Bachelorette star Kaitlyn Bristowe has had it with everyone's "slut-shaming" remarks after she admitted having sex with a contestant on the show. The 29-year-old former dance instructor has been labeled a "slut," "whore," and every other negative word you can imagine for getting intimate with a man — something no TV Bachelor (or real-live bachelor) in history has ever had to endure. So can we stop pretending it's the 1940s now?
In a promo clip for the reality dating show, which premieres in July, Bristowe doesn't run and hide and fib behind the fact that she is a sexual person — she openly admits that, yes, she had sex with one of the contestants, and so what? The entire point of the show is that a bachelorette and a few bachelors get to know one another and, inevitably, some are going to click. Are we such a Puritan nation that we're going to deny the fact that men and women who aren't married are hooking up in bars and after dates? Why is Bristowe's experience any different?
Anyway, here's what she had to say to PEOPLE about the stupid comments about her that have been posted on message boards and social media:
I knew people were going to get mad at me for kissing. I knew there were going to be magazines with crazy headlines. I prepared myself. I definitely have tough skin, but when people are calling you names like a slut, it hurts. It's been really hard.
More from The Stir: 'Bachelorette' Kaitlyn Bristowe Admits Having Sex on Show -- but With Who? (VIDEO)
I think what I find most upsetting about this is that adult women are the target audience for shows like Bachelorette. I'm going to assume they're also the ones making the majority of these nasty comments about her sexual actions. Why continue to perpetuate silly double standards? Women are just as sexual as men and Bristowe isn't the first or last to have sex on a date.
Do you think Kaitlyn Bristowe is being slut-shamed?
Image via kaitlynbristowe/Instagram