Scruff founders Eric Silverberg (right) and Johnny Skandros (left) have defended the app’s feature that allows users to filter out entire races in their search for love, lust and companionship, but is catering to people’s deep-rooted racial preferences really the right idea?
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, the duo was asked to respond to the idea that the race filter “enables” and “compounds” racial stereotypes.
BuzzFeed reports:
“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.
Sure, someone can anecdotally “fall victim” to something like body hair discrimination, but relating the experience to racial discrimination is a cringe-worthy comparison.
But is Scruff doing anything that the other dating services are not?
Here’s a screenshot of their ethnicity filter, which is only accessible to paid users:
And here’s where you’d find a similar feature for Grindr‘s paid users (I wasn’t about to pay for Grindr just to get a screen shot):
Here’s the free filter Manhunt offers:
So, clearly, this isn’t a Scruff problem, though the brand does differentiate itself by projecting a more inclusive vibe than, say, Grindr.
“A person’s choice of partner is deeply personal,” Silverberg added to BuzzFeed. “And I don’t think we would presume to judge or tilt one’s choice of sexual partner, boyfriend, or husband.”
“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. 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.”
Related: This Is Nelson. He Has Something To Say About Racism In The Gay Community. You Should Listen.
“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.”
That sure is a long way of saying “sexual racism isn’t really racism,” a dull argument we’ve heard before.
So where’s the line? If it’s OK to only be into white guys, or not be into Asian guys (which even as we type it doesn’t feel quite right as they’re preferences based solely on prejudice — you never know when you’ll see someone that flips your switch to the “on” position), is it alright to advertise your biases directly on your profile?
We’ve seen just about every race preference proudly displayed on profiles.
“Vanilla or spice, no chocolate nor rice.”
“NO ORIENTALS!!!”
“Is there a block all black button?”
“Asians, prease reave me arone.”
“Just a preference. Sorry!!”
Those are just some of the creatively racist boundaries from the following video, “Guys React To Racist Grindr Profiles”:
It would be tough to argue that these profile comments aren’t racist, that they don’t negatively impact other users, so why provide a tool that essentially legitimizes the same biases?
Would anyone really care if they weren’t able to segregate their Grindr and Scruff grids anymore? Is the competition between the apps really that stiff that removing the feature from one would tip the scales in the other’s favor?
We don’t quite buy the “it’s good to challenge your assumptions in life, but not when considering a sexual partner” line. Sex, love, friendship, work, community — it’s all life. If you’re on these apps, you’ve already challenged or are in the process of challenging the assumption that you were born heterosexual, so growth is clearly within the scope of possibility.
If we can’t get outside of ourselves to truly embody that — and judging by the nastiness that abounds, it seems unlikely we will any time soon — shouldn’t our tools of communication at least be designed to move in that direction?
Just questions. Thoughts?
Shofixti
This article is conflating racist statements (sentences guys place within their profiles) and the capacity of a male body to be aroused by some subsets of clines (bodily arousal that clusters around a set of physical features).
These are two very different things.
Surveying racial hostility in the form of one-sentence race based dismissals is different from making demands about how men recognise their capacity to desire some-but-not-all-men.
Mark Engledow
Holy fuck, people! Admit it or not, everyone has preferences – age, race, weight, height, body type, amount of hair, top/bottom, dick size – stop crying and get the fuck over it! Find the guys who want you and ignore the rest – their loss.
DCFarmboy
racist to its core.
dahunt
Just disable the race/ethnicity filter(s) for your profile and searches, and you’re done.
Re: those kinds of prejudice, I’d rather people be honest.
Stache
Why not just remove all preferences then. That way the one’s bitching don’t look like complete hypocrites.
GusBlogging
I find this to be a very difficult issue. I think it seriously depends on what you are looking for on those apps: IF you are just looking to hook up I think it is nothing wrong with those filters – everyone has his optical preferences. I can also filter by size, age etc. because it fits my preferences. Of course it’s a racist thing to do, however, if you are physically attracted to black guys – why not let them look for black guys and all the other ways around.
It becomes differently for those who are looking for a relationship – since this should be based (in an ideal world…;)) on personality and inner beauty only, one should not need one of those filters. Still – we should stop to base everything on a law/rule/judgement! It might be a preference based on ethnicity which is racist but you cannot force someone to date someone of a different skin color just because it is the politically right thing to do!
Also, there are many guys specifically looking for a different ethnicity because they are “curious”, attracted to whatever – let them just be!
Gus from http://www.gus-guyblog.com
redcarpet30
So they are supposed to pull the feature becuase some people are racist assholes? I’m sorry but if someone is using the race filters, thats on them not the app developer for building it in. If they didn’t offer the filtering option then people would just be doing it manually and putter worse, stronger, more racist language in their profiles.
It seems like the reporter was trying to corner them on this, but its not their responsibility. It’s us, the users and the general LGBT communities responsibility to deal with sexual racism.
