So it's a rainy Sunday evening at my Mom's place (my wife and I rode into Gulu for a cousin's wedding a couple days earlier) and with not much else to watch on TV we somehow crash land on NTV's Be My Date. It's my first time to watch it and although I didn't expect much I didn't expect what I got.
Within five minutes of the opening credits I find myself going from mild amusement to slight distaste to utter disgust. I could have just changed the channel of course but wanting to see just how bad it could get I task myself with watching it to the very end.
Thirty minutes and countless groan inducing moments later and I can say without any compulsion that Be My Date is by far one of the most disturbingly sexist and superficial pieces of garbage I have watched in a very long time. If you've never sat down to watch this drivel it literally forces young women barely out of their teens to parade themselves one at a time (to a reggae dub of Adele's "Hello" no less) before a group of six hungry looking men of about the same age who are then forced to make a snap decision on whether they want to go out with the girl based solely on her physical appearance.
Each guy stands behind a podium with a green lit face and if they don't like what they see they can just push a button and the green light turns to red showing not only the girl but any one who's watching that basically the chick ain't worth shit.
But it doesn't end there, far from it. The poor girl is then forced to stand there while each guy who just rejected her goes ahead to tell not only her but the whole of Uganda what it is about her that they don't like. Most likely tricking viewers into casting stones of their own.
Oba she's too light-skinned. Or she's too short. Or she's not "portable" enough. Or maybe she's too skinny. Or too tall. Or too dark. It doesn't really matter what it is because it all boils to the saying the same thing; chick, you're not good enough.
Like what the fuck? Why are we allowing this? What do we think this does to a girl's self esteem? Or influence how men look at and treat women as well as choose partners? Do we even take the time to think about these things? Do the people who make this trash?
Granted, an attempt to counter act this disgusting and inexcusable form of objectification is made by letting the girl then choose who SHE wants to date from the remaining green lights (if any) but to me this is a case of trying to put a plaster on a gun shot wound. Not only that, it objectifies the young men as well. The entire process reduces the uniquely human desire and search for genuine connection to a nationally broadcasted booty call service.
Listen, if I sound a little angry about all of this that's because I am. Livid in fact. And the truth is, I think you should be too. We all should. And to NTV; come on people, surely you can do better than this. You have a responsibility here, what's happening?
