'The Bachelor' contestant Rachael Kirkconnell and the hypocrisy of 'girls will be girls'
A white woman's racism? The forgivable acts of a 'girl.' Black girls don't get that leeway.
Rachael Kirkconnell has become one of the early lead contenders to win this season of "The Bachelor."Craig Sjodin / ABC; MSNBC
Feb. 16, 2021, 6:45 PM UTC
Earlier this summer amid the global re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement and a nationwide reckoning of anti-Black systemic racism, ABC named Matt James the first Black male lead of the network’s hit dating franchise “The Bachelor.”
Only a few days into the new season, a slew of allegations of racism against contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, a graphic designer from Cumming, Georgia, began snowballing on social media. The resulting mess that’s distracted from James’ historic season has sparked an overdue reckoning within the 19-year-old franchise itself. At the same time, it’s reinforced a “girls will be girls” mentality that exclusively provides cis-passing white girls and women with a pass for bad, often inexcusable racist behavior.