Are We Racist on Dating Apps? This Thread Has Some Questions

Online dating comes with its own rules, preferences and prejudices.

(Photo: iStock)

When it comes to online dating, some people feel our worst prejudices can come into play. When there’s no one around to judge, biases based on race, status, and caste can influence our choices.

A Redditor in India, after being rejected time and again on Tinder, started a thread to call out women for their bias towards white guys. “White male who are in India for a short stay get 500 matches in a day,” he wrote.

His thread sparked a bunch of reactions about online dating. While some men complained about white privilege, a lot of people were hung-up on the "not here for hookups” tag.

Do Indian men living abroad get the worst of it?

According to some on the thread, brown guys in white-majority countries are the most screwed lot, and not in a good way.

Women, they argue, prefer goras over them any day, and this reveals their “colonial mentality”.

But in India everybody likes an NRI...

Some on the thread, however, believe that an NRI status is preferred by many women.

Men too can be racist

There were also those on the thread who were quick to point out that men can be racist too and they may also show a preference towards fairer skin.

“Not here for hook up”

These arguments got people talking about how some women on dating apps are looking for ‘validation’ and are not interested in actual dating.

Yet, a number of Redditors defended the “not here for hookups” tag.

Interestingly, the comments here raise the question of what dating apps and websites are really for and what comes under the ambit of (online and offline) dating. Let us know what you feel?

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