Why Love Island should be cancelled
I know it’s great entertainment. But hear me out.
For those of you reading this that have no idea what Love Island is (where have you been?!), it is essentially a (trashy) reality television show, where male and female contestants enter the villa single, and hope to ‘find love’ (or a brand deal, LOL). Once contestants are coupled up, a series of challenges are thrown at them, to ‘test’ relationships. The couple who remain in the show the longest by votes from the public win a cash prize of £50,000. This is an ITV show, and can therefore be watched on the ITVX hub.
Let’s be honest, this is one of the most entertaining reality TV shows around. There’s nothing better than watching people on the TV have more drama and stress than you do! But aside from all the positives, I believe that there are some serious negative consequences, which aren’t talked about enough.
Islanders spend the whole time parading around in the villa in skimpy bikinis and board shorts. They are selected to come on the show based on how ‘sexy’ they look and how ‘in shape’ their bodies are. In the past, they have said that they are inclusive, and have selected girls who are ‘bigger built’ and ‘have curves’, however this is not a true reflection of the general public! Glamour magazine suggested that the average size of women in the UK is 16, however the Love Island producers are yet to bring a woman on the show over size 12! This unrealistic representation of body image is guaranteed to have a damaging effect on what society and young girls think of as ‘natural’ or ‘standard’.
At least ‘Love is Blind’ encourages finding love through genuine connections and personality traits over how sexy someone’s body is! Of course a large part of finding somebody attractive is physical attraction, but more should be based off personality and how well you get along with your partner and find common interests, surely?
So why is nobody talking about how toxic this TV culture is?
In my opinion, the hit show can rightly be accused of being ‘fatphobic’. The under-representation of people of different sizes contributes to the exclusivity and restrictiveness of society, making people feel outcast and alienated, where in reality, being the size of the islanders is NOT the norm.
The sad truth is that if there was a version of Love Island which was inclusive where the islanders were all shapes and sizes, people just wouldn’t watch it! A large part of the show is being entertained by how ‘sexy’ the newest bombshell was, and how fit the girls look when they’re working out in a bikini under the sun.
So what’s the solution? Is there one? Unless we all agree that these beauty standards are toxic and completely ridiculous (which isn’t ever going to happen), then Love Island will forever be one of the biggest contributor to unrealistic beauty standards, and depreciating self-worth of young people.
Good luck to future generations, is all I can say!
