‘MAFS’ Faces Huge Backlash For Promoting A Deadset Misogynistic POS

First it was the news that Bachelorette asshat – and convicted criminal for violent assaultBlake Colman would be returning to the franchise in Bachelor in Paradise.

Now it’s the news that Married At First Sight is using a man who prides himself on his misogynist views to promote its upcoming season.

It begs the question: do television producers even give one shit about women’s safety? Because it’s getting harder and harder to believe the answer is ‘yes’.

Dean [no last name], says in the MAFS promo: “It’s hard to say without sounding sexist or something, but I like a girl that is a girl, she’s girly and she knows that I’m the man and that I’m in charge. Also I want someone that listens to me. I wanna be the alpha male and she needs to respect me as the man. I think that’s a traditional role that still exists in a lot of other countries in the world, and Australia’s lost that.

“A lot of guys are just afraid to be men now, and they’re just getting whipped by their women. I don’t agree with that, I don’t know why that’s happened. I want to bring it back.”

The promo cuts is cut to imply impending doom: clashing noises, Dean blindfolded, and the word ‘obeyed’ in a violent red. It feels like it’s promoting the latest episode of Law and Order: SVU, rather than a trumped up dating show that throws two strangers together to see if they fall in love.

Even if Dean hadn’t explicitly said he likes to influence a level of control over his female partner, he displays danger signs that women have inherently learnt to read (and avoid). Describing himself as wanting to be an ‘alpha male’, for example? Usually a fairly good indicator that this person has some deeply rooted issues about how men and women relate to one another. The dog whistle of “other countries” reveals a belief that Australian women are simply too autonomous, just have too many rights. And equating masculinity with asserting control over others (“a lot of guys are just afraid to be men now”) is an absolute primer for asserting that control with violence.

In other words, this isn’t somebody you’d continue a conversation in a bar with (back away slowly), let alone get pretend-married to. You don’t know if he’d become violent or controlling, but there’s more than enough red flags to not want to stick around and find out.

And yet, MAFS is sending an unsuspecting woman to live with him. The premise of Married At First Sight is right there in the title: the couples don’t meet until the altar.

Just so we’re clear, we’re not suggesting that Dean is going to become violent. Even in the name of ratings, that shit wouldn’t fly. But sending in a woman to essentially be a the flag-waving picador to Dean’s inevitable outburst about women’s place in society and inferiority to men is reprehensible.

He needs therapy to figure out how to treat people – both men and women – with respect, not a starring role in a prime time reality show.

Unsurprisingly, the promo received a huge amount of backlash online.

https://twitter.com/clementine_ford/status/941246691717419008

https://twitter.com/SummerKnightXXX/status/941247558403293185

PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Channel 9 for comment, and will update this story accordingly.

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