Genuinely confused about sex on LIB

OK, I am totally confused by the sex on Love Is Blind. I genuinely just don’t understand what’s going on. I’m 49 years old, and maybe it’s because I became sexually active during the height of the AIDS epidemic, but back then, people were very serious about using protection. Once you hit a certain age and had a boyfriend, hormonal birth control was common, especially as more options like NuvaRing, patches, and low-dose pills became available. Then there were implants and Depo-Provera (though that had a lot of side effects). After having kids, many women I knew opted for IUDs. The unplanned pregnancies I saw were pretty much eliminated, and I’m serious about this.

On top of that, condom use wasn’t optional—it was a given. Where I grew up (in relatively privileged circles), we didn’t see pregnancies in high school. I also had a lot of gay friends, and back then, using condoms was non-negotiable, unless you wanted to risk your life. Even lesbian women were using dental dams. It was just ingrained in us to take sexual health seriously.

So, I’m baffled by how Love Is Blind portrays sex. For the second year in a row, we’re seeing couples having what seems like unprotected penetrative sex, without any mention of protection beyond birth control. No STD prevention? I find this irresponsible and frightening, especially given that we’re living in a time when women in many states don’t have access to abortions or reproductive rights. Why aren’t people talking about this? Imagine if they were filming in Texas and someone got pregnant—would they need to be flown out of state? Why is this being ignored?

Another thing I don’t understand is the situation with Hannah and Nick. She mentions that he doesn’t perform oral sex on her, but how are they having sex? Do they just go from kissing straight to intercourse? Is that how people have sex now? I thought the progression was: you like someone, you’re attracted to them, you fool around a bit, then maybe you engage in oral sex to build heat before moving on to intercourse. I’ve been with guys who’ve gone down on me without me doing the same for them, and we didn’t even have sex afterward. The whole point seemed to be to build attraction before taking it further.

How does Hannah go from kissing to intercourse and only later realize that Nick doesn’t perform oral sex? How do you even get to the point of having sex without getting intimate in other ways first? It’s like I’m missing a whole part of the process.