Love Island Debrief

The micro-aggression on Love Island earlier this week?

Let’s unpack it!

Love Island is a reality show - there’s drama, there’s theatrics, there’s chaos. But from one black girl to another, watching Whitney go through what she did around that fire pit the other day made me empathise with her, deeply.

Throughout the scene of the islanders gathered around the fire pit, Whitney and Shaq had quite heated arguments - I’ve inserted a small clippet of one of the scenes.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/288942_0e06e06eca624366812e4430d97c6f77/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Can we talk about the difference in his responses to Whitney and Samie? Why is it that he spoke to Samie in such a calm and gentle tone, however was assertive and dominant with his response to Whitney?

Society hates an opinionated, confident black woman hence why they’re always categorised as ‘aggressive’ and ‘loud’. Why must society confine black women into a small box? Why is having an opinion as a black woman seen as deviant, however for a white woman is seen as expressing themselves? 

Black women are constantly stereotyped and painted out to be outspoken people, who deviate against social norms when in reality it’s just their entitled opinion.

Society doesn't see us for who we are - we’re just ‘angry, black women’. We say something society doesn’t agree with - we’re ‘aggressive’, we give our honest and truthful opinion, we’re ’rude’ and God forbid we stand up for ourselves, because now we’re just ‘violent’.

When will it end?

Some people may say Shaq’s reaction to Whitney ‘wasn’t that deep’ or him asking her ‘Why are you shouting?’ when she wasn’t, isn’t that serious.

But coming from a black woman.. it IS that deep and it IS that serious. We shouldn’t label and box off black women as being aggressive and violent for simply expressing themselves or having an opinion.

I will always advocate for women standing up for themselves.

Shakira, Toni and Yasmin from Season 12 last year? They were not your ‘typical’ love island contestants hence why they were constantly outcasted from the girls in their season. 

But the love they received on the outside however? Very well deserved! These girls built a huge fan base for having stuck up for themselves for the way that they did in the villa.

It’s a shame that when it comes to black women it’s a completely different story. The way that Grace spoke to men on Love Island All Stars last year (another legendary icon) - people praised her for being a high-standard woman who knows her worth, but the second a black woman even dares to open her mouth… uproar.

Society needs to do better.

Black women, NEVER stop being yourself regardless of what society tries to label you as.

Thanks for reading and until next time💕