Ella, alongside many non trans women choose the Barbie / exagerrated / caricature route for their outer esthetics. It’s a big business. I can’t say who or what they are trying to attract via those means. It’s a permanent disfigurement and I find it rather sad the lengths some people will go to for ultimate ‘beauty’.
Ultimate beauty really does come from within, I think Ella relies on her external features for bagging blokes, Nathanial actually wants to connect with her, her personality, her core values etc. and he just can’t, which is okay.
Ella is offended though as she feels her external ‘beauty’ she has invested time and money into should be enticing enough.
I kind of applaud Nathanial, for sure he is on the show for fame and SM followers. But he isn’t just going along with narratives cuz that’s what MAFS want.
He didn’t want a sex-worker and was quite explicit about that. Poor form of the show to match him up with one.
The thing for me is that from the very, very beginning Nathaniel made it very clear that for him, physical appearance wasn’t necessarily important and he was more interested in an intellectual connection. I get the impression he also asked for a man. He said he’d like a non smoker and someone with no involvement in the sex industry. Obviously it would have been pretty difficult to give him everything he wanted, but Ella seems to be the exact opposite of what he wants in every way. Ella is vain, shallow and vapid.
I’m feeling more and more sorry for Nathaniel with every episode. He clearly isn’t attracted to Ella’s appearance or personality, but I think he’s trying to let Ella down gently - maybe because he’s a nice person and doesn’t want to hurt Ella’s feelings and maybe because he doesn’t want to be vilified as transphobic - completely understandable imo.
The issue for me is that the experts and the other couples don’t seem to be taking Nathaniel’s feelings into consideration at all.
Everything is about Ella’s wants, Ella’s needs, Ella’s constant demands for validation and the need to be seen as desirable. There’s absolutely no thought given to what Nathaniel wants. Constantly pushing him towards intimacy he clearly doesn’t want and a connection he clearly doesn’t feel just makes me feel really uncomfortable for him.
