Why We Failed Jenn Tran
design: Revati Mahurkar
The First Asian-American Bachelorette deserved better.
by Mia Rosenzweig ★ September 22, 2024
From hyper-sexualized to blatantly unattractive and weird, the media has a bad habit of misrepresenting Asian women. It was so difficult to find an Asian-American role model in the media because all the roles in Hollywood were aggressively stereotypical. Stereotyping in the media pushes a false narrative that Asian Americans can only have a few personas. In the past five years, Asian cultural awareness has exponentially grown. From K-pop to Anime, Asian culture is finally getting the recognition it deserves! As an Asian-American, I was ecstatic to hear Jenn Tran was going to be the next Bachelorette. The Bachelorette is always a beautiful and outgoing person, I thought Jenn was perfect for this role. Unfortunately, social media disagreed and traumatized Jenn with hate. Headlines were flooded that she was "the worst Bachelorette in history.”
Jenn had the opportunity to become the first Asian-American Bachelorette in history, and everyone’s first reaction was how they wished it was someone else. Despite the extreme criticism, she decided to do it, because she never had anyone who looked like her be the main character. While navigating all the new attention, the two women Jenn became close friends with (from the previous Bachelor season) went on a podcast and confirmed they were supposed to be the next Bachelorette all while she was being called “the worst bachelorette in history.” This added to the already extreme hate she was receiving and no one defended her. Jenn’s ex-fiancé, Devon broke up with her over a 15-minute phone call after professing his love for her a few weeks prior. While The Bachelorette was airing, Jenn was receiving an absurd amount of hate but also, had to secretly go through a traumatic breakup because the show’s ending wasn’t out yet. She sacrificed her well-being for people's entertainment. Shortly after the season, multiple contestants unfollowed her and followed other girls who were alleged to be the bachelorette, including Jenn’s ex-fiance. Devon and Sam M. proceeded to go clubbing with the alleged Bachelorette and he confessed he wanted the Bachelorette to be Maria or Daisy. It made viewers wonder why these men led Jenn on for so long if they weren’t open to seriously dating her.
I believe that the level of backlash Jenn received was due to racism. Countless Bachelorettes before Jenn made poor choices, yet Jenn is the only one who has been scrutinized to this extent. Jenn has dealt with racism, sexism, and overall disrespect from the entire franchise and fan base for months. She has been called unattractive by the Bachelorette contestants and by fans. One of the contestants on Jenn’s season, Sam M, openly admitted that Jenn was “not his first choice” It is disappointing to know how comfortable Sam was with publicly embarrassing Jenn and pushing the narrative that she wasn’t good enough. In all honesty, this was extremely traumatizing to watch.
As an Asian-American who grew up in a predominantly white environment, I always felt second best to white women. Watching this was like watching my biggest fear: being rejected by millions of people because of how I looked. It broke my heart to see Jenn ridiculed on national TV by having the public and the entire Bachelor nation tell her she was their last choice. It played into a lot of WOC’s insecurities that they are less desired and less worthy of being loved.
In my opinion, this entire mess is the producer’s fault! The group of men they chose were picked for Daisy and Maria. It felt like they set Jenn up for failure because the entire cast was expecting another woman. During After The Final Rose episode, Jenn was forced to rewatch her proposal night and was asked to elaborate on how Devon broke her heart, while he was sitting right next to her. When the host asked Jenn if she wanted to watch it, Jenn responded in tears “Do I have a choice?” I believe production should have played the proposal scene and then had The Bachelorette come out, as they have done many times in the past. Production let Joey (last season's Bachelor) skip the entire proposal scene because it was too emotional. Jenn uncontrollably cried as she watched herself propose to a man who broke up with her only after a month of filming.
ABC exploited Jenn for views and ratings instead of prioritizing her mental health. A quote that stuck out to me was when the Bachelor host Jesse Palmer said, “At least you're a strong powerful woman.”. WOC are sick of being reconciled that we are strong, independent, and powerful. Instead of being respected and loved. WOC always have to be on guard because they don’t know if men are attracted to their race. In contrast, if they are attracted to them, then they’re forced to wonder if it’s because of a fetish. Dating as a WOC is an exhausting process.
What's next for Jenn? ABC must have known they f*cked up because she was added as a last-minute addition to Dancing With the Stars. I truly am sending all of my love to her and I hope she heals from this. I hope everyone offers Jenn the overdue apology she deserves. Navigating dating as a WOC is extremely difficult.