(Un)Feminist Guilty Pleasures: Millionaire Matchmaker Edition

To kick off this brand-new series, I’m going to start with the guilty pleasure that spurred it all, the Millionaire Matchmaker. Now we could probably dedicate a whole post just to Bravo and the gamut of shows they have which fall into this category, but for now I’m going to focus on this one.
I love it. I’ve watched every episode, including maybe some re-runs. The show is reality style, focusing on Patti Stranger, the matchmaker herself (she comes from a long line of matchmakers). She specializes in taking really rich men and helping them find hot sexy women–to marry. While almost everything about her service (and the show) is based on sexist and debasing stereotypes about women, she makes it pretty clear that this is not an escort service. She even has some endearing things to say about the matchmaking profession, and how if she could do this for free around the world, she would. By the end of the season I started to almost believe her.
Her manhandling of the men on the show also appeals, as she tries to whip them into the shape she thinks they need to snag a woman. And some of these guys are weird.
In the end it definitely makes my feminist alarm bells ring at high volume, especially when I found the link to the service’s site. Talk about leggy blonds. But it’s fun to be outraged by Patti and her crazy techniques, to poke fun at the awkward bachelors and at this same time hope that someone might find love.
Stay tuned for more (Un)Feminist Guilty Pleasures from the Feministing crew!