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Scruff founders defend ethnicity filter

Scruff founders defend ethnicity filter

Scruff founders Eric Silverberg (right) and Johnny Skandros (left) have defended the app’s feature that allows users to filter out entire races as they cruise. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, the duo was asked to respond to the idea that the race filter “enables” and “compounds” racial stereotypes.

They answered …

“Those are legitimate critiques,” Silverberg begins before changing course. “Ultimately we wanted to build an app and a service that enables guys to find the kind of guys they’re into and for some people that includes…” He stops himself and continues: “That can mean many things for different people. Sometimes they have ethnic preferences, sometimes they have height/weight preferences, sometimes people have body hair preferences.”

“Right!” pipes up Skandros with the knowing chuckle of a man who has fallen victim to ruthless body hair discrimination.

Really queens? You cant compare body hair discrimination against racism. There is a strong difference between preference and prejudice. And while Scruff isn’t the only dating app that has ethnicity filters, as one of the most popular apps, they aren’t setting the greatest example.

“Ultimately each one of our own individual choices is profoundly informed by the community we grow up in, perhaps by the relationships we had with our siblings or parents,” Silverberg said. “I mean, to try and unpack that would probably take years for each person and so…I don’t know…I give wide latitude to other people when they talk about the kind of people they’re into.

“Outside of your sexual partner, boyfriend, or husband, yes I think it’s good and right to see our assumptions challenged, our biases challenged, and certainly in the public sphere and the workplace,” he continued. “But when it comes to the very personal choice of who you’re partnered with it’s something we leave to our members.”

So, from what I understand,  it’s okay to be racist when you are picking someone to mate with, but don’t clutch your pearls when a black guy walks behind you at a bar. Right?

Absolutely not.

Racism is discrimination against another race. If your preference/prejudice excludes entire races, that’s racism. And the use of these filters, however private it may be, is still racism. Scruff, among the other apps, perpetuates this backwards trend with their race filters.

Trust me, your skin isn’t going to crack if you stray away from the pigments you look at in the mirror everyday.

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