Full disclosure: I've never actually watched an entire episode of The Bachelor. Something about the premise — a bunch of women competing over a single dude — just doesn't do it for me. But romance crops up in the strangest and most unpredictable of places, and there's no wrong way to meet the love of your life. So, my general feeling is: Get it, girls.
That said, there's something about ABC's recently released list of contestants (which Refinery29 received in a press release today) that seems a little off. These women — the oldest of whom, for the record, is 30 — mostly appear to be young professionals angling to fall in love. But a few of them have some kooky gigs next to their names.
For example: Haley and Emily are both 22-year-olds from Las Vegas. They're also sisters who apparently help kick off the first episode by sandwiching Bachelor Ben Higgins in a group hug. ABC lists the two women's professions as simply "twins," which apparently qualifies as an occupation when you're gunning to get a rose from a guy you barely know on national television.
Maybe the network could have done a little bit more digging with these two? Execs managed to suss out that 26-year-old Tiara of Redmond, WA, is a "chicken enthusiast." And while I don't know anything about that career arc, I would venture to say that at least including a detail about someone's personal preference — even if it is a little bizarre — is considerably less demeaning than implying that Haley and Emily are professional twins. Because just saying that these women are twins, as if this that's the defining part of Who They Are and What They Do, reads as a little regressive and, frankly, a little sexist.
We're sure to find that Haley and Emily have more going for themselves than a shared birth date.
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