Bachelor Oh Bachelor

When I came across CLEO, I dumped my high school flick magazine for it in an instant. IT seemed more interesting and for a girl dealing with puberty, CLEO seemed to have all the beauty and life answers for me. From the right make up product to the latest fashion, to the women tell it all sections.. CLEO seemed "dirtier" than Galaxy or Youthquake.

Do i still buy CLEO these days? Yes i actually do. Simply because it is cheaper than most magazines, and also for the sake of the unfaltering loyalty i had for it, which brings back childhood memories. Anyone who reads CLEO always waits for the annual Bachelor addition. The first magazine to feature 50 "ooh la la" men who are "bachelors". I mean, any single girl have had that fantasy of being seen with one of those hunks. However, these days, it is hard to see it in the same light as i did donkey years ago.

Having "grown up", the bachelors edition seemed like a cheap gimmick over time. What i fail to understand is why people are willing to be of this gimmick. I was pretty shocked when i looked up the word bachelor. No i'm not an imbecile, and everyone knows what a bachelor means. But as dictated by the dictionary, a bachelor simply means "an unmarried man", no more, no lesser in definition. I always thought that it would be only politically correct to call yourself an "eligible bachelor" if you were single, available, and thriving.

When i see the bachelor's edition these days, I scour the pages for familiar faces of friends that have made it to the pages of fame. Not quite because i am proud of them, rather more of trying to catch them at the act, of denying it at all cost that they have a significant other half.

Half or more of these bachelors that make it to the bachelor edition each year are attached or in a serious relationship. The other half who aren't, are either losers, or sorry to say " not eligible" material. I am quite certain that the quality of bachelors were better before. Some have even made it to the edition three times in a row for three consecutive years, and have not won!! Oh boy, thats a smack to that self esteem.

The question is, is it really right or remotely fair for them to be part of the bachelor's edition. Firstly, they are misleading other women to believe that they are simply available, even if they are attached. Secondly, they are not doing their other halves any justice by parading themselves in roadshows being screamed out by thousands of girls, and advertising their availability when clearly, they are not. It's almost as if they are keeping their options open. Thirdly, calling themselves an eligible bachelor and advertising their faces in a magazine, is not like being part of Miss World or Miss Universe. It is being part of the male "Playboy Mansion". What is my personal take on this, I think that being part of an eligible bachelor campaign is likened to prostituting themselves in a masked glorious light.

While many choose to not divulge their marital status, and that i admit is a universal right, it is however not right as well to claim to be single if they are not otherwise.

Charm comes from silent confidence. Not the balls to appear on cover pages claiming that you are what you're simply not.