Gender Stereotypes In The Bachelor

While The Bachelor may be regarded as trashy, mindless television, its dramatic cast and fantastical dates are undoubtedly entertaining and worthy of attention. With a total of thirty-three seasons and nearly ten million viewers per episode, the well-known ABC franchise remains virtually unchanged in its fifteen years of air time. Twenty-five single women (or men) vie for the heart of one eligible bachelor (or bachelorette). Over the course of two months, he gradually eliminates others—fewer flowers each week, giving a rose to any woman who has captured his attention—until he has eventually narrowed the playing field and proposes to one “lucky” lady. These wild journeys, marked by exotic locations (i.e. Belize), extravagant dates (i.e. helicopter
Gender stereotypes are an issue that have plagued the nation and reality television since the 1920’s (Manza et al. 2013:). Gender, Manza explains, is the ways that social forces create differences between men’s and women’s behavior, preferences, treatment, and opportunity (Manza et al. 2013:). Similarly, stereotypes, overgeneralizations about the personal attributes of men and women, are often untrue due to its oversimplification (Manza et al. 2013:). Society “assigns” these social constructs. In other words, society gives expectations on how to behave or react appropriately, so men and women conform accordingly. Therefore, gender is constantly created and recreated out of human interaction, social life, and the texture, order of social life. It has become an institution that makes society more predictable (Manza et al. 2013:). Due to gender socialization, contestants on The Bachelor tend to comply with social standards—as it is what society “expects.” In this case, gender-stereotypical behavior is more likely to happen because the cast is recorded and displayed on national television—they are being