Removing the ethnicity filter was fuckin retarded. It wasn’t hurting anyone nor was it “racist” ... I now have to literally block every dude that’s not my preference. So rather than just being able to click one button that filtered out everyone except black men (which is in no way discriminatory) I have to systematically tell everyone else to Fuck off by blocking.

Removing this filter makes it harder for me to find and connect with POC

New ethnicity filter

I suspect that you now realize you overreacted by removing the Ethnicity Filter back when BLM was the new rage. As the existence of an Ethnicity Filter is no different than having a ‘Chinese’ or ‘Italian’ filter on Yelp or OpenTable... it’s what you’re in the mood for, nothing more.
Please restore this option as I am hesitant to continue my premium subscription unless you reverse this ‘at the time’ vogue decision.
Thank you.

You all are entitled to your opinions on your own preferences. But that is just what they are....opinions. Based upon some of the logic here, there should not be any filters as filters are discriminating based upon whatever factor it is designed to filter. As someone who has previously paid for Unlimited, I have not renewed my subscription until I find value of some of these features including these filters including ethnicity as well as some others being discussed. Failing to implement these filters in a timely manner will show that Grindr does not value its paying customers who will then decide to possibly look at other alternatives.

I’m curious, why someone would not want to date outside of their own race... that doesn’t eventually boil down to some form of bigotry.

If you have a preference or a subconscious filter to what you think is attractive, when it relates to race, then it is absolute bigotry. You’re basically saying that you can’t find a single person of that race attractive and therefore choose to discriminate by preference to filter an ENTIRE race. That right there is small minded thinking and we really have started to evolve from that, so please keep up.

If you actually got rid of it as a statement against racism - u believable. An individual’s sexual preferences, what they are attracted to isn’t a choice anymore than being straight or gay is a choice. Bring it back please.

Regardless, he's right. Preference for certain body features than can be attributed to one's ethnicity is not racism. It's called attraction!

No.

This is thinly veiled racism. Learn to build the bridge and get over your fear of difference.

A lot comments here saying “I only date <ethnicity>“

Ethnicity has no impact on a personality or even how great they are in bed... and frankly I’ve already made my mind up about what shit awful personality you have if you have “just a preference”.

I’m a white guy and even I think you should keep your preferences to yourself.

All ethnicities are beautiful.

Please forward this email to the person/team who made the decision to remove the ethnicity filter from the app.

The purpose of my letter is to request the ethnicity filter be reinstated by presenting a viewpoint that perhaps wasn’t considered when the initial decision was taken to remove the filter.

My understanding of the rationale behind the removal of the ethnicity filter was a well intended act in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and racial equity in general. I applaud the position Grindr took as a corporate citizen, however despite the decision being well intended, I believe it to be flawed in what it achieves practically.

I am a paid member, which grants me the opportunity to view a larger number of profiles as well as filter groupings of profiles that don’t happen to be ones that I don’t happen to be sexually attracted to. For me, and I realize that there is the potential for others to use the filter differently, I use it so as to maximize the number of potential profiles that fall within the characteristics that I just happen to be attracted to. I don’t use it to remove those who I am offended/disgusted/racially biased towards etc. and again I realize that there are those people who do. As a result of the removal of the ethnicity filter, I am now scrolling through numbers of profiles that I wouldn’t normally see, nor would choose to message. However what are the other results that have been created due to removing the filter?

Besides scrolling through additional profiles that I am aware that I’m not attracted to, there are also profiles with which I’m not sure of their ethnicity. So what happens in those cases? Well if I message someone and they message me back (eventually) with a face picture of themselves and I’m not attracted to their ethnicity (and here I must defend myself because it is not a conscious biased choice anymore than is my dislike of broccoli. They are both just something I don’t have an attraction to but in no way does that mean I’m going to discriminate against broccoli or treat broccoli poorly or less than an ear of corn for example. I just don’t happen to have a taste for broccoli. In a grocery store I don’t go to the broccoli section, I filter it out, but with no malice to the broccoli it’s just not my thing). So getting back to receiving a picture from someone who I thought might have fallen into one ethnicity but was actually another and now I am put in the position to essentially reject them. (Fortunately given the fact that I’m not a revolting human being, I politely explain that sadly they are not my type, not going into detail of course, and I wish them good luck. But think of all the different ways that that could go wrong given a different person’s view of other groups of people. So then the recipient is subjected to vile behaviour for no other reason than being there ethnicity. Had the filter still been in place that person wouldn’t have a come across that other persons profile and the exchange never would have taken place thus sparing the recipient the sender’s vitriol.)

