I was hoping they would steer clear as well, or at least have an intelligent discussion of the issues. Massive, inaccurate generalizations, like calling Romantic Comedies “retrograde and conservative” and claiming “It’s a beautiful fantasy obscuring an ugly reality, which — if we’re getting really real — functions as a microcosm for the low-key sexism and racism that’s present in all of Hollywood” indicate that might not be the case. Nothing like flippantly indicting an entire industry for racism and sexism with an analogy from a tv reality show.

The first comment is particularly interesting considering how the article ends. If rom-coms are so “retrograde,” and “conservative” i.e., not progressive, then why are both the author and the interviewee talking about how seductive the idea of the show is. Perhaps it’s because the idea of romance isn’t actually retrograde, but, human, and for that reason the Bachelor can maybe be enjoyed without all the hand wringing. And, if it’s human, and, you know, actually makes women happy, then, maybe it is actually “feminist’ by any reasonable definition of the word.