In the chapter “Brown to Blond on Gay.com: Passing White in Queer Cyberspace” Andil Gosine analyzes the racism that occurs in gay online chat rooms by pretending to be different races and/or ethnicities. In his study he found that if he did not have his race and/or ethnicity posted to his handle or profile he was asked by fellow users what his background was and many times was shot down by users when he replied as a non-white male. However, once he adopted the role of “Robbie” a male with blond hair and blue eyes he was no longer asked about his ‘background’ and instead users simply assumed he was white and in turn he received more and more connections. Although the concept of racism has come a long and positive way in society, it is apparently still prevalent in gay culture.
This reading automatically made me think of the gay social networking/hook up/dating application “Grindr”. On the app men are allowed to write what ever they please in their profiles, some write whether they are a ‘top’ or a ‘bottom’, some write if they are looking for a relationship or just a casual hook up and there are some who are write ‘just looking to chat’. However, along with these harmful statements men write things like “no spice”, “no rice”, “no asians”,”no blacks” so that the particular race or ethnicity they are saying ‘no’ to does not message them.
I found this video online and I feel it gives a clear example of how it feels when non-white males (in particular) see that they are essentially banished from someone’s profile because of their race.
Digital Intimacies 