In a new book, “The Dating Divide: Race and Desire in the Era of Online Romance,” sociologists Jennifer Lundquist, Celeste Vaughan Curington and Ken Hou-Lin show how online dating sites exacerbate racial divisions.
They found that race-related “preference” filters on digital dating platforms help foster racist attitudes — especially toward black women.
“Filtering out people based on race is a normal practice on dating apps,” Lundquist told The Post.
“The idea of having racial preferences is unacceptable and illegal in any other arena,” she added. “But it’s literally built into the structure of these dating apps.”
A 2014 study about dating preferences along racial lines on OKCupid came to a similar conclusion: Black women had a hard time matching on dating apps, as did black and Asian men.
(The 2014 study also found that preferring to date within one’s race was fairly common. For instance, black women preferred to date black men at a rate surpassed only by Asian women’s preference for Asian men.)
nypost.com
They found that race-related “preference” filters on digital dating platforms help foster racist attitudes — especially toward black women.
“Filtering out people based on race is a normal practice on dating apps,” Lundquist told The Post.
“The idea of having racial preferences is unacceptable and illegal in any other arena,” she added. “But it’s literally built into the structure of these dating apps.”
A 2014 study about dating preferences along racial lines on OKCupid came to a similar conclusion: Black women had a hard time matching on dating apps, as did black and Asian men.
(The 2014 study also found that preferring to date within one’s race was fairly common. For instance, black women preferred to date black men at a rate surpassed only by Asian women’s preference for Asian men.)
Why your swipes on Hinge and OKCupid might be racist
The authors of a new book are arguing for race-blind dating apps — and the removal of filters for race and ethnicity. Finding love, they say, isn’t so black-and-white. In a new bo…
nypost.com
