Single black female: Love Island and the problem with race and dating

dowie

dowie

dowie

Caporegime
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(I don't watch this show btw..)

Once again it seems that this groundbreaking, educational TV show has highlighted yet another social issue. I did wonder if this would happen when I saw the news coverage of the contestants previously back when Dr Chad didn't get picked as he simply wasn't as "alpha" as the super chads on the show. Sure enough the black female contestant isn't having a great time either - she's not exactly unattractive, she's certainly in shape, has a pretty face etc.. I guess it is more a case again of the other contestants simply being even more appealing than her rather than her being unappealing.

As television continues slowly to diversify, the dating show Love Island has finally followed suit, with the casting of the show’s first black female contestant, Samira Mighty.

Viewers have long complained that they are fed up with the conveyor belt of white women on the show. Yet her casting has only thrown into focus the struggles black women face when dating.

Unlike other shows, where diversity woes can simply be redressed by recasting, Love Island is complicated. The show has been praised for its unfiltered portrayal of the dark side of dating – from ghosting and gaslighting to toxic masculinity and relationships. But there is another reality the show has brought to the fore. Samira’s arrival highlighted the cast’s very slim (and white) definition of their “type”.

Samira was the last of the Islanders to find a match, with newcomer Sam, and while most of us are simply happy to see her finally paired off, it doesn’t negate the fact her much-delayed date simply mirrors real life: on dating apps, black women are less likely to receive responses to messages than any other ethnic group.

When Samira said her type was “blond hair and blue eyes”, Twitter users were shocked, with one even mocking up an image of her as a Nazi. When Wes, like most of the black or mixed-raced male contestants before him, professed to liking blondes and brunettes, viewers hardly flinched. And that is because it is simply ex-pec-ted: as stylist Ayishat Akanbi tweeted last year, “only black girls see a man of their own race that they are romantically interested in and have to consider whether he even likes black girls”.
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It does seem to highlight some blatant double standards too in society re: a black woman causing controversy when she says she likes white guys but it simply being accepted for a black guy. I can see why (in Western countries at least) black females sometimes have trouble dating, they're (on average) perhaps a bit bulkier etc.. not fitting the western feminine ideal whereas that doesn't necessarily affect black men in the same way as they are often seen as strong/muscular etc.. Asians perhaps have the issue reversed with Asian women often being skinny, petite but Asian men seen as being a bit weaker, less masculine etc..

I guess on a dating show these common (perhaps ingrained) preferences get shown up and not in a good way, even when the contestant herself is attractive and of a similar shape to the rest. I wonder if they perhaps might want to add a bit more diversity next time around - include some fat or skinny people or shorter people etc..etc.. though that might trash the ratings - perhaps they don't want to risk not having just people with the perma-tanned Essex look who seem to be standard for reality shows these days. Maybe, since they can rig/engineer a lot of the stuff on these shows, they could perhaps make sure they've got some better matching contestants... like get some guys on who have expressed that they fancy black girls, get some girls on who have said they find smart guys attractive - then perhaps lone black female and Dr Chad won't be left out.
 
Diddums said:
I only like white women for some reason. Nothing to do with race, just a preference.
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Out of interest what about people who are mixed - white + another. For example Nathalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones or Kristin Kreuk from Smallville? Personally I think they're both stunning even though I'd generally have a similar view to you ref: tending to find white women attractive (albeit I'd not include the 'only').

Also I guess "White women" can include quite a broad range in itself - (southern) Italians, Greeks etc.. can be rather dark skinned for example and have quite a different look to say Northern Europeans.
 
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