millionaire matchmaker

Shows like The Bachelor and Millionaire Matchmaker not only reduce romance to opulent displays of consumerism and gender conformity, but they distract us from actual consideration of the role of class in relationships and the need to negotiate those differences on a real, ongoing, interpersonal level.

On this Bravo reality show, Patti Stanger, the President and CEO of "The Millionaire's Club" finds and matches stereotypically attractive women to rich dudes who can't seem to find a "decent" woman to have a relationship with. Basically, she's a pimp. She has rules about the couple not having sex until they are "committed", a sort of bizarrely puritanical twist that doesn't make it any less creepy.