Feeling Like a Fetish: Racialized Feelings, Fetishization, and the Contours of Sexual Racism on Gay Dating Apps

Stacey, Lawrence; Forbes, TehQuin D.

doi:10.1080/00224499.2021.1979455

Cited by 41 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Researchers may also consider directly analyzing user profiles or creating dummy accounts on different apps/websites. A few studies have analyzed RSD in online environments by viewing large numbers of profiles [ 19 , 27 , 31 , 48 ] and future research can analyze racism in profiles using categories from the RSD scale. To gain insight into the role of RSD in the acceptance or rejection of potential partners and in personal messages, researchers can create dummy profiles to interact with real users.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An exception to this systemic exclusion is the erotic objectification of men of color. Patterns of objectification draw on sexual scripts that typecast certain racial/ethnic groups into specific sexual roles or fetishize certain groups on the basis of perceived physical and behavioral characteristics [ 10 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. In the case of young sexual minority Black men (YSMBM), they are often stereotyped as being sexually dominant, typically the insertive partner during anal sex, and as having large penises [ 31 , 33 , 34 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Patterns of objectification draw on sexual scripts that typecast certain racial/ethnic groups into specific sexual roles or fetishize certain groups on the basis of perceived physical and behavioral characteristics [ 10 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. In the case of young sexual minority Black men (YSMBM), they are often stereotyped as being sexually dominant, typically the insertive partner during anal sex, and as having large penises [ 31 , 33 , 34 ]. As race has no basis in biology, various researchers have argued that this discrimination—commonly described as sexual racism—is inextricable from broader patterns of White supremacy [ 27 , 35 , 36 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both apps also provide a high degree of anonymity to users who can establish accounts without verified identities or pictures of their faces. Some researchers have suggested that this anonymity may exacerbate the frequency and severity of RSD on these apps [ 10 , 22 , 31 , 46 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A Good App Is Hard to Find: Examining Differences in Racialized Sexual Discrimination across Online Intimate Partner-Seeking Venues

Wade

Pear

2022

IJERPH

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Young sexual minority Black men (YSMBM) report widespread instances of Racialized Sexual Discrimination (RSD) when seeking intimate partners online. RSD is associated with negative psychological health outcomes; however, little is known about the differences between virtual environments, and whether users are exposed to differential types/frequencies of RSD across different virtual environments. Using data from a cross-sectional web survey of YSMBM (N = 548), a multivariate Kruskal–Wallis test was conducted comparing those who primarily used Jack’d and those who primarily used Grindr to meet intimate partners; the frequency with which these two groups encountered six RSD domains was compared. Men who primarily used Grindr reported more frequent instances of White superiority and rejection from White men compared with men who primarily used Jack’d. Men who primarily used Jack’d reported more frequent instances of physical objectification from Black men compared with men who primarily used Grindr. RSD may manifest differentially based on the specific venue that YSMBM use. Such differences may reflect the sociodemographic makeup of these spaces, as well as differences in acceptability/normalization of different forms of RSD. These findings have implications for the development of anti-RSD initiatives that target the specific sociocultural norms that are unique to different virtual environments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A Good App Is Hard to Find: Examining Differences in Racialized Sexual Discrimination across Online Intimate Partner-Seeking Venues

Wade

Pear

2022

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although the mission of these apps is to connect users, scholars have determined that dating apps, regardless of whether they are gay, lesbian, or straight apps, have been saturated with sexual racism across societies. Rather than connecting users, many scholars instead say that they divide users of different races and ethnicities (Chan et al, 2021; Chen and Liu, 2021; Conner, 2019; Han, 2021; Li and Chen, 2021; Peck et al, 2021; Pieber, 2021; Robinson, 2015; Stacey and Forbes, 2022; Ang et al, 2021). Political scientist Bedi (2015: 998) theorizes sexual racism as ‘prioritizing individuals as romantic partners in a way that reinforces ideas of racial hierarchy or stereotypes’ and points out that intimacy should be seen as a matter of social justice.…”

Section: Sexual Racism On Dating Appsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compulsory interracial intimacy: Why does removing the ethnicity filter on dating apps not benefit racial minorities?

Zhou

2022

Media, Culture & Society

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This paper reflects on the impact of dating apps’ removal of ethnicity filters on racial minority users. Many scholars, mass media, and dating app users believe that ethnicity filters mark an institutional endorsement of racism which is embedded in digital infrastructure. Accordingly, they have called for the removal of these filters. This advocacy is based on the assumption that expressions of racial preference are inherently racist. In the summer of 2020, many dating apps removed ethnicity filters to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. However, I argue that racial minorities often express intra-racial desires through ethnicity filters to valorize their own sexual capital, evade discrimination or fetishization, and gain sexual opportunities. Consequently, removing the ethnicity filter makes it harder for racial minorities to connect. Even worse, it creates a culture of compulsory interracial intimacy, exposing minority users to more vulnerability and racial trauma. Moreover, the lack of discussion on whether to remove filters other than ethnicity reveals the negligence of intersecting oppressions on dating apps. Thus, this paper highlights the need to be more attentive to racial minorities’ alternative uses of filters for self-empowerment, and to intersectional oppressions that should be tackled in designing inclusive dating apps.

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Contextualizing black emerging adults' perceptions of neighborhood quality

Fike,

Mattis

2023

American J of Comm Psychol

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The ways in which Black emerging adults perceive and evaluate their neighborhoods may be impacted by a host of social and political factors that interplay with their social identities, the social identities of other urban residents, and their time in the area. Early literature on Black emerging adults' perceived neighborhood quality (PNQ) tended to make comparisons to White people and to focus disproportionately on the perceptions of low‐income Black people residing in predominately racial/ethnic minority and underresourced communities. Subsequent work on subjective neighborhood assessment has considered specific features of neighborhoods, such as safety or disorder, but a general sense of the quality of one's neighborhood features is still underexplored. The current study adapts Connerly and Marans' (1985) PNQ model to explore the relations between social identities and locations, neighborhood sociostructural features, time in the area, and PNQ among Black urban‐residing emerging adults. Block‐wise regression results suggest that education and partner status were associated with PNQ. Perceptions of the percentage of Black neighbors and Census Bureau proportions of residents in the zip code who are poor were also associated with PNQ. Length of residence in the neighborhood was marginally associated with PNQ while length of residence in the city/town was not significantly associated with PNQ. For young Black women, combined household income was marginally associated with PNQ, but neighborhood sociostructural features were the strongest contributors to PNQ. In contrast, education was the only significant contributor to PNQ for young Black men. We discuss the ways that the social positions of young Black residents and their neighbors may impact their experiences and evaluations of urban areas.

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Feeling Like a Fetish: Racialized Feelings, Fetishization, and the Contours of Sexual Racism on Gay Dating Apps

Cited by 41 publications

References 49 publications

A Good App Is Hard to Find: Examining Differences in Racialized Sexual Discrimination across Online Intimate Partner-Seeking Venues

A Good App Is Hard to Find: Examining Differences in Racialized Sexual Discrimination across Online Intimate Partner-Seeking Venues

Compulsory interracial intimacy: Why does removing the ethnicity filter on dating apps not benefit racial minorities?

Contextualizing black emerging adults' perceptions of neighborhood quality

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