I like some reality TV. Specifically, Project Runway and Dancing With the Stars have captured my heart. I was a huge fan of The Mole - a game wherein the contestants have to figure out who among them is sabotaging their capture of the grand prize - and am looking forward to its revival. (I also like Real Housewives of New York City, but would probably deny that when not under the cover of anonymity.)
I like smart reality TV. Or at least, reality TV that does no harm. Ok - reality TV that doesn't do significant harm.
Then, there's The Bachelor. aie yie yie
I have never watched The Bachelor on the pure principle that it's demeaning. Self-respecting women line up for a chance to woo someone. Aren't we past that place in our history?
Last week, I caught the end of The Bachelor. I was channel surfing and got to witness the grand proposal. The Bachelor was oh-so-romantic. He used her full name....."Monkey." Oh yes he did! He said (this is nearly an exact quote), "Monkey, will you marry me?" sniff - who could say no to such a romantic proposal? (I have to wonder if he actually knew her name, what with all his dalliances...)
I've been thinking about why this show bugs the tar out of me. I'm not exclusive with high-minded television; certainly Project Runway isn't making the world a better place. And I'm a pretty silly girl. I love to laugh about most anything and I don't take myself too seriously. One might think the ridiculousness that is The Bachelor would be right up my alley.
But I do take the place of women in the world pretty seriously. So many women have spoken up and spoken out against being treated like a piece of meat. And here we have a gaggle of girls all competing for arranged dates with a man that producers tells them is "a keeper." Ladies living in a house competing for one man's attention...grown women sniping at each other over a guy's affections...
Puh-lease.
I just finished reading this book.
I take autobiographies/memoirs with a grain of salt. But if half of what this woman wrote is true, her life was rather horrific. She spent much of her life trying to escape a polygamous cult.
She risked her life to leave a culture where her marriage was arranged by someone who told her this man was "a keeper"...to escape ladies living in a house competing for one man's attention...to escape grown women sniping at each other over a guy's affections...
I'd love to have a woman who has escaped a polygamous cult marriage talk to these bachelorettes. Just for an hour.