Tobi
I often think “wow, that woman’s gorgeous”, it doesn’t mean I want to date or have sex with her.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
fucking ridiculous fuss. As long as you treat people fairly and equally in business dealings and with respectfully all cases you shouldn’t be under any SJW-driven obligation to fuck them or moreover be shamed for what makes your dick hard or not. it’s just sex. we all have friends we love and hold dear and yet whom we do not wish to fuck. personally i think it’s sad for those with such narrow tastes but then i could be similarly shamed up for not being into transwomen or fat guys.
and lets not lie and pretend that there aren’t physical characteristics shared broadly by certain ethnicities with yes of course with overlap some around the edges but doesn’t change the general fact. so for example if you’re REALLY into body hair and full beards you’re pretty much fucked expecting that from a native american or south east asian. you do see that right
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID:apologies for the typos and general shoddiness of execution
Kangol
“Choice of partners”…LOL. Scruff gurlz, come on, you mean “sex partners,” right?
Not that there’s anything wrong with casual hookups. The problem is r@cism, but it always finds a way to replicate itself, so who should be surprised?
BigG
Really sick of this racism crap. If you get rejected, you pull the race card. Get over it. You got rejected because that person found you sexually unappealing. Get over yourself. A confident person wouldn’t give a crap.
willmSF
The POV expressed by many lately that everyone should find everyone else sexually attractive is tired,lame and ignorant. It’s thrown out by those that simply don’t understand the difference between discrimination and sexual attraction. It’s easier for people to jump on the PC bandwagon than actually stop and think before they write.
Question for the gay men out there: Are you sexually attracted to women? Not do you find some attractive but do you want to jump in the sack and have at it with hot female. Probably not ! Why ? Because you are attracted to men!! You’re Gay! So it’s just fine for you to discriminate against the majority of people on the planet when choosing a sexual partner because of gender, right? Doesn’t that make you a misogynist? …. No, just a gay man.
So once again tell me why Should I have to have sex with a person I’m not sexually attracted to? Is it just to appease your skewed PC view of human sexuality?
Guys grow up, Skruff is a sex-hook up site. It’s not a place guys go to find friends, roommates, housing, apply for jobs. Horny men use it to locate sexually attractive sex partners to have some steamy fun with.
Me2
Why is this an issue? If someone isn’t into you they’ll still ignore you, with or without a filter. I strongly believe that everyone has the right to be as discriminating as they want to be when it comes to who they sleep with.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
I believe we are sexually imprinted from an early age on what we will later find sexually attractive and most of us don’t vary wildly from that template. I grew up in the UK around Black and white and immigrants from the Asian subcontinent and variations thereof. I have the aesthetic appreciation for all of these groups because they’re so familiar to me at least from a purely physical perspective. However, I do not possess the aesthetic for, say, Aborigines or Papua New Guinea tribesmen because I wasn’t raised around them nor saw them on TV. But to simply claim that this racism bastardises the very real notion of that concept.
spiffy
A race filter is done at the search level, it doesn’t advertise what the searcher is looking for… That’s very different from those statements displayed on profiles for everyone to see.
Frankly I don’t know why Scruff is being singled out for the interview, every dating app and web site have this type of filters. As to Scruff being inclusive — I always thought the clean-cut guys won’t fit into their universe…LOL.
Everybody has preferences, just don’t be a d-bag about it.
Captain Obvious
Solution: Stop using apps to date.
People’s “preferences” suddenly disappear when they get to know you face to face as an actual person and not a list of likes and dislikes.
Derek Perron
It’s racial not entirely racism. But subconsciously I do believe there’s a bias based on race that those arguing preference are completely unaware of
Wentz
I find it offensive that this app is limited to men only. It’s incredibly sexist. Who knows, maybe a woman will turn you on! Everyone should be on this with no filters! It would be joyous to have to sort through hundreds of people you have no interest in!
zooby
Says two homely white guys …
But yeah, it’s why apps like Grindr and Tinder are bad ideas. Not just that, they are full of married cowards and closet cases. Blech. Who wants that?
zooby
I will also say that I wish those apps would let people know who uses race filters, so that me (even being white) can easily know who NOT to date.
jayj150
My issue with this though, is that people complaining about stating racial preferences always seem to demonize white guys and victimize people of color, particularly Asians, when in fact gay Asians are the biggest offenders. Contrary to popular belief, black gay men, for the most part tend to date within their race, same as Latino gay men and white gay men. Asians, however, almost universally prefer to date white guys, at the expense of their own race and are COMPLETELY unapologetic about it. The most of these ‘White Only’ messages on all of these apps are by Asian men themselves. They share the same weird, crazy(and frankly, pathetic) obsession for white men and the same contempt for Asian men as their straight, female, Asian counterparts. The difference is that in the case of women, the attraction seems to be reciprocated, whereas for Asian gay men, they are both the source and the object of their self-hatred. Maybe what white gay men, and gay men of other ethnicities find off-putting about Asians is precisely their lack of self-esteem. Few things are as sexy as being confident and loving yourself. Why can Asians get away with openly turning down men of color(including, but certainly not limited to THEIR OWN kind) specifically because of their race, but white men get criticized for doing the same thing.
