Is This App for Interracial Dating Promoting Acceptance, or Accepting Prejudice?

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/color-interracial-dating-app



Color was designed to help minorities avoid a lot of the shit they encounter on other dating apps. But some detractors worry setting racial preferences just reinforces stereotypes.

Dating sucks for everyone, but it sucks most for minorities. Wading through obscene, degrading messages is part and parcel of the typical Tinder journey, but minorities are more likely to be on the receiving end of charming lines like, "What exactly are you?" and "Sorry, just not into gaysians."

Color Dating, a new interracial dating app, is hoping to flip the script on these racist interactions by connecting users of different ethnicities to people who are actually into them, boosting reply rates and self-esteem in the process. While this may seem like an uncomfortable commoditization of even more uncomfortable racial fetishes, so far the Tinder-esque swipe app, which asks you for your racial preferences up front, has racked up over 30,000 downloads and positive feedback from users of many backgrounds. Even more significantly, creator Vu Tran told me, users are receiving similar numbers of matches, no matter their race. "This seems to indicate that our matching algorithms are working," he said.

Straight black women and Asian men continue to be the most overlooked on dating platforms: An oft-cited 2014 poll by OK Cupid found that 82 percent of non-black men held some bias against black women, while Asian men received the fewest messages and worst ratings of any demographic on the app. "White women prefer white men to the exclusion of everyone else—and Asian and Hispanic women prefer them even more exclusively," another report, from 2009, reads.

While a dating app can't solve racism, it can facilitate a less dispiriting dating experience for people of color. Tran sees Color as a slightly more sensitive matchmaker. "We're trying to push more of a positive message around racial differences," Tran said.

Though, like any Silicon Valley entrepreneur worth his weight in Bitcoin, Tran's ultimate goal isn't to create a post-racial utopia but to increase "engagement." He points out that mainstream apps like Tinder are losing frustrated minorities to siloed dating sites like Bae (for African Americans) or East Meet East (for Asian Americans), leaving an opening for a swipe app that's more personalized and affirming (and, potentially, lucrative). "When you don't get matches, you end up leaving the platform," he said, "and then the platform becomes even more homogeneous."

Sonu S. Bedi, a professor of political theory at Dartmouth and author of Beyond Race, Sex and Sexual Orientation: Legal Equality without Identity, thinks Color sounds promising, though he'd prefer if the app didn't allow white users to choose other white users to date. (It currently does.) "You may not be able to consciously control who you are attracted to, but that doesn't imply that the attraction is benign," he said.

Bedi believes that, just as housing and employment should be race-blind, so should dating platforms. In an essay on sexual racism in the Journal of Politics he argues that equal access to intimacy is a matter of justice. "The opportunity to be a part of a reciprocal romantic relationship is a primary social good and is important to a capability central to human dignity," he writes. In his conclusion, he calls for the banishment of all search functions that allow users to specify which race they'd like to date.

"Before the online world, you were forced to meet people at bars," he told me. "Of course, you could have racial preferences. But today, blocking people is too easy. Dating sites have an obligation to ensure they don't facilitate racial exclusion and stereotyping."

Derek Wu, a single Angeleno, told me he was initially optimistic that Color Dating would be non-racist and promote interracial dating but was disheartened to find the app description framed attraction as something that "can't be helped." He imagines he would be fetishized in a not-cool way if he joined. "I realized this is just promoting yellow fever and jungle fever and all that, so now I don't really want any part in it," Wu said.

Tran sounds blasé when I ask about people using the app to justify their own racial "preferences." He doesn't see a difference between being attracted to black men and liking twiggy model types or redheads. "If people aren't into dating short or tall people, that's cool. People have their ideals," he said. What he says he wants is to destigmatize desire. "I want to break down these taboos," he said.

