I have finished Part One of the LITG Survey Results: the polls!
Immediate apologies for some of the sprites, the wiki has really nice transparent files of every outfit for some characters, and literally only the intro pic for others, so if I wanted everyone in their nice outfits, I had to resort to screenshots. So some are better quality and some have their heads chopped off. Embarrassing lol.
Anyway, there were a lot of similarities to the last time I ran the poll, but there was some interesting movement like Jake solidly beating Levi, and Andy taking a solid lead over Ozzy and Roberto. Some characters had random, significant drops (Bruno, Jin, and Ethan), but still won their respective seasons. It could be a pattern though, and I'm interested to see if it continues if I run the poll again in December/January.
The season 14 lads really shook things up when put up against other LIs too! Zhen, George, Owen, and Emilio all managed to get into the top 5 of the OG, Bombshell, and Casa polls, which is very interesting. The Casa poll especially, since Matt and Max lost 30 votes each--did all of that go to Owen? Is there another Casa boy coming that can repeat this? Matt did well in the rankings (coming soon!) but he was also one of the victims of the new boys taking up real estate on the list lol.
The other interesting piece of info: I suspected while watching the results roll in that the ladies were doing better than before, and now that I've compiled everything, that suspicion was correct! Najuma, Bella, Claudia, and Keziah each kicked a boy out of their respective seasons to take their spot at the Top 5 table, and Leah ran neck-and-neck with Oscar before squeaking ahead at the last minute in their season poll.
Lisbeth dominated the Female LIs list, but just like last September, that didn't translate into the rankings (she was #25 in September and #26 now--if even half of her votes had translated into a top 5 ranking, she'd be much higher). I have my theories about this, but I'm still checking some correlations and crunching some numbers, so I will have more to say about it when I share the rankings results!
I'm still hoping to get the rankings out before the new season starts on Wednesday because I don't want to compete with those posts lol, but I haven't made any graphics yet and still have some work to do on pattern finding and my If You Like X, You Might Like Y concept, so... we'll see lol.
Thanks for participating if you did!
This poll has been bouncing around my head all day. I have been noticing a lack of love for black LI for while, and this poll finally gives data for a racist bias in the litg fandom. Let me elaborate:
(Note: I am specifically talking about anti-black bias. I am using my best judgement to figure out whether a character is supposed to be black. Let's say though, the colourism in the poll results is noticeable.)
S1: Mason, the only black LI, is last even though Levi (2nd) functionally has the same route as Mason.
S2: Bobby is first, yes. But there is no other black LI in the Top 5. Also noticeably, Bobby is light-skinned. No Ibrahim, no Elijah.
S3: Like s1, the only dark-skinned LI, Camilo, is last.
S4: The only dark-skinned LI that makes the list is Najuma, and she is last. OG LI James doesn't even make the list, which is unusual for OG LIs.
S5: Even though all the LIs this season are trash, the only one that doesn't make the list is Alfie, who is the only dark-skinned LI.
S6: Jamal, the only dark-skinned (and also OG) LI, doesn't make the list. (Though for s6 the only OG on the list at all is Lewie)
S7: Rafael, light-skinned, is 2nd. Bryson, light-skinned, is 4th. Evan, the only dark-skinned male LI, is last. Vicky doesn't make the list.
S8: Oakley, my love, where are you?? Kyle, light-skinned, is the only Black LI that makes the list, and he is 4th. NO OAKLEY (even though he's OG), no Shawn, no Tyler (not sure if Tyler is black). Also no Hari, but I think he's Indian.
S9: Lyle is not on the list, even though he shares a route with Jude (2nd). Henri is not on the list, even though he shares a route with Chen (3rd). Natasha also doesn't make it. Stefan is the only black LI in the top 5, and he's last.
S10: The only OG LI not on the list is the black one: Milo. Jesse is 3rd, but no Yash, no Caleb, no Eisha.
S11: Ngl, I have erased this season from my brain, so correct me please. Dominic, light-skinned, is 2nd. Kane, dark-skinned, is NOT LAST but 4th. Are Tunde, Zac and Sonya LIs? They're not on the list. And neither is Kenzo - no clue whether he's supposed to be black.
S12: Matt 1st! Darin 3rd! Keziah 5th! Though Matt and Darin are light-skinned. The only OG LI not present is once again the black one: Kami. Also, no Nathan.
S13: Where is Freddie? He's the only dream boy not in the Top 5 and the only Black one. Eren, light-skinned, made 3rd. I don't remember if Gabriel was a LI but Joya didn't make the list.
S14: Only black OG LI Andre is the only OG LI not on the list. Neither is only black bestie Jordan.
Bonus: I would've thought Najuma was a guarantee on the all-female list but she is not even ranked.
Summary:
The anti-black bias in this fandom is not even subtle! Most black LI that make the Top 5 are light-skinned. There are six (6) seasons in which the ONLY dark-skinned OG LI is the ONLY OG LI NOT IN THE TOP 5: s4 (not counting Kobi cause he's not endgame), s5, s9, s10, s12, and s14. Bonus: For s13, Freddie is the only dream boy not in the Top 5. So that's HALF THE SEASONS.
I'm not saying this is representative of the ENTIRE litg fandom, but with a sample size of about 300 people and with results this self evident I can't help but conclude that we've got a serious racism issue.
