Finally, a thread about Grindr

[Josquius]

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52886167

Grindr removes 'ethnicity filter' after complaints

Dating and hook-up app Grindr says it will remove the "ethnicity filter" from the next version of its app, following years of criticism from its users.

The app currently lets people filter potential matches according to their age, height, weight and ethnicity.

But critics say the ethnicity filter fuels discrimination and that the app does too little to tackle racism.

Announcing the change, Grindr said it had a "zero-tolerance policy for racism and hate speech" on its platform.

Grindr specialises in dating for gay, bisexual, trans, and queer people.

Analysis
by Ben Hunte, LGBT correspondent

For years, LGBT people of colour have flagged the ethnicity filter as an issue - but they received no response from Grindr. Many even got blocked by the company.

Today, change happened.

But some are angry that it has only happened as a result of white people speaking up on social media. Indeed, the most-shared social media posts written to shame Grindr into action were posted by white gay men.

There are also LGBT people of colour who are disappointed that this change is happening at all.

Some have told me that they used the ethnicity filter to find people like themselves, perhaps not to date but for shared experiences and cultural understanding.

In some cases it was needed. In February, at a queer club night for Black and Asian people, one party-goer showed me how black men did not appear on his Grindr until the white men had been filtered out.

Grindr is not the only LGBT dating app to allow filtering by race. The spotlight will now move to others that have yet to take a similar stance.

On 29 May, Grindr had tweeted "Demand justice. #BlackLivesMatter", with a link to further information. This had prompted several users to accuse the company of hypocrisy.

One message saying "remove the ethnicity filter" was retweeted 1,000 times.

Grindr later deleted its own tweet and on 1 June posted a new message explaining its change of position.

Several companies have posted messages of their own featuring the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter following six consecutive days of protests across the United States. The events were sparked by the killing of George Floyd - a black man who died after a white officer continued kneeling on is neck even after he had pleaded that he could not breathe.

While some Grindr users welcomed the removal of the filter, others said the company had taken too long to implement the change, and had done the "bare minimum".

Skip Twitter post by @jordwarn

I'm curious if there are any thoughts here.
From all I've heard and the little I've seen Grindr makes Tinder look like a whatsapp chat with your gran (pre-brexit). Its a harsh space where "No fats or blacks" is an everyday thing to see.

I wonder upon this, is removing this filter really such a good thing?  Will the racist swiping through go "Oh wow, I've never seen such a hot Asian guy. I'm sure he will be willing to be my exception." where before he would be masked from view?
Or will the inevitable rejection thereupon only deepen racist views?

[Tamas]

Thanks Martinus.

[The Brain]

Grindr can do what they want as far as I'm concerned. If Grindr wants to send the message that it's possible to have wrong sexual preferences concerning consenting adults then it's probably a good thing that they do so. I cannot say if the change will reduce racist outbursts on Grindr, I don't know enough about Grindr users or culture.

[Sheilbh]

So Grindr functionally isn't like Tinder. You don't swipe right or left, you just see people in your area and you can start chatting. They can then respond (or not).

I think this is a good move. But a better move would be if people would stop writing, say, "no fats, no fems, no Asians, no blacks" on their profile. If you're not interested you can just say "I'm not interested thanks" or, say, ignore that person.

And there is a big specific issue of racism in the gay community. I'm not sure how this fits in but it's part of a wider issue that we need to address.

[mongers]

So small kitchen appliances now have ethnicity AI software functions.   

[Iormlund]

Who cares about ethnicity? Short people need sex too. 

[Sheilbh]

Who cares about ethnicity? Short people need sex too. 

Eeeeek. Yeah the height thing I find absolutely baffling on dating apps.

I just don't get it

[crazy canuck]

I do

[fromtia]

I think this is a fascinating subject. Ethnicity can be part of what we find attractive or not in a partner, especially if we are talking about a hook up. Human sexual attraction is a bit of thing isn't it, people like what they like. I don't think you actually need an ethnicity filter, none of the apps I've used have one and you just sort of look through the people in your area and attempt to engage the ones you think are hot, you can decide for yourself if you don't want to bang white people or black people or people who aren't chubby or people who are chubby and so on. I don't think there's anything really wrong with having an ethnicity filter, what if you are trying to find a black man to bang your wife while you take snaps? But given that the (white) gay community has a bit of form with discrimination and exclusion I could see why this is happening now.

[Admiral Yi]

what if you are trying to find a black man to bang your wife while you take snaps?

  Why is it always a black guy?

[fromtia]

what if you are trying to find a black man to bang your wife while you take snaps?

  Why is it always a black guy?

You know I think it's a Southern US thing. Not hotwifing/cuckolding per se, but the black man as guest star thing. I'm not certain of that, but I really suspect that it is. Lord only knows what cultural information one can parse out from that.

[Maximus]

You know I think it's a Southern US thing. Not hotwifing/cuckolding per se, but the black man as guest star thing. I'm not certain of that, but I really suspect that it is. Lord only knows what cultural information one can parse out from that.

That's my impression too. It's likely the taboo aspect. Same reason "interracial" is a porn category.

[Admiral Yi]

You know I think it's a Southern US thing. Not hotwifing/cuckolding per se, but the black man as guest star thing. I'm not certain of that, but I really suspect that it is. Lord only knows what cultural information one can parse out from that.

So have you gone native Fromagia? 

[fromtia]

So have you gone native Fromagia? 

I'm afraid I've been divorced for 11 years Yi, while I am something of an adventurous soul my darling former wife, lovely person that she is, wouldn't go for extracurricular hijinks.

[fromtia]

That's my impression too. It's likely the taboo aspect. Same reason "interracial" is a porn category.

I'm sure you are right. Whatevers culturally taboo for the individual provides a turbo charge to your sexual past times when applied properly.