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Are The Bachelor’s “cougars” being treated the right way?

By Brittni Miner

THE BACHELOR - "2303" - ColtonÕs search for love starts with laughs, surprises and intense face-offs between the women. The first date of the season has eight hopeful bachelorettes sharing personal stories about their "firsts" - with Colton and a live audience Ð and coached by happily married masters of comedy Megan Mullally ("Will & Grace") and Nick Offerman ("Parks and Recreation"). Hannah B. scores the first one-on-one date on her birthday, including dinner on The Queen Mary. Twelve eager women attend "Camp Bachelor" with a decidedly unorthodox camp counselor, actor and comedian Billy Eichner, who oversees three challenging contests. However, some ill-timed drama the night of the rose ceremony might lead to certain ladies being left without a rose on "The Bachelor," MONDAY, JAN. 14 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Rick Rowell)TRACY
THE BACHELOR - "2303" - ColtonÕs search for love starts with laughs, surprises and intense face-offs between the women. The first date of the season has eight hopeful bachelorettes sharing personal stories about their "firsts" - with Colton and a live audience Ð and coached by happily married masters of comedy Megan Mullally ("Will & Grace") and Nick Offerman ("Parks and Recreation"). Hannah B. scores the first one-on-one date on her birthday, including dinner on The Queen Mary. Twelve eager women attend "Camp Bachelor" with a decidedly unorthodox camp counselor, actor and comedian Billy Eichner, who oversees three challenging contests. However, some ill-timed drama the night of the rose ceremony might lead to certain ladies being left without a rose on "The Bachelor," MONDAY, JAN. 14 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network. (ABC/Rick Rowell)TRACY /
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The Bachelor hasn’t been shy when it comes to talking about older women. But is this the right way to have a conversation about age and dating?

To hear vivacious, confident 23-year-old contestant Demi Burnett tell it, any competitor on The Bachelor who is over 26 might as well be wearing adult diapers. To her—and most assuredly to the slew of other contestants that are between the ages of 22 and 25—these women are ancient creatures, no more a threat to her relationship with Colton than you or I.

While The Bachelor has never treated aging women with too much kindness, this season has been particularly vicious. The term “cougar” is getting thrown around a lot, being applied to women who are a far cry from over the hill. In a surprising turn, even Colton’s age has been reviewed. At the ripe old age of (almost) 27, he was teasingly told he has a “hot dad” bod by contestant Caelynn.

The six contestants aged 27 and older include Sydney (27), Tayshia (28), Angelique (28), Nina (30), Elyse (31) and Tracy (31). They share a room, which contestant Elyse says is called the “cougar den.” Yikes.

Thankfully, most of the “older” women seem to be handling things pretty well. Elyse tackled her age head on during a one-on-one moment with Colton and even used it in her “first” story during a group date. Several of the other women don’t seem to addressing it at all.

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Contestant Tracy, however, paints a different picture. In episode 2, she’s seen crying and completely at a loss when facing off with young villainess Demi. While there’s a strong case to be made that Tracy partly got herself into this situation, it’s still troubling to see the supposed “adult woman” facing off with the younger girl in such a manner. Just check out the Tweet below, which seems to clearly state ABC’s angle:

dark. Next. The Bachelor episode 2: Twitter reacts with Hannah B. jokes

How will this relationship with age affect viewership of The Bachelor? So many of the women who tune in are over 26 (myself included) but how many of them will actually care about how they are being portrayed on screen? Don’t we deserve to get our shot at love?

Sure, in The Bachelor, many women, by necessity, are reduced to stereotypes. There’s the pageant queen, the model, the California girl. But why do all contestants over a certain age get reduced down to a number instead of some other feature? Perhaps this is something more people should be talking about.

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