Now that Love Island USA season 8 has officially crowned Bryce and Trinity, aka Brinity, as the winners, we’re all reflecting and reminiscing on the season while we figure out what to do with our newfound free time. But before we completely move on, there was one thing that massively stuck out this season, and it was how the cast regularly—and kind of flippantly—used the word “lustful.” And it seemed like the whole world noticed, too:
It really stuck out because both the men and the women used the word multiple times and typically in a shame-y way (which maybe makes sense given the sex recession allegations Gen Z is currently facing). For some viewers, the Islanders’ use of “lustful” is rooted in a religion-driven purity culture that ultimately saw contestants rebuking and condemning one another for said lustful behavior.
Beyond that, why are we calling out people for lustful tendencies on a show that quite literally hypes up lust? Strange to point out one person’s lustful actions or thoughts when pretty much everything this season was lusty! I mean, the Islanders came up with a code word—“french fries”—for doing hand stuff. Trinity even talked about giving a blow job in the back seat of the car while her mom was driving (still trying to understand the logistics and gumption for that one!). So, respectfully, make it all make sense, y’all. Lust is quite literally the name of the game. In the words of KC, “Are we all not lustful in this motherf-cker?”
It’s worth mentioning that not everyone is convinced the use of “lustful” this season was rooted in biblical shame, and fair point. As one of my colleagues pointed out in our LIUSA group chat (because of course we have one), given how this cast was the “epi-tome” of America’s literacy crisis, maybe they were using “lustful” when they actually meant something else and simply didn’t have the language for it.
Perhaps! But either way, I pray the kids release themselves from the shackles this word has them in. Amen.