I also have a feeling that part of the rationale for the filter removal was that if all ethnicities are visible this will somehow temper peoples’ racism by way of exposure instead of using the filter and falling under the ‘out of sight out of mind’ mentality rendering them invisible ergo unimportant etc. but I would be hard-pressed to believe that. As if someone who holds the mentality that one ethnicity is somehow inferior to another, is somehow going to be swayed by seeing thumbnail body parts/profiles of these other ethnicities and suddenly have a revelation that makes them no longer racially biased/racist. Not happening.
So other than the symbolic gesture of removing the filter, what is the practical benefit of doing so, if there was one? Don’t get me wrong I think it’s a lovely gesture of solidarity but what is the lesson are you trying to impart to your users, and are they getting that message by doing so?

Sadly I don’t think so and all it’s really been achieved is other problems. Therefore I would ask that you put the ethnicity filter back into use please and Look for a better alternative for supporting ethnic and racial equality.
Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
A well-meaning and frustrated customer

PS And by no means am I equating any of the other characteristics that can be filtered on Grindr to the significance of ethnicity and racism given the current climate, but by removing the ethnicity filter it opens the door to a conversation regarding filters for weight, height, body type, and age. Just a thought :-)

PPS Please acknowledge reception of this email and I would appreciate a considered response from the person/team who took the decision to remove the filter. Thank you.

@tariano I don’t believe they took it away to make money bc they don’t offer it on the UNLIMITED version either, or at least they took it away for a while. They actually got rid of the ethnicity feature at the rise of BLM and I’m sure it was to save there asses or veer far from any sort of racial issue to be conflicted during our treacherous times of 2020..

Grindr, it’s all good bring it BACK! It’s too damn hard weeding out what we’re not sexually interested in. Thanks

It’s all a ruse for grindr to sell their unlimited feature so you can keep scrolling to see what u really want to see. ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY!... FOR I HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH ANYONE FROM RUSSIA!... EG. WE DONT SPEAK THE SAME DIALECT.... YET MAYBE SOMEONE FROM RUSSIA MIGHT WANT MY BBC. So theoretically it’s all about cock blocking too!... BLACK PEOPLE IDENTIFY WITH BLACKS!... SHIT SOME WHITES ONLY EVER LIKE BLACK COCK!... just like they saaaay, ONCE YOU GO BLACK YOU’LL NEVER GO BLACK!... hmmmm

Can also be looked at forcing people to live with what they don’t want. Less blacks on the app now, like where all the black dudes are?!... gone back over old faithful A4A!

Grindr needs some competition!...
LARGEST GAY HOOK UP APP MY ASS!

Even when you’re using the unlimited feature what is it are you actually paying for? To keep scrolling????

They take away a future yet the price remains the same for unlimited.

Pffffff!

It’s all a ruse for grindr to sell their unlimited feature so you can keep scrolling to see what u want to see. ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY!...

It’s all a ruse for grindr to sell their unlimited feature so you can keep scrolling to see what u really want to see. ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY!... FOR I HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH ANYONE FROM RUSSIA!... EG. WE DONT SPEAK THE SAME DIALECT.... YET MAYBE SOMEONE FROM RUSSIA MIGHT WANT MY BBC. So theoretically it’s all about cock blocking too!... BLACK PEOPLE IDENTIFY WITH BLACKS!... SHIT SOME WHITES ONLY EVER LIKE BLACK COCK!... just like they saaaay, ONCE YOU GO BLACK YOU’LL NEVER GO BLACK!... hmmmm

Can also be looked at forcing people to live with what they don’t want. Less blacks on the app now, like where all the black dudes are?!... gone back over old faithful A4A!

