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POLL: The Worst Moment For Feminism On The Bachelor Last Night

Oh, it was bad. There was such a wealth of material that I had to pick three finalists for the worst moment for feminism this week.

A. Sean loves Daddy issues

Sean chose Lindsay Yenter for his only one-on-one date this week. You might remember that Lindsay showed up on the first night wearing a wedding dress, got wasted and tried to make him kiss her. Since then Sean has decided that he really likes her. Their date involved taking a helicopter (at the sight of which Lindsay gasped, “Is that a helicopter?”) to a field in Montana for a picnic, then into “town” for a “concert.” I tried not to let my hatred of concerts on The Bachelor influence what I thought about this date, but it was impossible.

Later, they hung out and drank wine and Lindsay talked about her family background, which Sean summarized thusly: she was an army brat and hated moving around thanks to her dad, and now as an adult she craves stability and hates change, and thats very exciting for Sean. Sean was so excited to fill in as Lindsay’s dad forevermore that he made out with her and gave her a rose.

B. The Bachelor‘s two-night extravaganza

Evil ABC, for no discernible reason that I could see, has decided to air two back-to-back episodes of The Bachelor this week. WHY?! Not only did they show no remorse about inflicting four hours of Sean on us in the first week of a notoriously gray and gloomy month, but the crack promo team was so excited to tease Tierra’s upcoming hypothermia on Tuesday’s episode that they inadvertently gave away the result of the two-on-one date, between Tierra and…a redheaded girl whose name I can’t remember, meaning the tension level on the show (which usually hovers around zero regardless) sunk particularly low. We are not stupid, Bachelor promo team! Do better.

C. Drama for days

Sean isn’t solely at fault for this, since this happens on most seasons of The Bachelor, but it’s pretty bad for feminism regardless. Tierra has proven to be hyper-competitive and toxic to the other girls, who are at least trying to pretend to be friends while they all date the same guy. She says mean and troll-y things to the other girls, which gets them riled up, which gets noticed by Sean, who then presses them for details. Most of the women, not wanting to seem impolite or gossipy, hedge and say vague things about certain women “not being there for the right reasons” or Sean’s choice to keep certain women around being “confusing.” In turn, Sean tells Chris Harrison that the girls are ganging up on Tierra (because women are naturally competitive, mean, and love “drama,” that nebulous term) but can’t back up their animosity with concrete examples. As ever, the fact that the Bachelor is usually the person MOST interested in this kind of gossip goes unmentioned.

I’m going to put it to you guys: which of these was the worst moment for feminism on The Bachelor last night?

TAGS: feminism | the bachelor

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