As more relationships start online, dating and hookup apps should discourage discrimination

As more relationships start online, dating and hookup apps should discourage discrimination

By Melanie Lefkowitz |

Cellphone dating apps that enable users to filter their queries by competition or depend on algorithms that pair up individuals of the same competition reinforce racial divisions and biases, based on an innovative new paper by Cornell scientists. The authors said as more and more relationships begin online, dating and hookup apps should discourage discrimination by offering users categories other than race and ethnicity to describe themselves, posting inclusive community messages, and writing algorithms that don’t discriminate.

“Serendipity is lost when anyone have the ability to filter others away,” said Jevan Hutson ‘16, M.P.S. ’17, lead composer of “Debiasing Desire: Addressing Bias and Discrimination on Intimate Platforms,” co written with Jessie G. Taft ’12, M.P.S escort Sioux Falls. ’18, a study coordinator at Cornell Tech, and Solon Barocas and Karen Levy, associate professors of data science. “Dating platforms are able to disrupt specific structures that are social however you lose those benefits when you yourself have design features that enable one to eliminate people that are diverse from you.”

The paper, that the writers can have in the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing on Nov. 6, cites current research on discrimination in dating apps sjust howing just how easy design choices could decrease bias against individuals of all marginalized groups, including disabled or transgender individuals. Although partner choices are really individual, the writers argue that tradition forms our preferences, and dating apps influence our choices.

“It’s actually an unprecedented time for dating and meeting on line. Continue reading “As more relationships start online, dating and hookup apps should discourage discrimination”