A few weeks ago, I was desperately in need of a new TV show to binge-watch on Netflix, so naturally, I surfed through the inter-webs for recommendations on which show to watch next. As a busy college student who didn’t want to get hooked on a show with lengthy episodes, I thought "Mixology" would be a perfectly easy and fun show to pass the time watching. While it sure helped pass time, it certainly was not “perfectly easy” to watch—in fact, it was painful and incredibly insulting. Let me give some background: "Mixology" is a one-season, 10-episode show that aired on ABC back in spring of 2014. Moreover, the show focuses on the lives and connections between five single guys and girls and uses all ten episodes to span across one long night at a bar in New York City. Each character has his/her own story as well as his/her own agenda for the course of the show, which would seemingly make it easy to become attached and invested in each unfolding love story. However, despite the rare funny moments and undeniably cheesy yet irresistible plot lines, I found the show to be degrading and detracting from all the gender equality progress we’ve been working towards for about the last century.

Now, while I realize this show aired almost two years ago, and that complaining about it now may be coming a little late in the game, it's also important to note that people will always find faults and issues in everything they watch, no matter when it was produced. And it was clear to me from watching Mixology that all ten characters share a common objective for this one evening: finding a hook-up. In our culture today, this is to be expected: many people go to bars and other social venues in hopes of meeting someone with whom they can have either a relationship or a one-night stand. However, this “goal” is grossly over-emphasized in "Mixology", objectifying both men and women and perpetuating the ever-degrading atmosphere of hook-up culture. For example, Bruce, the over-confident red-headed male character, constantly surveys the bar in the show, pointing out women he’d like to “smash,” a rather vulgar term and viewpoint for being intimate with someone. Furthermore, he and his friend Cal persistently persuade their recently dumped friend Tommy to find as many girls to sleep with as he can in one night. Once again, we see sex as a conquest for men, one upon which they will ultimately be congratulated. While I realize the show is supposed to emanate a cute, quirky, and PG-13-esque romantic feel—and I did become quite invested in a few of the character’s stories, to tell the truth—it simply does nothing for showing viewers that there is, in fact, more to a night out with friends than having sex. On the other hand, I did appreciate that both the male and female personas in the show were equally as guilty of viewing the opposite gender as pieces of meat. From one perspective, it shows women who are more empowered and comfortable exploring their sexuality rather than demeaned and judged for doing so; on the other hand, of course, it still doesn’t justify that both genders fail to give the other the respect and care they each deserve. Hook-up culture seems to become progressively worse as it continues to expand and make people—young adults especially—believe that viewing people vulgarly and objectively is okay with the defense that “we all have needs.” I just couldn’t help but feel disgusted, insulted, and disappointed by the amount of objectification and lack of respect I saw while watching "Mixology".

I’m neither asking nor expecting an overnight change in the world of hook-up culture, but I am asking that people who may decide to watch "Mixology" observe and understand the same signs that I’ve pointed out myself. A night out on the town with friends to find love or have some fun seems harmless, or even normal in the lives of 20- or 30-somethings, but to make intimacy an objectified quest rather than something that allows for a special connection does not do very much for either gender. To conclude this lengthy rant: watch "Mixology" if you’re interested in how sexually degrading it is— otherwise, don’t waste your time, maybe watch "Jessica Jones" instead.