‘Love Is Blind’ Needs to Stop Casting Men Ashamed of Their Culture
The Love Is Blind casting is very interesting. Although the locations change each season, producers find the same type of personalities. One type is the man who is ashamed of his culture, and here is why this has to stop.
‘Love Is Blind’ has a history of men viewing their culture as an obstacle to their dating life
The good intentions of Love Is Blind and its casting started by addressing a problem with the current dating culture. “Your value is often judged solely by the photo on your dating app,” Vanessa Lachey told the season 1 ladies. “But everyone wants to be loved for who they are. Not for their looks, their race, their background, or income.”
We saw men talking about how their race or ethnicity affected dating in real life. “I’ll never forget with one of my girlfriends in high school she had told her dad that I was Mexican,” Mark Anthony Cuevas said. “And he open the door, and he goes, ‘Oh, you’re not what I expected.’ And that’s why I love this experiment because it lets you really dig deep on who someone really is and not worry about what they look like.”
He later got engaged to Jessica Batten, a white woman who doesn’t share his background. Season 2 showed Abhishek “Shake” Chatterjee discussing his dating history with Deepti Vempati.
“My serious relationships, they’ve all been … blonde,” he said. “I just remember moving to America, seeing two things for the first time. Seeing snow and blonde girls. And I felt the same way about both.”
He did propose to Vempati. But the whole time, he claimed she reminded him of his aunties. They didn’t get married.
Sikiru “SK” Alagbada followed this trend in season 3. “Race is something you can’t really hide on the dating apps, and for a lot of us, it kinda filters away,” he told the hosts. “People have certain requirements of who they want to date. I feel like this gives you an opportunity to fall in love with someone’s mind before anything else.”
He got engaged to Raven Ross but was accused of cheating on her. They broke up.
Season 4 kicked off with Kwame Appiah on a date with Chelsea Griffin. He revealed he couldn’t pick up his date for prom because he was Black. The former soccer player told Micah Lussier that he almost chose to go by “Alex” instead of Kwame because his name puts him in a “very specific area.”
Why ‘Love Is Blind’ needs men of color who embrace their culture
The classic saying goes, “You can’t find love if you don’t love yourself.” Of course, there are some exceptions. But if these men go as far as to change their names to avoid being stereotyped, their relationships are already starting on the wrong foot.
The goal of Love Is Blind is to get married. Marriage involves the blending of family and, therefore, culture between people. To do that confidently, you have to be comfortable with your culture to share it with others.
The men who came before Kwame didn’t find lasting love through the experiment. Shake flat out said he considered love “blurry” instead because he couldn’t separate looks. However, what he really couldn’t overcome was dating someone from his own culture.
How these men negatively affect women of color in ‘Love Is Blind’ casting
We can’t forget how women of color are affected by men of color with this mentality. For one, they are less likely to be picked from the pods, creating an inherent problem with Love Is Blind casting.
These men complaining about being mistreated or overlooked because of their race had that problem with people outside their culture. If they’re excited about someone not seeing their race first, then that’s because they’re still looking for that.
Secondly, the desire to chase that approval that wasn’t given to them will reappear if they haven’t changed. We see this with Kwame, who flirts with Micah after she breaks his heart in the pods, and SK with the alleged cheating. Want more successful matches? Choose people who have more secure attachments!
Lastly, women of color fans are sick of seeing men in their communities be ashamed of themselves. I want to have a fun experience watching like white viewers. Yet more seasons than not, I have to repeatedly hear Black men come up with the same traumatic high school story. It’s not fun. It’s hurtful.
