A sociologist warns that watching 'Bachelor in Paradise' has serious, real world implications
Between Rachel Lindsay getting her engagement ring and reuniting with all the Bachelorette contestants last week, ABC aired a preview of Bachelor in Paradise, which has its season premiere on Monday night.
“This is 30 minutes into Paradise and Corinne and DeMario are already having a blast, making out with each other in the pool,” a teaser, featuring Corinne Olympios and and DeMario Jackson, showed. Cut to concern from producers, with one even saying to the camera, “Shut it down, cut it, cut it.”
This tense scene, seemingly filmed in June, following reports of sexual misconduct on the set. Production was suspended on the Bachelor franchise’s summer spinoff show just a week in after a producer reportedly brought forward allegations through a third-party complaint — a kind of legal suit frequently brought forth when someone believes they have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace but was not the direct recipient of that harassment — that said Olympios, 24, was too intoxicated to consent to oral sex and other sexual acts that took place between her and Jackson, 30.
Production was only halted for a short period of time after Warner Bros. — the parent company of the Bachelor in Paradise production — conducted its own investigation and found that there was no misconduct, sexual or otherwise.
And now, despite — and possibly because of — the reported incident, ABC is revealing what “actually happened,” and promoting it in this splashy, tell-all way. Yet, as Sharyn Potter, PhD, MPH, a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, tells Yahoo Beauty, the network using the occurrence to draw in viewers “diminishes the fact that a serious crime allegedly took place.”
Potter, who’s also the executive director of research for Prevention Innovations Research Center, also notes that the marketing of Bachelor in Paradise around the idea that “there was an alleged act of sexual misconduct but that’s been proven false and so the fun can continue” vibe has serious, real world implications. One of those, she says, is effectively “giving a green light for more egregious behavior.”
Another potential consequence is bystanders feeling less inclined to speak up because their actions might not result in anything. “Some of the cast members on the show reported feeling uncomfortable with what they saw and some of the producers did too. The promotion trailers convey the message that actions of the active bystanders, in other words, the people who saw something wrong and tried to intervene, don’t count,” she says.
Yet, Potter explains, her research has shown that people intervene in preventing sexual violence when they have the knowledge to identify the situation — and then feel comfortable and confident enough to act on it. Which means that all who opt to watch this season of Paradise can feel free to consider themselves active bystanders too. Anyone watching this season, Potter says, can still partake in “watching it responsibly and choose to watch it critically. Tweet about it. Call out the unacceptable behaviors. Let the producers know you’re watching.”
Because, Potter emphasizes, the narrative that needs to not be forgotten in the consumption of this season of Bachelor in Paradise is that the show represents just one instance where “people were brave enough to come forward” when they saw something that made them uncomfortable when it came to sexual violence. The trick now, she says, is make the story of this season “not the story about the sexual assault, but about what it was like for these people to come forward in this setting.” She adds, “We don’t know what happened to the bystanders and what exactly they saw, but we know the situation was egregious enough that they felt forced to say something.”
Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty.
