How ABC’s Worst Bachelor Can Be The Best Lesson For Women

How ABC’s Worst Bachelor Can Be The Best Lesson For Women

Emily Wolfrum, Editor-in-Chief

As if a show with a premise such as The Bachelor’s doesn’t regress the women’s movement enough, this season we met Juan Pablo Galavis, perhaps the most disgusting man to ever be voluntarily handed twenty-seven women on network television.

Monday night, Juan Pablo got his happily potentially after when he gave Nikki the nurse his final rose instead of the show’s typical wedding proposal.

But the winning lady was hardly of interest to audience members, who squirmed through an hour and a half of the bachelor’s inappropriateness.

Numerous fans have made comments about the treatment of the girls by Juan Pablo, specifically Claire, who finally (sort of)stuck up for herself on the season’s finale.

Off-camera, Juan Pablo allegedly made an unspeakable, sexual comment to Claire that made her feel both disrespected and degraded. The comment, however, was quickly dismissed when the bachelor told her about their hypothetical children.

Juan Pablo would later reject her, breathing a sigh of relief.

Earlier in the season, when Claire seized her opportunity for a late night ocean rendezvous, Juan Pablo eagerly agreed, an act he would later claim was only to spare her feelings. The bachelor ultimately scolded Claire for her behavior, reminding her of the image it might convey to his daughter Camila. She would continue to fixate on this “crucial mistake” for the rest of the season.

Hold on.

There is something seriously wrong with this picture.

A man and a woman consent to late-night ocean romping, and somehow the woman is out of line?

But that wasn’t the only time Juan Pablo’s actions didn’t match his words.

Frequently, when women would attempt to make the next move—a “beso”—the bachelor pulled away, concerned about how his daughter would feel about him kissing multiple women.

I suppose such a keen awareness for your daughter would be a responsible mentality were it not for the fact that nearly every other woman already had the pleasure of much more than a little kiss.

Was he using his daughter as an excuse to shun the ladies he liked less? Probably. But, regardless of his genuine or fraudulent intentions, the bachelor’s appearance was far from child-appropriate from the start.

Doubts about the decency of Juan Pablo first arose on the initial group date, one that featured a partially nude photo shoot for shelter dogs.

Despite viewers’ personal opinions regarding bearing one’s body, it was difficult for any television watcher to see several of the girls struggle with their own discomfort with the situation.

As Juan Pablo coaxed the ladies into taking it all off, one couldn’t help but wonder what he might think of a dashing man such as himself smooth-talking his precious Camila out of her clothes.

The only thing this Venezuelan hottie lacked more than social tact was a personality. It’s hard to tell if his deficiency in having quality conversation was due to general disinterest in the girls or mere unintelligence.

Sharleen seemed to notice this from the start, noting a missing “cerebral connection,” a mentality that labeled her as odd among the other girls. Despite being Juan Pablo’s clear favorite, only making-out and snuggling on a yacht wasn’t quite enough for Sharleen, whose doubts led her to quit.

Andi the lawyer would also quit  after a fantasy suite encounter so miserable that she called him an asshole the next morning.

It truly is no wonder that two of the five women who got to know him best chose to leave on their own accord, or that so many of his prospective lovers were so eager to throw him under the bus in the “Women Tell All” special.

Admittedly, America was very excited when Juan Pablo was announced to be this year’s bachelor. But that excitement was quickly thwarted at the realization that his charming good looks did not reflect the man he was inside.

So, ladies, do not let a man make you feel guilty or shameful about initiating intimacy, especially if he’s visibly on-board from the start.

If his mother says he’s rude, graciously take the hint and leave.

And, please don’t accept or make excuses. If there’s anything that we learned from this season, it’s that those little white lies we tell to spare someone’s feelings—“I have a boyfriend” or, in his case, “I have a daughter”—are not “okay.”

Be genuine to others and to yourself, and above all, see beyond his accent and his abs.