TV dating programs too risque, unreal

While I was supposed to be studying this weekend, I was channel -surfing with my roommate instead. We came to stop on ElimiDate. Like a rubbernecker at a car wreck, my morbid curiosity would not let me look away. This particular episode had Wanna-Be-Hot Dude, with his shirt unbuttoned and his chest shaved, choosing between two girls who were wearing get-ups Mons dancers wouldn’t be caught dead in. Wanna-Be-Hot Dude really cashed in this time, though, as he got to take, not one, but both girls’ things home as souvenirs.

As disgusted as I was at watching women drop their drawers in a public nightclub on television, I was enthralled. So enthralled that I sat through the next show, ShipMates. Normally, I enjoy this show because it’s always fun to watch a bad date get worse. This particular episode caught me off-guard, though, because both people seemed to be really happy. Within the first three minutes of their date, these shipmates had been naked, tied up and spanked. Yes, at the end of the show, they did it. In the shower and on TV.

What the hell is this, I wondered. I’ll be the first to admit that sex is no longer considered special in our society. One-night stands are common, and to be honest, I don’t care if you have a different partner every weekend. Sex is fun; more power to you. But this is ridiculous. Don’t these people have grandmothers who watch TV? And how far will the media go to “entertain” us?

I can’t say these girls have no respect for themselves — being sexual is human nature. But the position they put themselves in is, in essence, a form of prostitution. They’re selling themselves (and their sexuality) just to get this guy to pick them for what will ultimately be a hook-up. No guy is going to want a long-term relationship with a girl he met on a dating show. Those two have as much chance as Pam and Tommy.

And ladies, really. If you saw some dog on TV, just itching to put his hands all over anything that wears a tight skirt, wouldn’t you steer clear if you saw him in a restaurant or on the street? What kind of guy needs a dating show to pick up women? You have to wonder what’s wrong with them if they have to be isolated on a cruise ship and fixed up with a stranger to get a date.

I wish I could get in the heads of these “contestants” and see what goes on up there. Yeah, it’s probably every 20-something guy’s fantasy to have to choose among four hot chicks. But what do you do with her once the cameras are off? Won’t Mom be happy to meet Trixie, a waitress-turned-model who wears see-thru tops and no undies?

I know it’s for entertainment purposes, and I have my doubts as to whether the whole thing is scripted, but it’s still weird. These girls are the epitome of what guys want, and they make guys think that just because they got Trixie’s “charms,” they’re going to get every girl’s. And that’s just wrong. And these guys, who admittedly have nothing going on above the neck, have bodies to die for. It’s all superficial sex that means nothing but humiliation in the long run.

But we sure keep watching, don’t we?

Jessica Higgins is a junior majoring in mass communications.opinionjess@yahoo.com