DANI DYER CAME under fire this week after she admitted she didn’t know what the #MeToo movement was.

Cringe-inducing? Certainly, in this environment. Her privilege affords her a certain ignorance when it comes to issues like this. 

However, she made a fair point when it came to the recent conflating of #MeToo and Love Island, the reality show which she went on to win.

Private school principal Jane Lunnon, head of the London-based private Wimbledon High School, said at a recent conference: If we want to be taken seriously – the #MeToo debate, hear us, we have agency, we have a voice – can we also be saying this trivial nonsense matters?”

After having #MeToo explained to her, Dani’s response was fairly succinct: “If you enjoy watching Love Island, watch Love Island. You can support what you feel’s right. I think Love Island is something that people come home from work to and watch and enjoy.

I don’t think everything on the TV has to be strong minded and opinions. We have so much of that. I think those sort of shows, just take them with a pinch of salt, have a laugh with it, you haven’t got to take those shows seriously.”

.@LoveIsland winner @Dani_MasDyer responds to a head teacher’s claims that the @itv2 hit undermines movements like the #MeToo campaign https://t.co/btYIdbKY7g pic.twitter.com/5QLxjEONJV

— ITV News (@itvnews)

October 3, 2018

Love Island should absolutely be open to criticism, as it has been throughout all of its series for the lack of body diversity, the show’s racial prejudice and how it broadcasts situations of perceived emotional abuse for entertainment purposes. 

Let’s be real, you’re either a fan of the show or you’re not – and it probably has nothing to do with where you rank your feminist values in comparison to your love for trashy television. When it’s not highlighting necessary conversations on wider social issues, it’s a bit of a laugh. It’s escapism. 

And while the #MeToo movement attempts to bring forward discussions about the societal treatment of women and man’s abuse of power … That’s probably where the similarities end? Can we not demand respect from men – a bare minimum request, let’s be real – while also enjoying watching people mug other people off? You can’t pit apples and oranges against each other.

Lunnon’s misogynistic argument is thinly-veiled, rejecting something she views as intellectually inferior and equating those who enjoy it to be the same. To quote Alexandra Crane from series four: “You’ve wasted my time and you’ve wasted your own. Shame on you.”

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