Love Island Wins A Bafta - I'm sorry, what?

Love Island. Love or hate - it's here to stay. And, I'll admit, I find the continuous theme of gossip very exciting - but I just can't enjoy watching it anymore. And here's why.

THREE KEY REASONS WHY 'LOVE ISLAND' IS PROBLEMATIC

1. Body Image - there is almost no history of anyone on the show that isn't extremely athletic/hasn't had plastic surgery, and with the show mainly attracting members of the youngest generation; I think this is really problematic. The show reinforces toxic body image and expectations of what you "need" to be desirable. So much so, that even in a past season (2017) the only girl that had not had breast enhancement surgery had some very vulnerable and insecure moments on screen and resolved these by vowing to get the surgery once back in the real world. As well as this, it has come out this season that one of the most spoken about islanders, Meghan, has previously had a great deal of cosmetic surgery. So - in a way - it is good that this incredibley unrealistic beauty standard is been recognised as artificial. But there's the other side of this too. This news has led to people ridiculing her past appearance, whilst also mocking Meghan for having ever done the surgery in the first place. What?! SO - you can't have surgery because that makes you a false and bad person, but you also can't be ugly. Great. Good job, Love Island. Well worth that BAFTA.

2. Treatment of Others - don't get me wrong, sometimes the people on Love Island are revealed to be absolute beans! But often, the people on the show fall into two categories; the users and the abused. And more often than not, this isn't really commented on. I can't help but think of the huge number of 15/16 year olds watching this show - it is such a damaging representation of life on Earth and I'm not cool with it. Betrayal is not an everyday occurrence. And what's more actually - this feeds into body image also. Because of how these people treat one another, and because of how they all look, it is assumed (and frequently spoken about!) that one of the couples will lose their partner due to another islander being more attractive. Literally. WHYY. Why are we teaching young people that aesthetics are the only form of personal value?

3. The Producers Have Found These People - I feel like it's very easy to forget that these people do not represent a generation. The producers have sought out "personalities" and people who are "unafraid to show themselves off". The actions of these people are made dramatic due to editing; knowing they're on television; producers fucking with them and having been specifically chosen to be dramatic and therefore interesting. I worry about older viewers thinking that this represents everyone in my generation and I worry about younger viewers assuming the same and mimicking the behaviours. It's scary stuff.

Anyway. Rant over.

We can all breathe again.

I just felt like this was an important topic to tackle - what with 'Love Island''s sudden prominence in the media and the nation's mind also. It's important to acknowledge that it is flawed, damaging and (occasionally) misogynistic.

But. Most importantly. We should be discussing the above because 'Love Island' has won a BAFTA. Well, shit.

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