Confession: I love ABC’s “The Bachelor”
Confession: I am a feminist
Confession: I am a feminist who loves “The Bachelor”
Honestly, it may be one of the greatest shows of all time. It literally has everything. It has:
Drama
Comedy
Friendships
True Love
*Fine. Argue that The Bachelor does not have true love, but note that these two have a baby together and are happily married, so how successful is your Tinder now?
Honestly, this show is fantastic. Every Monday, I get together with my friends and we watch and talk about “The Bachelor.” We argue over whether Corinne is really evil or just immature, and we collectively gush over the cute moments the show gives us (Please see this cute moment of how Nick looks at Vanessa as she vomits).
But, people often ask me how I can call myself a feminist and still watch a show that degrades women. I don’t argue that the show doesn’t degrade women, I too watched the women shovel manure on last week’s episode. I also watched them race tractors in bikinis. I get it, this show is not “Good Girls Revolt.” But this show does have its moments: When Vanessa skillfully declares to Nick how she is not disappointed in Corinne’s actions, but rather his; or when the girls, for Alexis’s sake, threw out biology and agreed it was a dolphin costume; or when Rachel did or said anything because she is magical.
“The Bachelor” may have moments that make me think to myself, “Wow! This show is super degrading and like, why do I continue to watch this?” But then it has those moments that show the humanity of the show, for instance, the funny moments that happen during the credits, or the brief respites from drama where you can see that the girls are actually friends and witness them bonding.
For every date that the group of women shovel manure, there is a date in which the girl meets the family, roller skates and there is a private concert by a somewhat famous country singer. For every moment of girl versus girl drama and slut shaming, there are friendship goals moments that will someday become Instagram photoshoots (looking at you Becca and Jojo and Jade and Carly). And for every moment in which the women debase themselves for men, there are is a moment in which the women tell off the male lead. Like in the classic “Women Tell All” episodes.
Despite the fact that in essence, “The Bachelor” is about a group of 25 to 30 women competing for one man, there is a lot more to it than that, and before you knock it, please try it.