Love Island contestants criticised for ‘sex shaming’ on show
‘Let’s stop shaming women for what they do or who they sleep with’
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The contestants of Love Island have been lambasted for “sex shaming” each other while taking part in a game during last night’s episode.
During the challenge, each of the couples were asked to guess how many sexual partners their respective halves had slept with prior to the show.
There was a clear discrepancy between the way in which the men’s and women’s answers were received, with Adam revealing that he’d slept with approximately 200 women in the past.
While his number was met with light-hearted laughs from the rest of the group, the women’s numbers were placed under a greater level of scrutiny, despite being far lower.
“All the boys in the #LoveIsland tag shaming girls for body counts over 10 but making no comment on Adam’s supposed 200?? Absolute solid logic there huns drag yourselves into the century yeah,” one viewer wrote on Twitter.
“Watching Love Island is nice but the slut shaming that comes with it is so annoying #LoveIsland,” another person commented.
A particular topic of contention has been the way in which Megan reacted when Eyal stated that he believed she’d had 37 sexual partners.
Megan proclaimed that she found Eyal’s comments offensive as he’d made an incorrect assumption about her number.
However, some Love Island fans have claimed that she’s “slut shaming” women who have slept with 37 people or more, despite having previously spoken about how women shouldn’t feel ashamed to talk about and enjoy sex.
“Wasn’t Megan the one talking about how women should be sex-positive the other day, then went off tonight because someone guessed she slept with x-amount (‘too many’) of people?? Thinly veiled slut shaming #LoveIsland,” one person wrote.
“Megan is weirdly slut shaming… Why is 20 ‘normal’ and 37 ‘gross’? Such an arbitrary distinction,” another individual commented.
Despite drawing in millions of viewers across the UK, with 2.95 million people tuning in to watch the season premiere earlier this month, Love Island has received a barrage of criticism for a number of reasons.
The lack of body diversity on the show has been well-documented, while the way in which several of the contestants have stated that they prefer ‘mixed-race’ partners has been a source of debate.
Last week, Women’s Aid issued a warning in regards to Adam’s behaviour of former contestant Rosie, stating that he had displayed “clear warning signs” of “gaslighting and emotional abuse.”
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