Why The Bachelor Is TOXIC
graphic by nina bridges
“A couple days before all this started, I had a really special moment where I felt like I just knew this was going to work. I just started, like, talking to God, and I just was like, ‘I don’t know where she is, but watch over her,’ and the second that I said that, a shooting star went across the sky.”
Is this Shakespeare talking or the newest Bachelor, Peter Weber? This ~touching~ sonnet is just one of the many romance-filled moments from the hit TV show, “The Bachelor”.
If you haven’t heard, “The Bachelor” revolves around one single guy and 30 beautiful women, all expecting to get a wedding ring by the end of the season. What could go wrong, right? Dedicated fans tune in weekly to watch Weber fall “in love” with a different girl every week, while simultaneously making out with all of them in front of one another. Ah, a modern love story.
While the Mrs.Weber-hopefuls have a range of job titles, it’s safe to say most of them make a living on Instagram. Getting on “The Bachelor” means a free ticket to sponsorships galore and the glamorous life of a D-list celebrity. This show is not genuine in any sense. Yet, the 7.5 million Bachelor viewers across the US still believe this show is about ~love~...
Don’t get us wrong, we somehow still can’t get enough of “The Bachelor” either. Who doesn’t want to watch a full hour-long episode dedicated to two girls fighting over a champagne bottle?
While we live for the drama, “The Bachelor” is more than just catfights and one extremely cookie-cutter, yet attractive man. The show portrays the thirty contestants as essentially having the IQ of a rock. What is their end goal? What are their aspirations? In a recent episode, one contestant said she was ready for “pilot wife life” (Peter is a pilot FYI). Do we even need to say anything more?
“The Bachelor” strips each of its female contestants of their individuality and pins them against one another to please one man. Women don’t have to change themselves to please a guy. They also don’t have to sell their souls to a dating show to be successful in life. These contestants are all housed together, sharing bunk beds and dating the same average man. It’s basically a sexist version of summer camp. If you were to only watch “The Bachelor”, you would think that society has gone back at least 50 years in time. Modern feminist movements? Out the window!
In every season, the girls are pitted against each other to quite literally fight for their dream man. In a recent episode, the challenge was a pillow fight in an actual boxing ring. Like we said, still extremely entertaining. Each one of the girls put on a show to woo Peter while tearing down the other contestants. What happened to girl power?
Usually, in the end, the most conventionally beautiful and boring girl wins. Yes, the concept is entertaining, but that should be the extent of it. On Monday, when you grab your popcorn and sit down to watch this season of “The Bachelor”, remember that this is not how relationships work. We know this sounds sappy, but you don’t have to be a beauty queen or Instagram influencer to win someone’s heart. This type of television, along with most dating shows, perpetuate stereotypes about what it means to be a man and a woman in a relationship.
Let us make this clear, we don’t live to please that special someone and we certainly don’t have to compete against 29 other girls on national television to get their attention either.