Jury’s Out on the City’s Most Eligible Bachelor

As 30 Dates grows in media presence, I get sent a lot of PR approaches.  Every day, I get anything up to 20 press releases – from new restaurants, to dating site announcements, to invites to events.  To be honest, in recent weeks, I’ve had little chance to reply to any.  As the UK Dating Awards loomed closer and closer, the time I normally reserve for blogging (when I’m parked in front of Hollyoaks in the small hours of the night) were spent making table plans, checking insurance documents, and writing scripts.

With the Awards over, I rummaged through my inbox once again, worried I might have missed something.  And that was when I came across ‘The City’s Most Eligible Bachelor’ – a new venture by Nana Wereko-Broby the matchmaker behind the agency Social Concierge.

Hmm..

It’s a funny concept.

You see, on the one hand, the all girls’ school, Just-17 reading school girl in me loves the concept.  The girl who read Top 100s of famous men, and stuck their posters on my bedroom walls …

But on the other hand, something about the idea just makes me feel overwhelmingly uncomfortable.

It’s funny isn’t it … in 2014, in a world of equality, where women have fought tooth and nail to be recognised for anything other than their looks, if someone were to launch a quest for the Most Eligible Single Girl, some eyebrows would certainly raise.  No matter how much you tried to spin it, people would comment that it was sexist, and degrading, and that the women were being treated like pieces of meat.  And yet when you look at men in the same way, most people just shrug it off.  But is that really fair?  Isn’t it just as archaic to be judging men simply on their looks and wealth?

The whole concept of the ‘bachelor’ is an interesting one.  It’s always been a far more glamorous expression than ‘spinster’ (and frankly a far nicer sounding word!)  As I constantly moan about, being a single guy in London is far more acceptable than being a single girl.  And the idea of an eligible bachelor is nothing new.  It’s a phrase that Prince Harry inherited from his brother, the moment K-Middy came on the scene with any force, and it’s one bandied around regularly when the cast of Made in Chelsea are on screen.

To put the Most Eligible Bachelor competition into context, dating agency Social Concierge have teamed up with the banking magazine Square Mile … which explains why the ‘most eligible bachelor’ must work in either banking or a related field.  Though I have to say, I find that requirement rather ironic.  As someone who worked in banking for three years …. yes bankers have money, but they don’t have any time!  And they rarely make stellar partners!  Perhaps the word ‘eligible’ should be replaced by ‘affluent’??? In 2014, eligibility has a lot less to do with someone’s bank balance (us ladies can fend for ourselves after all!).

I can see the motivation behind the idea.  Not only is it a great PR piece for the magazine and Social Concierge, it also helps drive lots of guys to the dating agency (and the kind of guys able to pay the £6k annual platinum membership!).  One of the biggest struggles in the dating world is always attracting men to new ideas.  Us girls will always freely chat about dating, and try new sites and events, without the same awkwardness which men often attach to the same things.

The winner will win the aforementioned £6k annual membership, which guarantees them 2 dates a month, an hour with Nana each month, and someone to book bars and restaurants for them.  I guess the question is, if the winner is that great, does he really need those things?

Perhaps we’ll find out when the winner is revealed in January!

If you want to nominate a man between the age of 21 and 39, who works in finance or a related field, check out Social Concierge’s website HERE.

Entries close on January 1st.

Miss Twenty-Nine xxx