My Bachelor tweets aren’t hurting the women’s movement
It’s comical to me that International Women’s Day just passed and around the same time people called me out for my sarcastic tweets about TV’s The Bachelor.
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When the show first started, it could be argued that people really did want to find love and that producers hoped for romance and happy endings. I can’t say that’s been true in the past, oh, 10 years or so. The show is known for featuring villains and trouble-makers and disingenuous people. That’s a fact. That’s not me editorializing.
Part of my radio job as an entertainment reporter is kicking up the sarcasm during certain events, TV shows, etc. The Bachelor is one of the few shows people religiously watch, tweet and mock. I join, what’s called, Bachelor Nation, those nights.
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It’s true, many of my comments are off-colour, risqué and derogatory. At the same time, people on the show are doing the exact same things amongst each other, behind each other’s backs and one-on-one interviews.
While most people tweeting The Bachelor are making jokes and lambasting the cast of the show, there are the diehards who defend the shameless people allegedly seeking temporary TV “love” (and fame).
One of the very detailed comments directed at me from an angry woman was how my words were degrading to the women on The Bachelor. She eased up (and subsequently deleted her attack on me) when I simply replied, “So, you’re telling me 20-something women competing for a guy’s attention on TV isn’t setting the woman’s movement back a few decades?”
Plus, I think the reader skipped over a bunch of tweets where I said it’s degrading to be one of eight women on a date and competing for some guy’s attention. I also noted that during a group date where the women were made to box each other, one should have stood up and said, “You know what, I’m too good for this. Nobody’s going to hit me for the sake of a guy.”
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See, people go onto the show and sign away their rights to producers. I’ve seen the contract and participants agree to allow producers to edit, manipulate and falsify story lines on the show. The reality is I’m only commenting and making jokes because you allow yourself to be exploited on The Bachelor/Bachelorette.
Knowing that producers don’t have a contestant’s best interests in mind, that should be more concerning. Worry about the creators of the show who knowingly put people through emotional roller coasters and set them up for heartbreak for the sake of TV ratings.
I’m not the bad guy for commenting about your drunken sloppiness or emotional breakdowns because you knowingly went onto a show that’s become infamous for exploiting those moments.
