The Bachelorette is trying something new — it's actively trying to be feminist. Or, at least, that's what the Bachelorette "You Don't Own Me" cover promo with Hannah B. seems to be trying to evoke.
The Bachelorette's new favorite song, covered by singer Grace (below), is a powerful anthem with lyrics like, "Don't tell me what to do/And don't tell me what to say/Please, when I go out with you/Don't put me on display." And while we admire the show's effort to show a new side of beauty queen Hannah B. (who's actually spends more time as a professional interior designer IRL than she does with a crown on), the series has got a long way to go before it lives up to the feminist empowerment it's using to promote Hannah's season.
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Sure, the fact that The Bachelorette puts a woman in the driver's seat does make it marginally more empowering than The Bachelor, but that only takes the franchise so far. In fact, Hannah's own Bachelor journey was far from a feminist triumph. While the series is now focusing on her ability to shape her own narrative (which is great!), The Bachelor originally brought her to our attention by pitting her against fellow former-pageant queen Caelynn Miller-Keyes for much of the first few episodes. While they eventually resolved their drama with a quick and easy conversation, watching the two fight and yell for multiple episodes felt regressive. Promoting that storyline set the franchise back years — and that's a tall order for a series that literally exists to make extra drama out of women competing for the same man, which is already a pretty messed up situation.
The series that brought us Hannah B. is also a series that does a yearly Women Tell All special, which is very obviously engineered to devolve into petty name-calling and vicious fights centering on the lead dude. The cast of these shows are often filled with intelligent, interesting women who deserve better than to be "put on display" (a handy lyric from the song the franchise is now using as promotional bait) in an episode designed to bring out the worst in themselves. And while we're at it, the two-on-one date is a smaller version of the Women Tell All, and it should also go. (Yes, The Bachelorette puts these traditions on the men as well, and it's not really a great experience for them, either.)
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And sure, removing some tried and true traditions like WTA and two-on-one dates would shake things up, but there are so many easy ways to replace the gaps they'd leave. So many of these women leave the show with lifelong friends, why not find a way for that narrative to shine? You could even still call it Women Tell All, but just produce it to be less combative and more of a behind-the-scenes extra rather than a fighting ring.
Also, if the woman is supposedly so in charge of her own journey on The Bachelorette, why don't we have her be the one to propose? It would eliminate the awkward moment that happens when the runner-up proposes and gets shot down, and it puts the Bachelorette's fate in her own hands. And remember, Lorelai Gilmore already broke that TV barrier years ago, so it's not even that uncomfortable for a mainstream TV show to give it a go.
In the promo, Grace's "You Don't Own Me" cover plays while Hannah B. sheds her beauty queen sash and crown and discards her skirt. She's left standing in a killer jumpsuit while the catchphrase, "Think you know her? Think again" is shown on screen. But it takes more than a quick change into pants to transform a series. (Although it should be noted that the pants are apparently a radical act within the confines of the franchise: Former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay wanted to wear a tux during limo arrivals on her season, but ended up going "traditional" with a dress.)
And look. We're talking about this show because we still watch it, despite all its flaws. The Bachelorette is very good at what it does, which is create drama and must-see television while hopefully getting an engagement out of the deal, but let’s not pretend it’s something that it isn't. Despite this new, empowering marketing scheme, The Bachelorette is the thing that owns Hannah's narrative and the franchise has already put her on display when it set up a contrived fight situation between her and Caelynn on The Bachelor. Don't get us wrong, we'll still be watching on May 13 — because feminists don't have to only watch empowering TV — but we won't forget how Hannah got here in the first place.
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