Swiping Away the Bias!

How do dating app algorithms, shape user's perceptions of attractiveness and desirability. Also what implications does this have for individuals from marginalized groups, specifically Black women? We will be focusing on Tinder.

At the core of dating apps is sophisticated algorithms that curate connections with users. These connections are called matches. The apps use user data and perceived compatibility factors like interests, preferences, and attractiveness. While this is marketed as an objective and data-driven approach to dating, these algorithms can have troubling societal biases and stereotypes about racial minorities, gender, body, and other attributes. In particular, Tinder's algorithm has come under scrutiny for potentially perpetuating long standing racist and discriminatory perceptions. Perhaps no race faces more algorithmic bias on Tinder than Black women, who encounter the dual marginalization of racial stereotypes in America and having to conform Eurocentric beauty standards. This essay examines how Tinder's influential matching algorithm and compounded user behavior shape broader perceptions of Black women's attractiveness and desirability, in often detrimental ways. It also will explain implications of these algorithmic biases on a vulnerable community

Throughout American history, black women have been subjected to pervasive stereotypes and biases that have undermined their desirability and self-worth. These dehumanizing portrayals can be traced back to the era of slavery, where black women were stripped of their femininity and beauty, viewed as objects of labor rather than desirable partners. See below for this picture that shows the dehumanizing portrayal of black women. The quote below this image also illustrates just how black women were dehumanized through the idea that they were breeders.

Holmes, Caren M. (2016) "The Colonial Roots of the Racial Fetishization of Black Women," Black & Gold: Vol. 2.

Slave women considered most capable of producing children were commonly referred to as “breeders,” and were bought and sold based on their reproductive efficiency” .

Dating apps like Tinder, use algorithms to curate matches and dictate which profiles are most visible to its users. They have also faced scrutiny over whether these technologies perpetuate racial prejudices and societal beauty standards. For example Tinder collects data from people on things such as appearance and location. The app uses a system that allows users to rise in the matching ranks depending on who swiped on them. This matching system could result in profiles of Black women and other marginalized groups being sidelined in favor of white profiles. The opaque character of these algorithms, often described as a black box obscures how characteristics like race and physical appearance are weighted, potentially inheriting and amplifying societal biases rather than mitigating them. This underscores the need for more transparency and accountability in how dating apps design their algorithms to ensure they foster inclusivity and fair representation across all user groups. Although this may seem like a random problem it stems from the fact that these apps are human made. When it comes to making algorithms they are usually not designed by people of color. Nobles explains  “Discrimination is also embedded in computer code and, increasingly, in artificial intelligence technologies that we are reliant on, by choice or not. When I searched for black women I got the phrase Hot Black Pussy." The fact that black pornography was first thing identified in the search proves exactly that the algorithm in dating apps such as tinder is not neutral. There are many downstream effects of who designs dating apps. When dating apps like Tinder are thought of as neutral it harms black women because they believe that the algorithm will treat them fairly. In the chart below it shows the Reply Rates by Race. As you can see black women get the fewest call rates back, whereas black men get the most reply rates. Additionally the Ted Talk video below helps to explain what dating apps are not telling there users.

Tinder has had a hugely negative impact on black women, and given this significance it is crucial to explore how the app's algorithm, combined with already long standing societal biases, exacerbates the challenges these women face. This exploration reveals not just the surface interactions but also the underlying cultural forces at play, which perpetuate discrimination and inequality in digital dating spaces. Liz Mineo says that “dating platforms often reflect and reinforce racial stereotypes and biases common in American culture." This underscores how these digital environments are not isolated from societal issues but are extensions of them. They reproduce the same racial hierarchies that prevail offline, where attractiveness and desirability are often measured against Eurocentric standards. This isn’t only about digital preference, but about how deeply ingrained societal norms shape our perceptions of beauty and desirability. For Black women, these platforms become places where past stereotypes and modern-day prejudices and stereotypes converge, often diminishing the viability and desirability of black women in the dating pool. In addition to this, Kaitlyn Tiffany makes the critique that the underlying simplicity of the algorithm reveals that it is not equipped to tackle or filter out deep racial preferences. She says, “Tinder is sorting its users with a fairly simple algorithm that can’t consider very many factors beyond appearance and location. You rose in the ranks based on how many people swiped right on (“liked”) you, but that was weighted based on who the swiper was. As you can see in this graph below since 1990 the rate of people meeting there partner online has increased by 60%. With most people using the internet and there is an increased chance of meeting a future spouse is through the internet there is going to be increased bias as well. This is because the bias that people normally hold against black women and women of color is now transferred and magnified online.

