On Tuesday night’s episode of Love Island USA, the remaining islanders of the season 7 cast were tasked with playing a game where they were encouraged to write letters to one another (either signed or anonymous) where they shared their honest opinions of one another to “get things off their chest.” One can imagine the delight of the producers as the cast excitedly got the text message announcing the stand on business challenge and the potential for drama to unfold. And there was no doubt glee expressed both in the immediate reactions from the cast and in the confessionals that soon followed. What unfolded however went far beyond the usual reality TV drama as viewers watched male cast members gang up on a female cast member who is quickly becoming a fan favorite.
Amaya Espinal aka Amaya Papaya to Love Island fans, the 25-year-old Dominican cardiac nurse from New York traveled to Fiji in search of love and connection. Over the course of the past several weeks, viewers have watched Amaya’s genuine attempts to make connections with those in the villa while being her authentic self, only to be shot down and criticized for the nicknames she gives and way she speaks, her enthusiasm, for expressing her emotions and for generally being “too much” for the male housemates. Which is hilarious considering these men allegedly came on the show to find love, only to immediately become commitment phobic when the most generic of nicknames that is not even necessarily relegated to romantic relationships was uttered their way.
When Amaya was paired with Ace, she innocently referred to him as “babe.” Ace was quick to express his discomfort despite Amaya explaining that she called everyone this, and it was a habit of hers and that it was innocent and not necessarily a romantic aggression. That much was clear from the multiple slip ups that followed that it was a generic habit of hers and not necessarily aimed at him specifically. Still, fireworks erupted. Ace was quick to accuse her of moving too fast and expressed his discomfort and was unwilling to understand that it was not intentional nor a sign of commitment but rather a term of endearment expressed towards everyone. Despite her attempts to curb this behavior and explain herself, Ace was quick to write Amaya off and thus her scarlet letter in the house was born.
Fast-forward to Tuesday night’s episode where Austin, Ace and Zak left Amaya in tears. One of the letters Amaya received accused her of “crying more than needed” and trying to “move too fast.” Make no mistake, the letter she received was a personal critique and not merely an airing of a grievance. Amaya tearfully responded that she was a “sensitive gangsta” and rightfully said that her emotions were not a weakness. Openly expressing her emotions and showing her sensitivity is being viewed by the men in the house as a weakness. Just being herself and being in tune with her own emotions has been weaponized against her repeatedly and viewers have watched as Amaya has been criticized simply for being herself while repeatedly being told that who she is simply “too much.”
And what woman, what Latina has not been told that same critique? Every single one of us has at one point or another been told we are too loud, too emotional, too passionate, too much. It’s an all too common critique aimed at minimizing who we are and forcing a woman to make herself smaller to accommodate a man when the truth of the matter is that you’re not too much, he’s simply not enough. In Amaya’s own words, “Sometimes I’m not the book that someone should be reading and that’s okay.”
Austin fessed up to penning the letter and claimed it sounded harsher than he intended, but the damage was done. With Amaya already visibly hurt by Austin’s words and accusations, Ace took it upon himself to chime in and rehash babe gate, piling on to Austin’s claims of her emotions and feelings being too much.
Enter Bryan Arenales, a bombshell and fellow Latino who quickly came to Amaya’s defense. “Coming from a Hispanic household, calling someone ‘babe’ and ‘amor’, ‘mi vida’, that’s just how we talk. You’re telling her to meet you halfway, you gotta meet her halfway too.”
Ace wants Amaya to meet people halfway, but has zero desire to reciprocate said request. He did not care to understand where Amaya was coming from nor did he grasp the cultural nuances behind it. In Latine culture, nicknames are common. And not just the ones given to us by family that would make therapists want to do a deep dive. The fact is that it is common to refer to others as ‘mi Amor,’ ‘mi Cielo,’ ‘mi Vida’ without it having some deeper meaning beyond a term of endearment. It is a cultural habit, ingrained in us from childhood. Not every culture is like this. Not everyone grows up with or is used to such casual names of affection. The lack of willingness to understand and accept these cultural differences is where the problem lies.
What is instead happening is viewers are watching a strong Latina be minimized and villainized simply for who she is and for cultural habits that are part of her norm. Make no mistake, the scene that played out in episode 26 was one of misogynistic bullying as these men were both petty and cruel, continuing to pile on even as Amaya was visibly in tears. There was no consideration of her feelings that had been hurt. You know, the ones these same men deemed to be “too much.” Yet their own words, delivered back to back to a visibly pained Amaya was not seen as too much by them at all. At no point did they think to maybe reel it in or table what they wanted to say for another time where she was not so visibly upset.
When it comes to Ace, it is not always the message one delivers but how they choose to deliver it and Ace has repeatedly shown a lack of any kindness or respect towards Amaya when keeping it real. Whether that’s due to his age (I’d argue that at 22, you are old enough to grasp when you are being rude) or if he just lacks tact as a whole remains to be seen, but it is indicative of a much larger problem.
Season 7 has seen many Latine people on the cast, whether as islanders or bombshells. When one casts diversely, one should expect there to be differences in backgrounds, beliefs and cultures. The problem however lies when there are no efforts made to understand the cultural nuances that may arise. The end result of this is what we see on our screens. With Amaya painted as the fiery, overly emotional Latina that is deemed too affectionate and too much.
It’s as islander Cierra Ortega later told Amaya when consoling her, “Do not let those men sit here and tell you how to be Amaya. Because Amaya knows how to be Amaya and people who can see Amaya love every single thing about her.”
