The premise of “The Bachelorette” is inherently messy: throw a bunch of hyper-masculine dudes into a house to fight for the love and affection of one woman. A crazy sausage fest, yes, but not necessarily damaging. That was, until last night’s episode of “The Bachelorette.”
JoJo Fletcher, this season’s leading lady, narrowed down her selection, weeding out the rest while always stressing that she just wanted to stay true to her heart and not cause anybody any undue pain. She put her foot down with some (Chad) and wasn’t afraid to ask her suitors specifically for what she wanted.
Up until last night, if a guy failed to meet her expectations, JoJo said goodbye. Tearfully and solemnly, yes, because breaking up is never fun, but firmly. But last night, JoJo lost her resolve. The finale came down to two men. On the one hand, Robby, perfectly coiffed and aggressively manscaped, the first to tell JoJo he loved her and always firm in his adoration. Robby is a man who, she said herself, would treat her with the respect she deserved.
And then there was Jordan, stupid-haired, asparagus-faced, manipulative piece of crap Jordan (Rodgers, as in Aaron Rodgers’ less talented younger brother riding on his brother’s coattails), who not only actively made JoJo insecure but also chose to disrespect her wishes of asking her parents for their blessing to propose.
Yes, the practice of asking a woman’s parents for their permission to marry their daughter is an outdated one, but if it was so important to JoJo, Jordan shouldn’t have skipped that step. And then, most importantly, he shouldn’t have spun it as JoJo’s fault when she confronted him about it.
That is a tactic used by emotionally abusive boyfriends the world over. “Yes, I did this thing you didn’t like, but you made me do it.” Using the entire premise of the show (that another man was involved and he didn’t know which way she would go) to gaslight her into believing his shortcomings were her fault is 1. Not OK behavior for anybody and 2. Not behavior you’d want to see in a future spouse. So explain to me why she would toss Robby–a man with weirdly perfect hair and no visible human flaws and may be a robot–to the side in favor of Jordan?
I will be the first to admit that JoJo did not sign up to be a role model when she took the gig as the Bachelorette, but what does it tell viewers (who are mostly young women) to see a woman so otherwise level-headed and seemingly aware of her worth forego a relationship that she explicitly said made her feel more valued for one that, up until their engagement, made her feel nothing but anxious and unsure of herself? I’m not happy about it, ABC, and I’m not buying it.
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