From the auction block to the Tinder swipe: Black women’s experiences with fetishization on dating apps

Abstract

The digital has been celebrated for its objectivity and lack of bias, yet digital media scholars have addressed the ways that inequity is embedded in technology. What is often missing from this discourse is the voices of Black women. Drawing on interviews with 20 self-identified Black and African American women, aged 18–30, who have used dating apps in the preceding 6 months, we invited participants to share their experiences with online dating and racial fetishization. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we explore how Black women perceive and navigate racial fetishization and stereotypes often informed by racialized and gendered ideologies. Our findings trace Black women’s movements through three phases of the dating process in which participants discussed feeling fetishized; a sentiment that we identify as racial desire that is rooted in colonialist ambitions.