These users would say things like, “This isn’t e-harmony, this is Grindr, get over it or block me.” The other way that I observed some gay men justifying their discrimination was by framing it in a way that put the emphasis back on the app. “My preference may offend others … I derive no satisfaction from being mean to others, unlike those who have problems with my preference.” “It was not my intent to cause distress,” another user explained. When confronted, they simply became defensive. In my study, many of the respondents seemed to have never really thought twice about the source of their preferences. Preferences may appear natural or inherent, but they’re actually shaped by larger structural forces – the media we consume, the people we know and the experiences we have. Sociologists have long been interested in the concept of preferences, whether they’re favorite foods or people we’re attracted to. (During the 2020 #BLM protests in response to the murder of George Floyd, Grindr eliminated the ethnicity filter.) His image of his ideal partner was so fixed that he would rather – as he put it – “be celibate” than be with a Black or Latino man. That user went on to explain that he had even purchased a paid version of the app that allowed him to filter out Latinos and Black men. A Grindr profile used in the study specifies interest in certain races.
