Honors Program, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Jul;51(5):2385-2397. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-02223-1. Epub 2022 Apr 26.
Scholars have noted how online dating technologies are one important arena in which racism, classism, heteronormativity, and other systems of domination are reproduced. This often materializes via a "personal preference" discourse-a framing of desire as unique, individual, and untethered from systems of domination. Yet underexplored is how such a discourse, which fosters prejudice in preferences, is framed as socially acceptable. This paper draws on a content analysis of 858 unique profile screenshots and in-depth interview data of 26 users of Grindr, Scruff, and Jack'd to examine how users voice their "personal preferences." The content analysis results indicated that 24 percent of profiles listed a preference, and that most were framed in "positive" or polite ways (e.g., "I'm into…"). Analysis of interview data demonstrated that respondents engaged in what we call blatant exclusion and positive reframing in their interactions with other users to voice their "personal preferences." Users who did not state preferences still allowed their preferences to infuse their experiences on the app. We document how users negotiated racist, classist, and heteronormative preferences and, to an extent, how these users are understanding others' preferences. This study has implications for understanding the logic behind "personal preference" discourse and why it remains socially acceptable even as other systems of domination do not.
学者们注意到，在线约会技术是一个重要领域，其中种族主义、阶级主义、异性恋规范和其他统治制度得以再现。这通常通过一种“个人偏好”的论述来实现，即把欲望描述为独特的、个体的，与统治制度无关。然而，人们对这种助长偏见的论述如何被视为社会可接受的方式还探讨得不够。本文通过对 858 个独特的个人资料截图和 26 名 Grindr、Scruff 和 Jack'd 用户的深入访谈数据进行内容分析，考察了用户如何表达他们的“个人偏好”。内容分析结果表明，24%的个人资料列出了偏好，而且大多数都是以“积极”或礼貌的方式来表达的（例如，“我喜欢……”）。访谈数据分析表明，受访者在与其他用户的互动中进行了我们所谓的公然排斥和积极重新构建，以表达他们的“个人偏好”。那些没有表达偏好的用户仍然允许他们的偏好影响他们在应用程序上的体验。我们记录了用户如何协商种族主义、阶级主义和异性恋规范，以及在某种程度上，这些用户是如何理解他人的偏好的。这项研究对于理解“个人偏好”论述背后的逻辑以及为什么即使其他统治制度不这样做，它仍然是社会可接受的具有重要意义。
