Love Island- the modern equivalent of the Roman Gladiators?

I admit I watch it. I used to be snobby and refuse to watch it, then maternity leave, sleep deprivation, and brain fog hit, and the escapism of Love Island became too enticing. But once you are in you don’t get out. 100%.

Now the brain fog has lifted I still watch it, but now feel incredibly sad at what I see.

In this year’s cohort, the women are beautiful, intelligent, and have successful careers. And yet what is becoming clearly evident is their self-esteem is wholly based on the validation they receive from the men in the villa. (I use the term loosely, man-child is probably more accurate for most of the men in the villa.)

It is the modern-day equivalent of the gladiators in the ring. Last night we saw how the girls were being manipulated by the produces; promises of protecting the participants’ mental health were clearly forgotten as we saw two women who had been repeatedly rejected and struggle with trust begin to spiral.

The contrast between the women and men was stark. ‘LADS LADS LADS’, ‘banta’, ‘lads’ holiday….’ My eyes are rolling at the thought. This toxic masculinity was evident by the bucket load; we saw the only man in a ‘relationship’ egging on his friends to forget the women they have been ‘building connections’ with and ‘stick it on’ the new women. (Yes, I know, it’s a whole new language. What does ‘moving mad’ even mean? And is anyone else uncomfortable with some of the terminology they use? ‘Stick it on’ sounds alarmingly like rape culture to me.)

We talk about women’s empowerment and talk about how things are getting better but this show highlights how far we still have to go. The low self-esteem of the women is heart-breaking and who is raising the red flag about the gas lighting and the toxicity that goes on? This show is loved by teenage girls, my generation might watch it and roll our eyes, but teenage girls watch it as reality. Time to have those conversations and call this out.