Thomas
@DCFarmboy: Well SAID @DCFarmboy! We are pushing against being politically correct without remembering why PC started in the first place. Ppl were being hurt by our words and attitudes which followed those words. All of these apps are careful to skirt the issue by saying it’s on their subscribers not the app creators or developers… When the app creators feed into this discrimination and facilitate prejudice they do bear some responsibility for the problems that follow.
James Rumsey
suppose they will also be saying that age filters are ageist because that barely legal twink doesn’t want to sleep with someone their grandads age
TheFinalWord
The LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ community has officially jumped the shark. No one is morally obligated to sleep with anyone. We have fought to keep the courts out of our bedrooms. Now, we are turning the keys over to the PC police. This is utter rubbish.
Alan David Smith
diffrent days will get you diffret responses from me. i generally am not attracted to supersize men. and am not going to hook up with a guy who is 400 pounds. but who knows what will happen if we go out for a coffee a few times. i also skip ethnicities woont date thier own race. but the truth is i am also ready to get back into dating. vs. justa random hook-up so regardless of race the guy who picks a reba concert over a beyonce 1 will get my attention more. now as for any actual gay,b, c. i like to call it i find all sort’s guy’s hot for diffrent reason’s. athough truthfully. i’d probably skip many men for nyle dimarco . right now.
Paco
White guys are all about their freedom to express their “preference” how they want, no matter how degrading or vile, until you say “no white guys” to them. Then you don’t hear the end of it. I guess no one likes rejection based on superficial criteria.
Also, for some reason, I wasn’t expecting the creators of Scruff to look like that.
Masc Pride
a4a let’s you filter everything from height down to zodiac…and I like the control the option provides. There are a lot of guys logged into these sites/apps at any given time of the day, and a good number of them probably won’t be a match for one reason or another. If I want to find a 33 year-old, white, 6’2, 190 lb, brown-eyed, HIV negative, versatile Leo with a 33″ waist, I should be “allowed” to do so (for free). If guys being able to filter what they’re looking for offends you, you have incredibly low self-esteem. With that said, Scruff’s “Cancel” feature does seem a bit hostile and snobby. Most other sites allow you to tick off on what you are interested in versus canceling out what doesn’t interest you.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
HEY QUEERTY GO FLOCK YOURSELVES, YOUR AUTO MODERATOR SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!
Billy Budd
I have fucked guys from all major races (black, latino, white, asian etc.) and I can find beauty, occasionally, in all of them.
Caliban
I don’t have any restrictions so far as race is concerned, but I don’t necessarily see it as racism when other people do. For whatever reason I’m not particularly attracted to Asian men, perceiving them as likely smooth bodied when I prefer more body hair, but I wouldn’t rule them out completely. We all have sexual ideals in our heads, things that push our buttons or turn us off. No one is OWED sexual attention from another person- for whatever reason the person you’re attracted to is not attracted to you in return and that’s just reality, something everyone has to deal with. You might be too old or too young for them, too heavy or too waif-like, too bald or too hairy, uncircumcised or cut, too short or too tall. You might not be that person’s sexual ideal of the great WASP wonder or not the black (or Hispanic or Asian) man of their dreams. Those are just the breaks.
justgeo
Yo all this shit when trilling for a snack. These apps are not about a partner for the most part they are about something other than ones own hand or toy at the moment. So If you go to MickyDs or wherever you order what you like. Not all you exist on. The user makes a choice for the time if that is all and to only way one looks-hunts-I find it a pretty predetermined dead way of living. At times over and done bu the numbers(filters) but most of life gives me more options for greater options to include growth maybe love and sex with REAL (skin on skin living facetime) options than cyber stuff. One is easy and over-dead quick. The other lives at it’s own rate of time biases serve a learning un till the heart has done it’s job to shut the fucking brain mind off.
justgeo
sick with a cold and too pissed to proof read sorry But you get the idea!
Phillip Bernal
What a bunch of pussy boys, Oh they don’t like me. why don’t you like me??????
Axeman
@Wentz: YES!
Anna Renee
I’m glad to see more people are realizing Richard Armatage or Lee Pace are not gay.Their great actors as well as good guys,. Their both talented,and have a lot to contribute to this world .Enjoy their accomplishments though their work.,Not to mention their both gorgeous. But Richard,he himself is,…zues.
jayj150
I hate being the grammar police guy, but for the love of God: They’re=they are; their is an adjective. “Their great actors…”, “Their both talented…”, “…their both gorgeous”. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Geez.
Chris
The people at SCRUFF and other dating apps are making business decisions. When people stop sorting and selecting based on preferences, the businesses that cater to people’s sexual desires will stop soliciting and providing that information.
o.codone
@jayj150: I’ll bet your a lot of fun in person.
dtpm
This mirrors the usual hypocricy of the gay “community”.