It’s nine o’clock on Wednesday night, and I’m channel surfing for something to watch. Next to another grueling WB teen soap opera, I am left with good old reality TV. My weakness of the hour: The Bachelor. Now, I am a proud woman of the twenty-first century, but this atrocity sucks me into the glazed over idiocy that is reality TV. Though I am appalled by the shows blatant disrespect for women in society, I find myself again and again turning to the program to see the latest in Aaron’s love life.

The sophomore season of The Bachelor focuses on Aaron Buerge, a twenty-eight year old bank VP. He has the grueling task of picking out the woman of his dreams, whom he has the possibility of proposing to “on the spot” once the final girl has been chosen. He constantly reminds us that “this is such a hard decision” and he is very torn over whom he will chose. I tend to have no sympathy for the poor guy. He started out with 20 females, then 15, 10, 5 and eventually one lucky girl. What was left in the last round: two beautiful girls with killer tans and plenty of adoring admiration for Aaron.

This guilty pleasure of the season is something I watch to mock rather than to enjoy. After hundreds of years of oppression, I am glad to see that the media still has no problem portraying beautiful women being voluntarily subjected to emotional chaos over one measly guy. In fact, the media has $70 billion in funds to fulfill public interest (Degen, 1). So what do they use the money for: sex, promiscuity and the overall objectification of women.

I am lucky enough to come from a household where strong women are looked up to and where our goals reach far beyond having a clear complexion and great hair. However, with children watching over 38 hours of TV a week, it’s hard to tell if our gender is being taken seriously (2). Women can be seen on Xena: Warrior Princess, scantily clad and fighting crime, but only 13% of guests on Sunday news programs are successful women (2).

Xena is not the only show to display the objectification of women. The Howard Stern show is one of the largest women hating shows in our nation’s history. This program features crude notions that a woman’s only contribution to society is her breasts. In fact, shows like this may be the reason that the cosmetic surgery field has increased 175% since 1992, with breast implants and liposuction at the top of the list for most popular surgeries (University of Maryland, 1). Equally as demeaning as Stern’s show is ABC’s flop “Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?”. Along the same lines as The Bachelor, this show promoted the idea that all women can be picked and chosen by man to live faithfully by his side. The “Three Men and a Baby” line “so many women, so little time,” seems to sum up the media’s portrayal of women (Faludi, 62).

As far as justified commentary on this subject, there are some points with which I agree. It is true that the women who appear on reality television do so voluntarily, and may even enjoy their small amount of fame, and Xena is seen as a heroine, kicking butt. I agree that Xena reinforces a strong image of women, but why must we see such an assertive woman doing so much good while wearing next to nothing? Maybe she cannot wrestle with evil as well bogged down in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, but that sounds more comfortable to me than the leather attire she must get tired of wearing week after week.

So what should we do about this dilemma? I urge everyone, men and women, to write to ABC and demand that The Bachelor be taken off of the air. If that doesn’t work, just stop watching. Turning off the TV might just do some good to the major corporations that control our airwaves. We, as Americans, need to show that we will not take the fact that the media is affecting the general public’s perception of women.