Grindr needs some competition!...
LARGEST GAY HOOK UP APP MY ASS!

Even when you’re using the unlimited feature what is it are you actually paying for? To keep scrolling????

They take away a future yet the price remains the same for unlimited.

Pffffff!

I'm a poc. I don't find it racist or helping. Bring back the ethnicity filter.

So glad I’m not the only one! Ugh it’s been soooo time consuming lately!

My preference for certain ethnicities for dating is akin to my preference for men vs women. It is simply a preference not discrimination. Removing the filter makes subscribing to the Grindr Xtra of no value to me. I am glad to resubscribe should the filter be reinstalled.

the most stupid thing ever !!! a preference for a certain race has nothing to do with racism, it is just a preference. This is the Reason why I stopped my Premium Membership. I don't want to go through 100's of profiles to find the type I am interested in. I have 56 years of age. Does the age filter has to stopped as well because young guys don't want to date people my age and I might be offended by that ???? seriously ???? That would be just insane !!! Everybody has their own preferences and a good app is about finding the people you are interested in, in an easy and rapid way !!!

Having a preference in the men one has is a only preference, my preference, an individual preference, NOT racism. A filter to encounter those men eliminates racism. I’ve been asked my race and when it was not what he preferred, I was ignored. My guess, it put him in an odd situation and he chose to ignore then block me. It didn’t bother me because I’m happy in my own skin, but for others, this could have had a negative affect. Do you not agree that the race filter would have eliminated this situation all together?

replying to @m:

I am a White man, raised in an English speaking household in the American South West. I became bilingual in Spanish through study in highschool.

I am not attracted to white men like myself because the overwhelming majority of them are circumcised

I myself was circumcised and being exposed to circumcised genitals reminds me of my trauma, bringing up uncomfortable emotions which take me out of the moment.

Hispanic men in this region are circumcised at a rate ranging from 5 to 10 percent. Meaning for every 19 encounters I will meet 1 guy who I have to let down.

With White men I encounter an intact one for every 9 I have to awkwardly reject their sexual advances, which wastes their time and mine, and through that conditioning I’m just not attracted to them anymore because I know we’re likely not sexually compatible. The same way I am not attracted to straight guys. Or women.

Based on your definition provided I am lead to believe you would consider that racist . If so, why?

Gay Hookup culture/ cruising FOR SEX [not professional contacts] is an integral pillar of gay culture dating back to Ancient Greece. Less than a Century ago Gay men used an entire code language, called Polari, with which they could openly solicit sex with strangers in a manner which a gay man would recognize overtly and for an uninitiated straight man the message would pass covertly. Grindr represents yet another step in This cultural evolution as a means for gay men to express their counter culture sexuality openly in a way that is invisible to the uninformed. Grindr is the industry leader, which is important in a medium where the user population itself IS the experience. I was going to say it is some late capitalist neoliberal degeneracy that you would insult gay history to the point of denying the gay legacy to claim that Grindr is, at its heart, nothing more than a Queer LinkedIn Woke Networking app... but Then I realized oh. That’s the point Grindr IS a sex app which has revolutionized dating across the Kinsey spectrum. BUT, just like in the mid 20th century it cloaks itself in an image of Respectability, a camouflage of cliche politically correct woke capitalism

So consider yourself initiated.

If, however, knowing the historical context You still insist that grindr is “not for sex” that would make you a literal Nazi.

The brick and mortar cruising scene, bathhouses and public spaces have been wiped out by The advent of the gay dating app, covid-19, and the privatization of the commons. Meaning, to deny that THE Gay Hookup App IS a hookup app and should function to facilitate gay hookups is to deny Gay people the means of cultural production: and thus advocacy for the Erasure of Gay Culture, subordinating it to a commodified- sterile- lobotomized- hegemonized LGBT culture robbed of its revolutionary, subversive elements to become just another homogenous faction of the identity politic: another demographic to market products to; all of its rough edges sanded down to fit perfectly where heteronormative patriarchy wants it to.