Did George FM go too far in its interview with Naz?

OPINION: There was a conversation on Twitter yesterday about The Bachelor. No surprises there. This one chilled me.

Someone was complaining that people harp on about the pitfalls of the show when there are "real" problems with sexism and violent attitudes towards women in New Zealand.

I think the point was that The Bachelor is harmless and fun. That it's an innocent show that helps to pass the evening and its presence in the media landscape is completely unrelated to other issues that play out around us in this country.

Chris Skelton/FAIRFAX NZ Bachelor contestant Naz talks about her time on the TV series.

What bulls***.

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OK, the show doesn't endorse violence, and yes, each contestant has made the choice to go on the show, knowing what the premise of it is.

But putting such crap on TV that is degrading to women sends out a message to young people, to all people, that is backward and sexist and wrong. Women in the show get called girls.

They are paraded around in flimsy dresses and spend months in a house obsessing over one guy. The guy has all the power and they are made to look like pathetic, subhuman as he walks in amongst them and ultimately decides who will get the rose each week. God, what I'd love to tell Jordan Mauger he could do with his stupid rose.

Over the weeks I haven't watched, and I find it staggering that people do when there are dozens of other shows that are actually entertaining and easily accessible. In fact, I would rather spend the evening picking leaves out of a drainpipe in the rain than sit through that show. But I don't live under a rock. I have seen the headlines.

The one about Mauger sending contestants home if they didn't spend the night with him was an example of the kind of crap that comes out of the show. What a guy and what a message.

Last year, the s*** hit the fan when Dom Harvey screen grabbed The Bachelor contestant Crystal Chenery kicking her legs up in a dance move during Dancing with the Stars. Today we reached a new low. In some ways it's the conversations that emerge as a result of these shows that show the depth of inequality and male dominance in this country.

In an interview with George Fm hosts Thane Kirby and Kara Rickard this morning, Bachelor contestant Naz Khanjani was treated like nothing but a piece of meat.

"Were you drunk, an idiot, or heavily edited," asked munter Kirby in regards to Khanjani's behaviour at the season finale. I'd love to ask the same question of him.

Kirby then probed about whether Khanjani and Mauger had slept together.

The camera zoomed into Khanjani's breasts and stayed on them.

"Is he well hung?" asked Kirby in regards to Mauger. Khanjani awkwardly looked off screen.

"Did you orgasm?" asked Kirby.

"Excuse me," said Khanjani, "I will keep those comments to myself."

"I've gotta ask you one more difficult question," said Kirby. At this point it's obvious and inevitable what he is going to say. Rock bottom has been hit.

"Real or fake?"

"Some girls do have big titties," he said.

"I would love to be the rebound."

Quality radio, that.

I don't know what Khanjani came away feeling after that encounter. She may not have taken offence, but she should have. I do. I am insulted for her. I am insulted as a woman that The Bachelor exists.

And it scares me that it breeds conversations like the one on George today. That the promotional headline on the station's Facebook page reads 'Did you orgasm?' Kirby gets personal with Naz from The Bachelor NZ, and that we have a laugh and think its ok to be so blokey and offensive.

The Bachelor brings out the worst in our culture and holds it high, to be celebrated. I don't think it's harmless fun and it shouldn't be ok for shock jocks to act like misogynists and get away with it.

If that kind of interview is the level of what we have to offer on mainstream radio and if it's indicative of the mood we have towards women in this country, then I think we have some serious issues and from what I can tell, it's only getting worse.

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