By Sarah Davies (she/her)

I would like to pay my respects to the owners of the land, the Yugambeh and Kombumerri peoples, upon which I work, live and study. They are, and always will be, the true custodians of Country, and are fighting an ongoing battle for recognition of this. I acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded, and that this has created inter-generational trauma, of which the colonial effects are still felt today.

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I have been an avid fan of The Bachelor franchise for as long as I can remember. I don’t particularly know how I got into it, my mum doesn’t watch it (she’s more about the singing shows), my dad thinks it’s absolutely ridiculous, but it’s guilty-pleasure viewing for me.

Except I’m learning how not to feel guilty for doing things I like.

So, I watch it purely for my own pleasure. Don’t @ me.

At the same time, though, as I have studied and worked on my intersectional feminism (thank you Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw) through the years, I have become extremely aware of the major problems of not only the Bachelor, but also the Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise franchises. This work has also been done through countless articles, pages and educators (mostly by Black women, Indigenous women, and Women of Colour, because let’s face it, they are the ones we, as white women, should be listening to – looking at you, Robin DiAngelo).

Our current Bachelor season sees Locky, our white, cis-gendered, physically-abled, heterosexual man (who enjoys jumping off cliffs, and lives half the time in Bali running his business), OVERWHELMED by his pressing need to meet the love of his life through a reality television show, therefore propelling him from Survivor-level fame, to Bachelor-level fame (there’s definitely a difference).

I’m sure we can all agree the shining light of this franchise is whenever Osher appears, and is able to throw some solemnity into what would otherwise become a completely free-for-all of drinks, sparkly dresses and grabbing Locky ‘for a chat’.

Anyway.

I am NOT here to give recaps of the Bachie, because there are so many that already do, and they are amazing. What I want to do is help broaden the critical way we view the Bachelor. If we practice this on something we like watching, and are familiar with, we can then continue to apply this critical gaze to other areas – shows, movies, books, and our own society. While I love a good Bachie episode, I can see a whole lot of problems that exist, that contribute to the white/able-bodied/straight-sized/cis-gendered fetish Australian prime-time TV seems to have (actually, not even prime-time, literally just Australian media). It has also become apparent to me that other people don’t always see these problems, or don’t know enough about them to critically question, at the very least, what is occurring.

Umm, like are we all really going to ignore the fact that 21 out of the 24 women are white, blonde and straight-sized? Not to mention that between all 24 of them, there has been no mention of any physical disability or neurodivergence? Are we actually going to let the younger generation watching this think this is an ACTUAL example of our society?

For example, watching the first, absolute train-wreck of an episode, where self-appointed ‘ranga’ Zoe-Clare (white, sexuality unknown – although obviously men are included, straight-sized, physically-able bodied), proclaims themselves the victim of a VICIOUS VICIOUS attack from Areeba, a Woman of Colour and self-appointed ‘boss’ (which I am absolutely here for, because more women should do this). Basically Areeba went and asked Locky ‘for a chat’ but HORROR sat down while Zoe-Clare was talking to him and DIDN’T LEAVE and DID WHAT THE SHOW LITERALLY ASKS THEM TO DO.

*This is actually really hard because I want so badly to just assume every contestant on here has the pronouns she/her, because WE ALL KNOW THE PRODUCERS WOULDN’T LET IT HAPPEN ANY OTHER WAY, but for myself, as a person, I cannot, because we need to stop assuming these things. Also, the producers probably didn’t even ask about pronouns, let’s be real. Also, I have to actively remind myself that I cannot just assume all of these women are heterosexual.

When I saw this occurring, and the absolute FANFARE Zoe-Clare was making about this tiny issue that is, again, the point of the show, my first thought was to question WHY they were doing it. There are a whole lot of women in that mansion, and Z-C wanted to attack one of the only Women of Colour there, and the ONLY darker-skinned woman? Really? REALLY?

In a perfect world, this question wouldn’t exist. In some people’s worlds, it still doesn’t.

HOWEVER.

Our world isn’t perfect, and colourism, racism and discrimination is very much alive. This is most true for darker-skinned women (follow @darkest.hue for more information on colourism), like Areeba. At the same time, the white-centring of Z-C is an example of the way so many white women (myself included – continuous work-in-progress) jump to a defensive stance, and use white tears to play the victim. Critical thinking means we have to not only constantly check ourselves, but also question what we see, read and watch as well.

This is just one example of issues that are continuously being played out, and that are problematic. Some other things I have noticed, as I am becoming more aware of these things:

The overwhelming ‘fit people’ rhetoric being played hard – have we ever had anyone not straight-sized on any season, ever? Also, why are they always working out at the house? Do they not have Netflix? Or books? Or literally anything else to do?
The tokenism – having one or two Women of Colour (many of whom are eliminated before the Top 10) doesn’t automatically give you a tick next to the ‘diversity’ box, Channel 10. Also, having a white person that can speak Mandarin, aka Kristen, DOESN’T COUNT. What was with the chiming gongs in the background every time she had a one-on-one interview? Way to really push those colonial representations and stereotypes.
The internalised misogyny that is ABUNDANT before the show even starts, and is highlighted the entire way through – it’s like the producers don’t inform these women that the only prize they get at the end…is the Bachelor? No prize money, maybe a ring, maybe some Insta freebies, but THAT’S IT. You are not competing against each other for a real prize, my honeys, you should be working together to take over the mansion and live there happily ever after with Osher as your life narrator! Other women are not your competition.

*Yes, I understand that it is TECHNICALLY a competition. However, if the women refused to play the game, and give in to these small issues that are edited to be blown out of proportion, couldn’t it ALSO be about friendships? We all know the explosion of love that was Renee and Alisha on this year’s Bachie in Paradise, and THAT would have generated just as many ratings!

Didn’t anyone tell the producers? We are all about women for women now.

Speaking of producers, I want to make this clear that this is not an attack on the women within the mansion. There is no doubt in my mind that producers and editors manipulate these women, and encourage them to argue, fight and talk about each other behind each other’s backs. On top of this, we do not know these women’s backgrounds - their upbringing, trauma or anything else that may affect the way they react to certain situations. I think it is important to keep this in mind when we see segments that paint one or two people in a particularly bad light.

So, we will be doing intermittent Bachie Breakdowns (which includes Bachelorette and Bachie in Paradise when they are on), OWP-style, where we highlight the problematic themes. While we should be able to watch shows that are easy-viewing, or entertaining, we also need to be able to critically think about them, and not just unconsciously internalise the message and norms they are disseminating.

While we watch Locky’s journey to find a connection and meet his future life partner (bets are on that the top two are Bella and Irena), let’s, just like the contestants, also go on our own journey (Osher would be proud) and keep learning how to critically question the world around us, inside the mansion and out.

So, jump on over to our Instagram page and let us know the problematic themes or issues you have seen in the last few episodes!

PS. Locky, if you call these women ‘the girls’ one more time I am going to scream. Please stop. They are grown women, and your infantilising language is doing no one any good.