In the same way I half-watch many TV shows, I watch Love Is Blind by being present in the living room of my home and working on my computer when my housemate puts it on the TV. I catch parts of it, sometimes become invested for an episode before the premise frustrates me enough that I go back to my work, and the cycle repeats.
Despite paying limited attention to the show, I hear occasional comments about sex work that draw me in. On the most recent season (6), Jeramey asks Sarah Ann, who he is on a date with, about her social media following. After she lists her number of followers on Instagram and TikTok, he asks if she is on any other sites, voice heavy with implication. His date goes briefly quiet, then asks if he means OnlyFans.
To me, this seemed like such a leap that I was sure Jeramey would say that is not what he was implying, but he immediately agrees and asks if she does. She jokes that she has one, which is met with stunned silence until she clarifies the joke, then they go on to talking about politics. It was jarring, to say the least.
The last memorable moment of discussion about sex work on Love Is Blind came from season 4, where a participant named Zack claimed to be a stripper when he first asked his profession. Zack is actually a lawyer and the joke does not charm any of the women he tells it to. Between the mockery of sex work and his general attitude, he’s framed as unlikeable – until he gets his arc and dramatic emotional moment to turn him into a viable marriage prospect, when he admits that his mother began to work as a stripper when they were very poor so that she could support him.
Zack is able to reveal this fact because his mother has died since then, meaning this reveal isn’t able to be used against her or to result in her being harassed by the general public after he tells the world through a popular TV series. At least, I’d like to believe he’d never have done this if she was still alive, inconsiderate of the harm she would face as a result. This reveal is used as part of a tragic backstory to excuse some of Zack’s more immature behaviour, as well as his commitment issues.
It is not surprising that a show like Love Is Blind, where the premise is that participants get to know each other without seeing the other person and only get to meet them if they get engaged, would have a skewed view of sex work and would push some conservative and toxic ideals when it comes to relationships and sex. Since most of the participants are simply seeking to use the show to bolster their social media followings and make money, a portion of these people will also do online sex work as an avenue to earn money from their audience, and so the private lives of the participants hit up against the personas they have to put on for the premise of the show.
Other people on the show have been seen to claim that even watching porn is cheating, so they would never get as far as questioning whether doing sex work itself would be a deal-breaker. It is clearly, however, on their minds. I can’t imagine the creators of the show would ever put a stripper or a hooker onto the show intentionally, but having an OnlyFans account is close enough to the realm of possibility to the participants that some of the men feel the need to check. People who go on Love Is Blind are usually avid watchers of the show who are well aware that participants have been known to make OnlyFans accounts after they leave.
The separation between types of sex work that male participants worry their potential wives might be engaging in, and the types they know women would be rejected from casting for doing, also allows the show to treat one type of sex work like a joke and the second as fodder for emotional backstory content with people like Zack. Within the show, it is always them women who are scrutinized in this way, despite the men being just as likely to do online sex work after they finish filming their season.
Do I think the target audience for Love Is Blind are going to care about sex workers’ issues, even with this bigotry pointed out to them? Not really. My desire to point it out is more as a way to prompt people to consider how even innocuous trash television seeks to reinforce whorephobia.
The creators of Love Is Blind want us to see sex work as an embarrassing thing, something scandalous that would break up the couples, so they can benefit from the advertising that shock-value articles about participants making OnlyFans accounts will bring them. If people start to see online sex work as commonplace and not a big deal, it exposes that people go on the show as a cashgrab and find a way to profit afterwards instead of having an OnlyFans account being added drama.
Frankly, being on Love Is Blind itself would be far more embarrassing to me than selling pussy or dick pictures afterwards, even with the way society degrades sex work.
Jack Talks About Sex Work 