"The Bachelorette" Reality TV show

by O.G.

“The Bachelorette,” an ABC reality series, portrays a single woman who searches for love among 25 of America’s most eligible bachelors. Many viewers all across America have said that the show fathers a feminist statement, and counters the objectification of women created by the original reality show, “The Bachelor.” Many thought that in providing a woman with the potential candidates to chose from, they’d be breaking down the biased wall of sexism. Only there is little change when there are 25 single men vying for the attention of one woman, who seeks to find “prince charming” among the group of men pre-selected for her.
In the season 5 premiere of “The Bachelorette,” 25 men are introduced to the bachelorette, Jillian. They spend a single night competing in trying to make themselves memorable and to create a good first impression, so as not to be eliminated at the end of the night. Their tactics of acquiring the attention of the woman are more than slightly stereotypical: they interrupt each other, say cheesy things to be memorable, have break-dancing competitions, sing country songs for her, ask to take her aside when she’s one-on-one with another male, etc. There is constant talk of competition among the males, and it is amped by the fact that 5 extra men were brought in as surprise competitors in the middle of the evening.
The season premiere revealed that the bachelorette was actually a contestant on the previous season’s “The Bachelor,” who claimed to have fallen in love with the bachelor, who ended up sending her home alone in the season finale. After her broken heart, her desire to meet “someone special” leads her to be the new “Bachelorette.” Her family sends her to the show, wishing her luck in finding “prince charming” and she says she hopes to meet “Mister Right.” The commentator goes on question whether or not she will find her “fairy tale ending” in the introduction. Throughout the show, she is teased by men about a certain “hot-tub scene” from “The Bachelor” for which she’s earned a bad reputation. This enforces the idea that a woman is supposed to be more sexually reserved and that the bad reputation will pursue her if even in one single instance she is not. Even thought the show was created to objectify men who swoon for a single woman, even in the first episode they objectify her more so than she does them, seeing as they discuss how good she looks and how stunning her figure is in her white gown.
Many claim that “The Bachelorette” encourages female empowerment, but how can it possibly do so while encouraging stereotypical gender roles; the woman sitting around waiting for love, and the men proving their manhood by competing with each other for this woman. The traditional gender stereotypes are presented through the ideas of the female emanating feminine qualities which make her desirable to the men she’s surrounded by: vulnerability, emotionality, communality, and beauty. The masculine qualities portrayed are confidence, aggression, competitiveness, worldliness, and charm. The show provides viewers with the stereotypical gendered ideas; the woman awaits for prince charming, while the men battle for the attention of a woman they call their “prize” The contestants try to out-do each other by attempting to be the romantics they think the bachelorette would want them to be, in order to “sweep her off her feet,” similarly to how two men actually literally do so in the first episode of the season. The show perpetuates not only gender stereotypes but also makes the viewers think that the fairytale set-up of the show is something akin to real life, seeing as it’s part of “reality TV.” It supplies viewers with the idea that the portrayed set is real life with everyday people, and not good-looking, exceptional men and women chosen by television directors. “The Bachelorette” enforces the same ideas feminists have been trying to dispense; the woman looking for a fairytale ending while being objectified as a prize by the men competing for her.