Every time he gets dumped he goes on and on how he loves to be single.
it’s cos bradley believes in a very toxic type of masculinity and he’s very invested in it. It’s also reflective of his poor self esteem.
to him, being a “man” means being attractive to the opposite sex, being super successful and adhering to traditional gender roles. That’s why his back was up with the barbie movie, and his reflecting that Barbie was “too good” to need to date anyone and didn’t need a relationship. deep down, the idea of women having free agency and choosing who or if to date, doesn’t quite sit right with him. In fact it’s probably very threatening to him.
(it’s also why he fetishes “hard work” and career building as opposed to investing in friendships or expressing healthy emotions etc etc).
his self esteem struggles when he is romantically rejected because he sets so much store in being traditionally “masculine” so can’t understand why women don’t flock to that.
he objectifies women, so doesn’t really fully empathise when they reject them. He doesn’t see their POV, it’s just an attack on him and his masculinity.
And he feels entitled to women. He’s a man, he exhibits manliness. So it’s an affront to him that women would still reject this. It’s denying him of what’s rightfully his. He doesn’t respect women’s agency, because if he did he wouldn’t get so butt hurt.
He goes on camera and insists he wants to be single because he has to protect that fragile, fragile ego of his. Because of course he likes being single? He HAS to reinforce that idea that he can get any girl he wants because it threatens his ego to suggest otherwise.
but it’s pretty telling that most of the women he has dated, seem to get the ick and ditch him fairly early on. Because a guy with a fragile ego and toxic misogynistic outlook with a strong sense of entitlement is icky, a huge turn off and a red flag.
that’s why he dismissed the barbie movie and called it “anti-men”, because misogynistic Ken who was way too needy with barbie, probably felt a little too familiar to him.
if he had a better sense of self, one that wasn’t all about his looks or proving how successful he is, one that empathised with women and enjoyed their company instead of seeing women as objects to be won over… he’d no doubt do much better on the relationship front.
maybe if he’d actually been open to taking on some of the points being made in the barbie movie, he could’ve reflected on the parallels. Like Ken, Bradley needs to stop focusing on achievements (rebranded as “goals”) or validation from women, and just accept himself