The dating app algorithm fundamentally limits any meaningful engagement with the complexities of human attraction that go beyond physical appearance or immediate location. This then causes a feedback loop where initial biases are not only replicated but also amplified. This system fails to recognize the diversity of user backgrounds and instead pushes forward profiles that garner the most superficial approval. How these dynamics play out is illustrated clearly by Celeste Vaugn Currington. She says,” race is the most important predictor of how White daters select whom to date. More often than not, White daters ignore the overtures of racial and ethnic minority daters with conventionally more desirable education background” This quote illustrates a systemic bias where qualities that are typically deemed attractive or desirable are overshadowed by the dater's racial background. Constantly being rated as less desirable or being overlooked on dating platforms can lead to diminished self-esteem and a decreased sense of self-worth. This is not merely about not getting matches, but it feeds into broader societal messages that Black women are less valuable or less attractive. Additionally it manifests itself in skin tone for example darker skinned black women are generally seen as undesirable in both the wider society and community at large. Black men who normally would be looking toward a black women are then inundated with dating app profiles of lighter skinned black women or even white women. This preference for women with lighter skin tones is shown in this video below by the Guardian which gives 8 unique perspectives of black women that explain the politics of skin tone.

In conclusion, dating apps and Tinder specifically have played a huge role in undermining how desirable Black women are seen in the digital dating world. The current algorithmic structure of Tinder is in reality just a reinvention of the centuries old dehumanizing stereotypes that have stripped many black women of their sexual autonomy. These problems are not just limited to black women, but any woman who doesn't fit conventional beauty standards. There are a number of solutions that we can use to fix this. Increasing diversity among the teams designing dating app algorithms is a crucial first step to counteract blind spots and ingrained biases. Robust third-party inspections of these algorithms to explicitly test for racial and gender discrimination must also become standard practice. Finally platforms could explore alternative matching systems that go beyond just physical appearance to highlight more holistic compatibility factors. See below for a video by F.D. Signifier that goes more in depth and gives complex analysis about black men vs black women and dating.

Links/Sources

Noble, Safiya Umoja. “Introduction: The Power of Algorithms” in Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York: New York University Press, 2018.

Holmes, Caren M. (2016) "The Colonial Roots of the Racial Fetishization of Black Women," Black & Gold: Vol. 2.

Anderson, Meena. “Op-Ed: How Dating Apps Can Leave Black Women Feeling Fetishized, Appropriated and Haunted.” EBONY, EBONY Media Operations, 22 Feb. 2023,

Tiffany, Kaitlyn. “The Tinder Algorithm, Explained.” Vox, Vox News, 7 Feb. 2019

Curington, Celeste Vaughan, Jennifer Hickes Lundquist, and Ken-Hou Lin. The Dating Divide : Race and Desire in the Era of Online Romance. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2021.)

Zeba Blay, and Michela Angela Davis. “How Colorism Shaped My Childhood.” Allure, April 28, 2021.

Tynesha M Cullers, “Swiping through Anti-Blackness and Colorism on Tinder,” The Black Youth Project, July 27, 2018,

Mindahoney, “Single Black Women and the Lies about Our Love Lives,” Andscape, February 14, 2022,

F.D. Signifier,Love and Black Men,Youtube, July 30,2021

Guardian, 8 Black Women Discuss Politics of Skin Tone,Youtube, April 8,2019

Ted Ex Violet Lim, What Dating Apps and Algorithms Don't Tell You,Youtube,January 24,2019

Robert Thom, Lucy, Anarcha and Betsey, three enslaved women who Sims operated on, American Historical Association, 1952

OkCupid, Reply Rates by Women Senders, OkCupid, 2014,Image

Michael J Rubensfield and Reuben J Thomas, Searching for Mate: Rise of the Internet as a Social Intermediary, Economist, 2010(Image)