Unpopular opinion. I know. Or is it?
The shift in reaction to this year’s season of The Bachelor’s sex siren, Abbie Chatfield, has been quite dramatic since the show aired. She has gone from a “love-to-hate-her” one-dimensional reality TV show character to a real-life human, standing up for the rights of women and against online bullying… and I am ALL ABOUT IT.
Now, did we want a 23-year-old reality TV contestant to be the one who calls out the worst of societies behaviour and challenges societal norms? No, but we sure as hell need her too!
And here is why.
Society needs antagonists, even antagonists whom they don’t particularly like. Throughout history, humanity has made shifts forward via people who have refused to stand for the status quo, and it’s usually people whom they don’t want to hear it from. It’s these people that force society to look deep and hard at itself when they challenge what others accept.
Example A: The right for women to vote. Did men want to receive the message that women deserved a political voice? No. Did they want to hear it from a bunch of loud, disruptive women neglecting their families for the greater good? Defs not! Did women let that stop them from making a change and shifting society towards equality? Hell no!
In the same manner (granted on a smaller and far less significant scale, but go with me here), Abbie is standing for her right to simply exist and be herself… A sexually active, non-size zero, single female. And on all fronts, she has been attacked. She was villainized for her unbridled attitude toward exercising her right to indulge in sexual behaviour with Bachelor, Matt. She was ripped apart online for daring to go to the beach, without fake tan, in a bikini whilst sporting cellulite with what is a clinically healthy body (although not socially acceptable, apparently? FYI. She is a size 8). And she has also now been shamed for already dating someone after the show, even though no one has had the same objections when Matt, literally five minutes after dumping her on national TV, began dating someone else?
The girl is offending society on all levels and the best bit? She literally gives ZERO FUCKS. She is publicly calling this bullying and judgement out for what it is… shameful, outdated, and disgusting, which I find pretty impressive from a woman in her early twenties.
Is Abbie the perfect heroine we all probably hoped for? No. But is she helping change society for the better with authenticity and courage? Yes. And if you ask me, that’s pretty bloody heroic.
So let’s all be inspired by her message and be a cheerleader of others, choose kindness and keep our unsolicited advice and judgement of others to ourselves hey. I promise it will make you, and the rest of the world happier.
Sending my love, always…
Kim xx
