Monday, February 9, 2009

The Bachelor

I was watching bits and pieces of The Bachelor with my roomies - mostly watching 5 minutes here and there as I made my way around the house.

And all of a sudden, I was thinking, "Why am I watching something I see every day and saw at BYU-Idaho every day?"

I never really felt the weight of the statistic - that states there are more men than women until everyone turns 18, and then there are more women - until I went to BYU-Idaho. I'm told there are actually more men there than women, but many of those men are married. I never got exact numbers.

I was in a ward (66th!) that was an entire apartment complex put together - 8 guy apartments and 16 or so girl apartments. As you can probably imagine, this led to many-a-contest for male affection, and I'm told this was the way it was for most wards at BYU-I: there was "The Ward Desirable" that pretty much got hit on in every modest, BYU-I way possible. Oh the egos of formerly humble men that got inflated to ridiculous proportions because they made rounds on Sunday nights to every girl apartment and received mounds of baked goods.

Oh, the scene of catty women fawning over a male who takes what he can get because, heck, why not? Granted, the rating is taken down a notch because of the gospel and such, but once I started thinking about it, the comparison was still eerie. Thousands of BYU-I students play out episodes of The Bachelor without even knowing it! It doesn't get much better in the "real world," either, after you graduate. Oh, single's wards.

Is there any other reality show that pretty much shows us what we see every day? Why the heck is The Bachelor still popular? Maybe because women think it's nice to see it happening to someone else. I was thinking that a truly original reality show with things that didn't happen all that often in real life would be The Bachelorette, with lots of men fighting over the same woman, but I guess it ran and bombed a few years back.

4 comments:

Anna said...

the bachelor makes me sick. girls all making out with the same guy...KNOWING that he is making out with other girls...and then thinking their relationship is so meaningful. I mean if relationships are built on trust I do not see how this could work....arghh

And I feel your pain about the singles ward girls chasing guys thing. So. Much. Drama.

Christina said...

You're so right. I have never been one to watch the bachelor but I caught parts of a few episodes recently and it just made me sick to think how all of these girls thought they were in love with this man and would do anything to "win" I mean why are they putting themselves down that low, and furthermore why is he?

jes may said...

BYU-I is actually 52% girls to 48% boys! But of the 48% there are a lot of premies and married men. :) I was actually in a ward with more boys then girls after i moved out of greenbrier. lol. but yes, i still agree!! the craziness of the mormon world. jk.

Jessica :) said...

Amy, you never fail to write a blog post that I find thoroughly entertaining and wonderfun! I don't like bachelor either. It's just a ridiculous show - desperate people trying desperate measures to be able to tell people that they have a "happy relationship." Very dumb. A reality show that isn't like everyone else? Jon & Kate + 8. I don't know very many people that had 8 kids in 4 years time. Wow.