What Love Island tells us about the changing face of dating
During the fourth series of Love Island UK in 2018, Megan Barton-Hanson invited fellow Islander Wes Nelson into a chat.
Just minutes earlier, she had called off her relationship with Eyal Booker after admitting that the pair had little more than physical chemistry. Now, sitting across from Wes, who had been with Laura Anderson since the beginning of the competition, she decided not to wait for him to make the first move.
“I think it’s obvious that I really like you,” he told her. “And I felt like if I didn’t say something, I would have a huge regret.”
By the end of the episode, viewers have come up with a new nickname for her: “Muggy Megan”. Critics accused her of moving too quickly between relationships and breaking the “girl rule.” Others admired his honesty.
At the time, Barton-Hanson argued that she was treated differently than her male colleagues. “People definitely give girls a harder time than boys… That’s sexism.”
But eight years later, scenes like Barton-Hanson’s no longer seem so extraordinary. Until this series, it was always seen that men made the first choice in the opening. This year the rules of the show were changed and women had the first choice.
