Multiple numbers in every headline, the listicles, “my mistakes” and every story is written by, and uses a profile pix, of a 20-something female freelance writer.

Business Insider has morphed in to what used to be called “women’s magazines” – with titles like Good Housekeeping, McCall’s, or Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Elle, etc. Business Insider is targeted primarily at 20-something young women. Male readers are not sought nor desired by Business Insider.

Every story is the same formula – its not about the destination but the personal romance of the writer. The writer is the focus of their own story – which is why the genre favors narcissists.

In fact, every story is virtually identical – its the modern Reader’s Digest of easily digestible nonsense to replace your time doom scrolling on your smart phone.

The “Romance Abroad” Archetype

This genre of storytelling features young, often freelance, female writers who document their experiences moving to or traveling in foreign countries, where they meet a partner, fall in love and choose to stay. These stories function as modern digital equivalents of traditional women’s magazine features, offering a blend of escapism, lifestyle aspiration, and romantic fulfillment. 

• Narrative Structure: The typical arc involves a protagonist leaving her home (often the US or UK) – often as a victim – the US is too expensive, too much crime, blah blah blah – then experiencing culture shock, finding love with a local or fellow expat, and building a life abroad. This mirrors the “happily ever after” trope found in romance novels. 
• Recent Examples: Stories such as “They Left America for a Job Abroad, Then Retired Happily in Thailand” (May 2026) and “What Traveling to 167 Countries Taught Couple About Relationship” (March 2024) exemplify this trend. These pieces focus heavily on the emotional and relational journey rather than the logistics of travel.
• Target Audience: The content appeals to readers seeking validation for their own desires to escape conventional life paths, offering a “cottage core” fantasy of simplified living and romantic destiny in exotic locales. 

Who Writes These Stories and Why?

• Freelance Demographics: Business Insider actively solicits personal essays from freelancers, many of whom are young women building portfolios in travel and lifestyle journalism. The “personal angle” is explicitly encouraged by editors like Mia de Graaf, who looks for stories with a “strong personal angle” and “tension.”
• Click-Driven Content: These narratives perform well in terms of engagement and clicks, incentivizing editors to commission similar pieces. The “first-person” format allows for a relatable, conversational tone that resonates with the site’s “disruptive go-getter” demographic, even when the content leans towards fantasy. 
• Formulaic: The stores all follow the same formula, making them easy to churn out quickly.
• Comparison to Traditional Media: Just as traditional women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan or Glamour historically featured fiction and essays about finding love and reinventing oneself, Business Insider’s Travel section has become a digital hub for similar content, updated for the era of remote work and digital nomadism.

I have an entire column on the topic over here: Start here: The Myth that Americans Can Easily Move Abroad – Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking

The bias in the Business Insider romance novels is apparent in my review of 400 stories (since up to about 500 but have not updated the data yet)

Of the Business Insider stories in these categories, here is a breakout of the subjects:

• 40% single white female
• 9% single BIPOC female
• 49% total involve single females (some of whom then married a foreigner – I counted them as single if they were single at the time they moved abroad).
• 29% families + 4% BIPOC families (almost always written from the women’s perspective)
• 10% single gay/lesbian or couples
• 7% single white males
• 1% single BIPOC males
• Just 8% involve single males versus 49% for single females. In fact, stories featuring gay couples exceed those with single males.

(The data set includes stories in some other publications besides BI, but BI accounts for the vast majority)

Males basically do not exist as subject in these stores. Even for those involving a family, the story is written from the women’s perspective and the male in the story is often barely mentioned.

Hilariously, Business Insider says they support Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – which by their own publication record is a lie.

And you wonder why the media has zero credibility and reporters are viewed with disdain?