Given the omnipresence of dating apps catering to every whim, Color isn't exactly revolutionary. It's also unlikely we'll be able to swipe our way towards a more perfect union. But if by connecting them to women who find them attractive, Color prevents even one Asian man from being told "Sorry, I don't do mathletes," it could be worth it. As Tran puts it, "When people are constantly rejected, it feels horrible, and it bleeds into your real life. We've heard from a lot of people that this app helped them realize there are those out there who find them attractive."

 

Wish this was available when I was single. Gonna check It out. For too long the online dating world was filled with too many micro aggressions. I can't tell you the amount of don't date black dudes profiles I've seen. It makes the process that much more shitty.

 

I know absolutely nothing about that site or it's creator and yet I hope that it fails miserably because it's called bae.

I hate that fucking word.

 

We should make a list of words we hate.

 

Sounds like a word straight out of Urban Dictionary.

 

Yet you guys have no problem with Tinder Bumble its all about being catchy to your market, like it or not women like that term

Just went away with my girl and she called it a baecation

 

Well, you tend to date within the 20 to 25 years of age demographic (nothing wrong with that), so they are probably more into it. In my opinion, "Bae" died about a year to a year and a half ago. It isn't being used by the people who created it any more than fleek is. Although, I am sure some are still trying to hold on to it for dear life.

 

Ditto. Me too.

 

Baby bump! Put the phrase baby bump on that list! I can't stand it!

 

I'm curious about this app. I swore off online dating, but maybe this'll get me to think again. I've definitely seen firsthand how "particular" women can get online. Even for a really confident guy, you can only experience that stuff for so long.

 

Agreed. It has 4s swearing they're 8s because a bunch of horny guys say hello so in their warped minds they believe they have a ton of options and treat everyone like shit.
It entices people to constantly look for bigger better more.

 

It's like they're shopping on Amazon. And it kinda makes sense. I mean, they probably do get more messages than they can return. So why not be ultra picky, since there are gonna be 50 more guys next week?

 

It goes both ways. People get a really skewed view of reality when they are on those things. I recently had a guy tell me how a bunch of young ones were hitting him up (he's 51 they were in their 20s) Just like many of the women, he didn't realize that most/all of them were fake/scammers/etc. I started asking, so how many did you talk to and meet? uh um ...uhuh.

 

Because they're being picky about the wrong shit and still end up miserable. I am so happy I got off that bs. For hooking up its cool but anything more meaningful it doesn't work in my opinion. Don't get me wrong it works for some but the vast majority of people looking to meet someone worth having in their lives rarely get what they seek. From men I hear its a lot of just sending out messages with no replies and when they do get replies there is something wrong with the girl mentally or they seriously misrepresent themselves physically. For women its a lot of sifting through sexual advance one worded messages and just a lot of men they'd never be interested in. I wonder who's winning at this shit. Maybe the people at this site figured its enough to just sell possibility without any results.

 

I hate that term both ways as if the degrees and frequencies are the same or even similar lol. I think for men it just bashes the shit out of your self esteem its actually much better to talk in real life, it enhances your social skills and works out any kinks you might have.

 

I think it really messes up people's sense of all sorts of things. Women get inflated egos, some men do as well. Others get beat down that wouldn't if they were face to face. Anyone can toss up some well taken pics and well chosen words and come off looking great. I think it can be a good thing for the socially awkward to get a chance that they may not otherwise. However, from my experience, they aren't really improving on their social skills going that route. Just as you said, it needs to be a process in real life.

 

This, my friend, is the story of marketing.

 

Real talk you're right. Selling wishes and dreams lol

 

Like I've said before if I find myself single again I'd never go through it again. There's very little upside to being viewed as a consumable good.

 

Well think about it...it's in the site's best interest for people to not be successful in finding matches. If they find someone, they leave the sites and the site loses revenue. There's no looking to the bigger picture that if they have more success it will actually bring them more business.

Oh and by the way....as with many things, the negative things have wandered across gender lines. My latest contact ended up having mental issues and/or were seriously misrepresenting themselves physically (as well as in other areas). I hear women are now resulting to one word messages and so forth too.