Down-Low Culture Is Dying. The Next Step Is to Grow Up.
‘Love Is Blind’ could have changed the conversation around Black bisexual men, but Carlton and Diamond both brought old habits to the table
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Like any great trash reality show, Netflix’s Love Is Blind knows how to trumpet its unique brand of theatrics. Every three minutes, it seems, one of its many love seekers describes the show’s process — 10 days of speed dating, followed by engagement, without the betrothed ever actually seeing each other — as an “experiment.” They’re not wrong, though “mess” might be more accurate; that’s what happens when you drop 15 men and 15 women into a contest where getting engaged is the only way to guarantee screen time. Explosive moments abound, from drunken bachelorette parties to folks reneging at the altar.
Yet, the grand messperiment also produced one of Netflix’s more cringeworthy moments in a long while — a clash that cast a rare light on the unique challenges bisexual men face in the dating world, how their ongoing stigmatization perpetuates some truly vicious cycles.
