Bachelor contestants Megan and Tiffany fell in love this year and we didn't need to give them a label. Photo / megan.leto.marx Instagram
Bachelor contestants Megan and Tiffany fell in love this year and we didn't need to give them a label. Photo / megan.leto.marx Instagram
There were many changes in the dating world in 2016. But The Bachelor contestants Megan and Tiffany influenced one in particular when they turned a friendship into a relationship.
Many media outlets declared this was the 'real' romance to blossom from the dating show.
Articles focused on their love andromance, and the coverage seemed positive, respectful and the girls weren't given any label.
It's a sign of the times that we can be free to love and date who we want without being labelled bisexual, homosexual or heterosexual.
Should we be attracted to a person because of what's between their legs or because of who they are and how they make us feel?
This is a pansexual way of looking at love (an attraction to someone for who they are, not their gender).
Why can't a woman date a woman, a man, and then a woman again and not have to declare that she is gay or bi? Some people are only attracted to others of a specific gender, but if you find love, you find love.
Recently the girls have taken to a more public platform to declare their love and express their views on same sex relationships - Maxim magazine.
It doesn't exactly bust any stereotypes of what we fantasise a same sex female relationship to be, but it has given them a noticeable voice.
Tiffany took to Instagram to thank the magazine for helping them to break down barriers, something these girls have done this year and hopefully opened the eyes of others looking for love.
It's great for woman that we have achieved a more open romantic support from wider society in 2016, but what about for men? Is it still the same or would we see different and degrading headlines if Richie and Osher declared their love?
Tim Dormer, another former reality star recently declared he was in a relationship with another man. While previously describing his sexuality as fluid, it seemed he has been hiding this relationship for approximately two years.
Megan and Tiffany are the January Maxim cover girls and couple of the year. Photo / megan.leto.marx Instagram
Why did he feel he had to keep it a secret? If his relationship was suspected early on, as was with Megan and Tiffany, would it have had the same reception?
We do have an issue with double standards and as much as I'm thrilled that woman have achieved a step forward in their dating freedoms, we are still yet to see the same for men. If a man loves another man and is not normally attracted to men, is he gay, bisexual or someone that has found a connection and love strong enough to trump external attraction?
This double standard could also be because of how we see same sex couples for different genders. We eroticise woman with other woman (with some playing into this stereotype) and see affectionate behaviours among two girls as completely OK. But if a man even looks at another man with different eyes he quickly gets slapped with the label of gay, often in a derogatory way.
Each year brings new dating trends, and freedom to love without having to use a label is now one of them (for woman at least). So for 2017, I think it's time we showed the same acceptance towards men.
Megan recently wrote "I'm actually wondering how many more letters will be added to the LGBTQI label before it's accepted that love has NO LABEL"
Love is love and it shouldn't matter where it's found, who it's with or what others think about it. It's time we stopped trying to always fit into a label and just focused on loving, no matter what gender that person we are loving is.
