality, the dating game should do the opposite.
The entire point of dating is to find someone you truly feel comfortable with, and then voluntarily showing them another side of you. “The Bachelor,” on the other hand, entirely interrupts this premise, and forges unnaturally bonded relationships, all while making money off of the whole thing.
On top of the content of the show being entirely off-base and out of touch, the casting of it is even worse. All of the girls on the show are these perfect, Instagram model types, and there is really only one body type represented on the show: skinny. This show, which is supposedly all about love, only shows one type of girl receiving love, and I think that is setting an unfair and unrealistic example or precedent for any girl who isn’t a size 2.
On top of this, despite having 24 seasons of the show, plus 15 seasons of “The Bachelorette” and 6 seasons of “The Bachelor in Paradise,” none of these shows have ever featured a same sex couple.
Basically, I don’t like this show because of what it stands for. It perpetuates the idea that women should fight over and compete for a man’s attention, and that this is the way they must earn love. It also teaches that only pretty, skinny girls can be loved, which is just sending the wrong message.
Come on ABC, you can do better.