Last night ABC gave us the “Men Tell All” episode of The Bachelorette. While the teasers promised myriad secrets would be revealed, no one could have predicted the biggest revelation of all. There, on national t.v., America was introduced to the secret, illuminati-like world of the “man code.” (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Bachelorette’
Speaking in Code
Posted in television, tagged Bachelorette, femininity, gender, man code, masculinity, television on July 21, 2009| 2 Comments »
What is love anyway? (first in a series)
Posted in books/magazines, television, tagged Bachelorette, love, mark sanford, marriage, sandra tsing loh, television on July 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »
I’ve been thinking a lot about love, especially the kind expressed in and around marriage, what with Mark Sanford’s love letters, an essay decrying the companionate marriage by Sandra Tsing Loh, A Vindication of Love: Reclaiming Romance for the Twenty-First Century by Cristina Nehring, and, of course, the fights in various states for and against gay marriage. I haven’t gotten my thoughts all in order and I doubt any single post could do justice to the complexity of this issue. Instead, I’m going to write a series of articles on the subject.
The Unbearable Lightness of the Bachelorette, Part II
Posted in television, tagged Bachelorette, masculinity, reality TV, television on July 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Professor Moss’s post discussed the insufferability of The Bachelorette‘s protagonist, Jillian. I want to add a word or two about her would-be paramours. I noticed several disturbing trends among the bachelors vying for Jillian’s affection:
The Unbearable Lightness of The Bachelorette
Posted in television, tagged Bachelorette, gender, reality TV, television, the second sex on July 4, 2009| 4 Comments »
When we first began thinking about starting this blog, we decided to watch The Bachelorette for material. Now normally I finish what I start, but this show broke me. I made it through 6 episodes and then I just couldn’t stand it anymore. So what made this show literally unwatchable?
Well, there were lots of things: Jillian’s idiotic attraction to bad boy Wes, everyone pretending that spending a day on a glacier or racing cars or ziplining provided character insight rather than an adrenaline rush, the whole “some guys aren’t here for the right reason” subplot. But this is a feminist blog, so let me just mention the two main points that drove me to gnaw on my copy of The Second Sex.
The Two Body Solution 
The Pursuit of Happiness?
Posted in cultural commentary, tagged art of courtly love, Bachelorette, capellanus, cougar, femininity, masculinity, maxim, the ugly truth on July 29, 2009| 1 Comment »
This is the first post I’ve written that is not tied to one specific popular culture anchor, so forgive me if I’ve already broken our nascent blog’s rules. Perhaps my heightened awareness of gender issues in pop culture–thanks in large part to Professor Moss’s and my decision finally to start sharing our thoughts with the world–has just made me see this trope over and over again lately and compelled me to get out some thoughts about it. Perhaps I’ve been watching too many movies like The Ugly Truth and too many television shows like The Bachelorette; oh, and don’t ask me why, but I thumbed through an issue of Maxim at my hair salon the other day and actually read the articles–big mistake.
I speak, of course, of the dreaded notion that men need to pursue the objects of their affection (and since our culture is heteronormative, this usually means women) and that women long to be pursued. A traditional feminist way to view this cultural norm might be to say that it reinforces the power and freedom of men while taking freedom away from women. While I think this is true in part, I don’t think it’s the whole story. (more…)
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