On this day of forced romanticism, I thought I’d take a few minutes out to write about another example of forced romanticism – Take Me Out.
It is actually one of my favourite shows – I’m not sure why, sometimes I just enjoy really trashy television – and I don’t think that I’ve missed more than a handful of episodes over the last few years. In fact, I even went to see an episode being filmed around a year or so ago.
At least 5 different people have also told me I should apply for the show.
However, something about the show has been bugging me recently. And that is the fact that it seems to perpetuate stereotypes about what men and women look for when selecting a partner.
I’m sure not everyone is as familiar with the show as I am, so I’ll give you a brief rundown of how it works.
A man comes down the “Love Lift”, parades himself in front of 30 women who each have a light in front of them which they will turn off if they decide they don’t want to date the man. The first chance they have to turn off is after they see what he looks like and he introduces himself (e.g. “Hi, I’m Dave and I’m from Scunthorpe!”).
So at this stage, a number of women will usually turn off based on how the chap looks. There are then two further rounds, during which the women will be able to turn off their light at any point they choose. These rounds are generally the bloke talking about himself on a video for a little while followed either by him showing off some talent (such as skateboarding, firebreathing, chopping vegetables really fast) or by his friends and family revealing some really embarrassing piece of information about him.
At this point, if there are any women with their lights still on, then the fella has got himself at date. However, this is where the disparity comes in. The man then has to narrow it down to two women based solely on looks and anything they’ve said previously. He does this whilst the crowd are baying at him. He then asks these two a question and selects between them based on their answer.
The guy has divulged a lot of information about himself over the past ten minutes or so, so the women are making an informed decision about whether they think he’s a suitable partner, but he is making his decision based on their physical appearance and their answer to his question in which usually doesn’t divulge any information about them at all. Either they give some sort of flirty answer (e.g. I’d be a curry because it’s hot and spicy just like me) or they miss the point of the question entirely and just basically tell the man to pick him.
It seems like this is perpetuating the stereotype that men don’t look past a women’s physical appearance when choosing a partner which, believe it or not, is actually untrue.
This won’t stop me watching the show though.
For a slightly more upbeat Valentine’s Day post, read the loveletter I wrote to my kettle last year.