Online dating race

Key findings about online dating in the U.S.

Mobile dating apps that allow users to filter their searches by race — or rely on algorithms that pair up people of the same race — reinforce racial divisions and biases, according to a new paper by Cornell researchers. Although partner preferences are extremely personal, the authors argue that culture shapes our preferences, and dating apps influence our decisions. Fifteen percent of Americans report using dating sites, and some research estimates that a third of marriages — and 60 percent of same-sex relationships — started online. Tinder and Grindr have tens of millions of users, and Tinder says it has facilitated 20 billion connections since its launch. Research shows racial inequities in online dating are widespread. For example, black men and women are 10 times more likely to message whites than white people are to message black people. Apps may also create biases.

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February pages. In the world of online dating, race-based discrimination is not only tolerated, but encouraged as part of a pervasive belief that it is simply a neutral, personal choice about one's romantic partner. Indeed, it is so much a part of our inherited wisdom about dating and romance that it actually directs the algorithmic infrastructures of most major online dating platforms, such that they openly reproduce racist and sexist hierarchies. In Not My Type: Automating Sexual Racism in Online Dating , Apryl Williams presents a socio-technical exploration of dating platforms' algorithms, their lack of transparency, the legal and ethical discourse in these companies' community guidelines, and accounts from individual users in order to argue that sexual racism is a central feature of today's online dating culture. She discusses this reality in the context of facial recognition and sorting software as well as user experiences, drawing parallels to the long history of eugenics and banned interracial partnerships. Ultimately, Williams calls for, both a reconceptualization of the technology and policies that govern dating agencies, and also a reexamination of sociocultural beliefs about attraction, beauty, and desirability. Williams's highly accessible narrative is made extra intriguing by the liberal inclusion of users' own words sharing their intimate thoughts.

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Technology has a powerful ability to shed new light on old problems. Tech can expose the silent assumptions in our systems, one of which has been the persistent reluctance to address prejudice in our most intimate choices.

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Redesign Dating Apps to Lessen Racial Bias, Study Recommends

Apryl Williams opened a Tinder account in and began wondering about the algorithms used by dating apps, how they selected potential matches, and what role race may play in the system. Dating sites, Williams said, use algorithms that attempt to predict attraction and attractiveness, and the sorting and ranking is often racially informed. By matching users with others who look like them, dating platforms both reflect and reinforce racial stereotypes and biases common in American culture, which attribute attractiveness and desirability to certain groups and rank others as less attractive. What dating apps do is automate sexual racism, making it hyper efficient and routine to swipe in racially curated sexual marketplaces.

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