My Dissertation

What meanings about sexuality and sexualisation do the viewers of Love Islandreceive?

After completing the sexuality in the media module last year which I thoroughly enjoyed, I decided to base my dissertation around sexuality. I have also completed several theory modules surrounding television, so I knew I would like to look into sexuality within a certain television show. One area of television I am really interested in is reality television and after the rise of popularity in Love Island, I knew this would be a good route to go down.

During university I have completed research reports using textual analysis and audience studies as my method. The method I received the best results in were those using audience studies, so this is the method I decided to use for my dissertation.

Upon researching issues surrounding Love Island, I decided to focus my research on sexuality and sexualisation within the show. From this I have delved into issues surrounding reality television as a genre, representation of the male and female body on television as well as gender roles, and stereotypical relationships on television; these explore issues with heteronormativity and homosexual neglect.

As Love Islandis supposed to mirror real life as much as possible, I felt it was important to explore issues surrounding under representation of certain body types and sexual orientation on the show. I did this by conducting one-to-one interviewers with both heterosexual and homosexual participants to understand and unpick their views.

I am currently writing up my final results chapter ready for hand in on April 12th! I will post my final dissertation on here under ‘Year Three’. I have really enjoyed researching and writing about this topic and I already have ideas for how this could be used in future studies!