• History

The Surprisingly Feminist Roots of The Bachelorette

3 minute read

The season of The Bachelorette that kicks off on Monday night is the show’s 11th—but its precursor is much older. It was 50 years ago, in late 1965, that ABC premiered a show they called, simply, The Dating Game.

The concept was straightforward: a female contestant is presented with a bunch of suitors, and she chooses which one wins. The stakes were far lower than they are on The Bachelorette—the winner got to go on a date on ABC’s dime—but the concept was quite similar. And, at the time, such a premise was strange enough to merit this dismissive review from TIME:

THE DATING GAME proves that when big ideas die, they go on television. Its spirit is borrowed from Sex and the Single Girl, which enjoyed a huge sale at book counters and furnished the title for a moneymaking movie. For TV, the screen has become a gigantic keyhole through which viewers are invited to watch a series of career-type girls snare a date for the night. Out of girl-sight, three bachelors—at least one a celebrity—parry questions from the husband hunters. Samples: “How would you go about telling your date that she had a dress that was maybe too short or too tight?” “They can’t make a dress that’s too short or too tight.” “What’s your most favorite activity with the weaker sex?” “How intimate may I get?” “Well, let’s make it your second most favorite activity with the weaker sex.”

But, while the magazine wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the prospect of such televised foolishness, it’s worth noting that it traced the show’s roots to a more substantial cultural moment.

The 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl (which became a 1964 movie and led to a 1965 follow-up, Sex and the Office) by Helen Gurley Brown was a sensation when it was published, and not long before The Dating Game‘s premiere its author had been named editor of Cosmopolitan. Today, aspects of the book’s “big idea” may seem retrograde—its career-girl subject is still focused on men, and her version of leaning in often relies on her feminine wiles—but it was progressive in acknowledging that marriage no longer had to be the first priority for a young woman. She could have jobs, have boyfriends, do what she wanted to do, the way a young man had long been able to—and she could still find a husband later, if she decided that was right for her. “It’s not a study on how to get married,” Brown was quoted saying, “but how to stay single in superlative style.”

So while The Dating Game may have been silly, TIME posited that its format and just-for-fun attitude owed a debt to the groundbreaking book.

A full 50 years later, it’s ironic that the highest-profile descendant of that 1960s lark is the one most focused on marriage. The Bachelorette has been taken to task for its attitude toward women and their sexuality—for example, when a contestant last season was called a slut for sleeping with a candidate whom she later rejected—where The Dating Game was part of a seismic shift in the opposite direction. As Season 11 gets underway, it’s clear that TIME’s 1965 reviewer was more correct than he or she could have known: if the big idea in question went to television and died, it’s now rolling over in its grave.

Here’s What a Bachelorette Looked Like in 1950

Bride's four showers. With this practical haul Peggy Cross is set to keep house.
Caption from LIFE. Bride's four showers. With this practical haul Peggy Cross is set to keep house.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Cleaning mitt that looks like strange tribal headdress was the first gift Peggy opened at her cleaning shower. Friends competed with fancy wrappings.
Caption from LIFE. Cleaning mitt that looks like strange tribal headdress was the first gift Peggy opened at her cleaning shower. Friends competed with fancy wrappings.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Peggy wearing one of her gifts.
Peggy wearing one of her gifts.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Peggy testing out her new vacuum cleaner.
Peggy testing out her new vacuum cleaner.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Headshot of the bride-to-be.
Headshot of the bride-to-be.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Peggy trying on clothes from one of her showers.
Peggy trying on clothes from one of her showers.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Shower guests signing a book.
Shower guests signing a book.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Peggy and Fiance Steve, brining home all but the bacon from the kitchen shower, need only an apartment and groceries to set up housekeeping.
Caption from LIFE. Peggy and Fiance Steve, bringing home all but the bacon from the kitchen shower, need only an apartment and groceries to set up housekeeping.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com