Lila Reidy (she/her) is a junior double majoring in English and gender, sexuality and women studies and an associate news editor at The Flat Hat. She teaches yoga and is a member of Kappa Delta sorority at the College. She also loves coffee, camping and thrifting.
The views expressed in the article are the author’s own.
Reality television star Taylor Frankie Paul has been in the news headlines lately for the last-minute cancellation of her “The Bachelorette” season’s debut. The reason “The Bachelor” franchise pulled her season so abruptly was due to a newly released video where she attacks her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen. The video shows her throwing chairs, one of which hits her sleeping daughter, and when asked to stop for the sake of the child’s safety, she is heard verbally assaulting Mortensen. She is intoxicated in the video and acting incredibly unsafe around her children and boyfriend.
Paul is famous for her lifestyle and parenting content on TikTok and stars in the reality series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” She is the first Bachelorette to have a criminal record.
Let’s back up to 2023, when the incident occurred. Paul was arrested and pled guilty to one count of aggravated assault, according to Salt Lake City Fox affiliate. By taking a plea agreement, two counts of domestic violence, a class-A misdemeanor charge of child abuse and a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief were dismissed.
During the filming of her season, Paul was on probation for this incident, confining her to the United States. All of this seemed to be okay to the “Bachelor” franchise, but the resurgence of the violent video was the last straw for the producers.
I am not denying that Taylor Frankie Paul is in the wrong, but we have seen men walk away from incidents just like this, with just as many fans as before. Within the “Bachelor” franchise itself, Season 23 lead Colton Underwood had a restraining order filed against him by one of his contestants, Cassie Randolph. Underwood was allegedly stalking and harassing her, tracking her vehicle and arriving unprompted at her home. Interestingly, the restraining order was soon dismissed.
Underwood has come out as gay and is rising to more fame as a recent contestant of the reality series “The Traitors.” How has he emerged from this drama uncanceled and unscathed? Is this evidence of a double-standard between men and women? This comparison holds a startlingly similar situation, but a wide contrast in results from both the “Bachelor” executives and the public.
Stepping outside of “Bachelor” ‘paradise,’ we can see this in more mainstream celebrities, too. In 2009, Chris Brown was charged with felony assault after showing physical violence against Rihanna. He pled guilty to the charge and was on probation for five years. This did not stop him from continuing to write and produce music, building up his following. Brown even tweeted in 2010, “Boyz run from [their] mistakes. Men learn from them!!!”
But it seems he has to fall in with the former group, as in 2012, Brown was involved in multiple altercations in a New York City nightclub, putting him on probation once again. The list of his felonies is seemingly endless, with incidents filed almost every year.
In 2025, Brown was arrested for striking his producer with a bottle of tequila multiple times. Flash forward to today, he is on tour for his newest album “11:11,” with tickets averaging $200. I wonder what he’s wishing for on that angel number?
This further proves that men and women are not held to the same standards in their actions. While, sure, people disapproved of Chris Brown’s repeated violence, he still isn’t canceled. Or at least canceled enough to not currently be on tour, even after 17 years’ worth of felonies. He was intoxicated and threatening people’s safety in many of these accounts, just like Paul. Why was Paul so easily canceled and not Brown? She should be, but is it because of her gender that her opportunities were so quickly pulled out from under her? It shouldn’t be a question of either/or, but of both receiving penalties and decreased support.
Another example of this is country singer Zach Bryan. Bryan previously served in the U.S. Navy, where he met his ex-wife, Rose Madden, in 2020. They later divorced in 2021, with Bryan serving divorce papers to her while she was deployed. Still, he continued to tour and produce music, growing his fanbase to over 8 million on social media platforms.
Most recently, Bryan had a very public breakup with Barstool Sports’ Brianna LaPaglia in late 2024, where she ranted about their toxic relationship on her podcast, cataloging him cheating on her and being emotionally abusive. According to her, Bryan offered her $12 million to sign a non-disclosure agreement about their relationship. This does not seem like a thing that a non-guilty person would do. There is an emerging pattern in how he treats women, with these only being his most popular offenses.
Yet Bryan and his music continue to rise to fame: his most recent tour’s tickets average exceeding $500. A general consensus of fans is that his private life is not the public’s business, saying on Reddit that the focus on his relationships is too invasive.
I disagree. If we are holding Paul to this standard in her personal life, which, don’t get me wrong, we should, all of these men should be similarly canceled and dismissed from the public focus for doing ultimately the same thing.
These double standards for men and women are pervasive in different ways throughout the world. While this is an example on a celebrity scale, these standards exist on campus, too. Make sure that you’re holding your male friends to the same standards academically, socially and emotionally because they should be capable of meeting them. All that to say, yeah, Taylor Frankie Paul, you’re in the wrong, but why don’t you have company?
