Malena Amusa

Must Read: Craigslist, an Outpost for Racism

(looking.for.love.)

This week, Racialicious special correspondent, Wendi Muse, published a fantastic piece on the trouble with race and the online search for love. She looks at everything from blatant racism in dating ads and preference descriptions to the woes of an online dater who fears mentioning her race will cut her chances of finding love altogether. Wendi reported:

In the world of online dating, where a user name, masked email address, and optional photo sharing means freedom to speak ones mind in complete anonymity, users frequently abandon political correctness and resort to exotification, stereotypes, and blatant racism when referring to racial/ethnic “others” in their attempts to choose a mate. While some ads include the user’s thoughts on race is more subtle ways, for example, simply stating a racial “preference” (still, arguably, a sign of prejudice), others are more obvious in their descriptions—ranging from the utilization of explicitly racist phrases or terms to describe his/her own background and/or the background of the person being sought to downright exclusion a la Jim Crow style (“No -insert race here- need apply”).

Wendi writes with an incredible humor and attention to detail and produces some fresh lenses for any colorblind, post-race folks.

Posted at 10:38 AM, May 18, 2007 in Permalink | View Comments