I will be the first one to say that watching "The Bachelor" is one of my favorite pastimes. It's a social interaction like no other, grabbing your favorite girls, your favorite drinks, and taking time to pick out your favorite contestants on the show. The breathtaking dresses that each woman wears as she enters the mansion, making her awkward first interaction with the season's bachelor and going inside to get wine drunk and make a fool of herself and eventually going home empty-handed.
All of the red flags pop up like confetti as the season continues.
Starting within the first few weeks of the show, contestants are pitted against each other to essentially form alliances and to ostracize at least one person of the group calling them out on being dramatic, not being there for the right reasons. In a competition like this making friends shouldn't be the first priority but neither should make people feel like they are wasting their time on a show that ruins their mental health and self-esteem.
Cheating can be described in many of ways. For some people it's a text, for others, it is going out with a romantic interest. One common denominator in the ways of cheating is kissing or going out on dates with another romantic interest. The whole show is about finding "the one" but when that means going out with a new person every week that can really take a hit in a relationship. I mean if taking time out of your relationship to focus on all of the negativity be my guest and sign up to take part in the next show.
You shouldn't have to fight to keep a man or girlfriend. This point is not always clear when it comes to new relationships. Everyone says that you need to fight to keep what you want but when the time comes, and it leaves you feeling empty and crying every date, anxious if the person that you pick every day will even notice you enough to pick you back is wasting too much energy on the wrong person.
My last and most controversial point is the fact that men are praised for having sex in the Fantasy Suite, but women are harshly labeled. This season is Colton's season and if you haven't been living under a rock you know that he is a virgin. On the women tell all the crowd oohed and asked at the question if he was no longer a virgin. But compared to a few seasons ago Kaitlyn Bristowe had so much flak for having sex with one of the contestants Nick. Just the fact that Colton can confidently walk around with a smile on his face about having sex with whichever girl he chose, not even considering if they were going to be the one leaving with an engagement ring, and Bristowe had to make a crying apology to her fans about how she had messed up, proved the imprinted sexism that the show carries.
At the end of the day, I will say that this franchise with all of its spinoffs are the highlights of my week. I get to take time and unwind as I face the secondhand embarrassment of each contestant. While the show has its ups and downs it is so important to realize your own worth when it comes to relationships because at the end of the day you are worth way more than just a rose.
