mcbrion
JUB Addict
- Joined
 - Aug 22, 2011
 
- Posts
 - 1,638
 
- Reaction score
 - 27
 
- Points
 - 38
 
um. who are we to dictate someone's libido and sexual attraction? if they don't want this and that, then they don't want it. Same thing, if a person doesn't like another person because of how his/her preferences, they don't have to hook up with each other. That's going to be a bad way to start a relationship.
If I see a profile in grindr that says no to asians, or fat/chubby people, I'm not offended to be honest. I'm thankful I see a sign that we're not going to be compatible. I have a chance to stay away from those people. After all, I also do have my own preferences. I just don't post them on my profile, I just don't reply and also I let them down easily (doesn't happen often though).
But context wise, I am, going to say one thing. If there is a service that is essential that's going to undermine the safety of an individual (security/health etc), it should be given to everyone regardless of race. Such as hospital, police, government services, public school, shelter etc. We can make laws that enforce the giving of these services and those who work in those areas need to give it or else get out of such line of jobs.
But if it's a private thing like sexual attraction, making your own grindr profile or even baking a cake. These are non essential things we can live without and get from other suppliers/people. It's up to you to post a bad review on yelp or something but there shouldn't be laws to force these private individuals to do otherwise. there shouldn't be threats (physical/mental/emotional) that will force these private individuals to act otherwise. Let your friends other people decide if they'll listen and read your bad review and avoid the establishments themselves and let the law of supply and demand run its course.
Back to the sexual preference thing... So, you run across someone who is using their freedom of speech to say who they want.
Will arguing with them change their preferences somehow?
Agreed.
My arguments are for the purpose of bringing to light latent and unrecognized tendencies someone might have around race. As far as it being personal, let me tell you a story.
In the '70s, my best friend, Odis (the guy who is my avatar) and I were the only two gay Black guys who worked out in SF. Consequently, we were highly desired. There was a catch: the desire was simply part of the "Mandingo Complex" mentality that existed back then. We were sexual trophies, desired by many guys of the "A" crowd. But they didn't want to date us: they just wanted to have sex with a Black guy, and, using their fantasies and fetishes, they approached either Odis or I, since we were the only two "acceptable" Black guys who were - as a Black lesbian put it - "In it but not of it." Meaning, we circulated among the "A" crowd of the day, but noticed their superficiality when it came to WHY they were choosing someone, and Odis, even more than me (just look at his face: the man was GORGEOUS), disliked being an "object of desire" in the same way that, say, Rita Hayworth noted that "men went to bed with Gilda, but woke up to me." So, for the two members suggesting it is simply about sexual desire, it bloody hell is not! It was - at one time - a gay guy wanting you only because he could brag about you to his friends (which is how the "A" crowd of that era operated). Frankly, straight men are just as bad: Candice Bergen once noted that "men are such fools." She saw that all she had to do was be beautiful and guys would fall at her feet. The gay community is, in large degree, even worse about that. Now, I read such things as "he's out of your league." If that isn't fucked up, I don't know that is. I DO see, that it is slightly different now, but the same ignorance of "why I like what I like" is the same. And for the guy who talked about his friend only dating Asians: WHY is he dating them? Because he thinks they're all "submissive little rice flowers" or does he appreciate the culture that birthed them. Some of the reasons for our desires are - excuse my english - screwed up 6 ways to Sunday. Pathological, not humanitarian. ANYWAY...
Myself, I preferred the sweet-natured, nice looking but "ordinary" (by other people's estimations) guys. Of course, they had personalities, as well as a heart, which could not be said for many of the A crowd guys, who had pretty low self esteem.
Since we were "acceptable," any guy we went home with circulated stories of our dick size, which then meant we had to deal with even more guys with sexual fantasies about Black guys.
Without dragging this out more, some of this "preference" this is not even remotely about WHO you're attracted to. It's about WHAT your fantasies are and who can fulfill them.
I completely agree that I'm glad to know what someone writes in their profile tells me everything I need to know about how they see their fellow man: as just a "thing" to be acquired, or whether they have a soul (a matter of debate if you go by behavior alone) and actually see a holistic human being in front of them, complete with feelings or not.
I'm a bit sad for the minority guys nowadays who do not have the gift of age that I have (nearly 7 decades) and, having come from a time where I went from being hated to being desired (and for those saying, he's bragging, go get a copy of Crawford Bartons (a San Francisco photographer, contemporary of Mapplethorpe) books on gay life. You'll find several images of me and Odis in them, although I didn't find them that flattering, but hey - it was a chronicle of gay life in San Francisco in the '70s (obviously, pre-AIDS)). No need to brag the there is plenty of evidence that Odis and I rarely walked into a room, where heads did not turn pretty quickly.
But I digress. Nowadays, the - shall we call it - "racism" is different. Me, I don't doff my shirt any more to attract attention, although, in the summer, when I wear tank tops, heads still turn, so "unpreferred"??? Not even remotely. But I'm not about just "me." I'm about consciousness, and that's what my arguments are about. Not me personally, but, as I said, awareness. One of my best friends is a White guy, 77, and nice looking. He constantly looks for Black guys to be in a relationship with, but he lacks the one thing he needs: an interest in the culture that the Black guys come from - and they realize it by the fact that he never shows any interest in the culture that birthed them, or even what life was like for them growing up. (If you're gonna date a guy of another culture, here's a clue as to whether or not you have "racism" in you: you just want the guy for desire/fulfillment and have zero interest in the fat that he's not a White guy with dark skin, but someone of a culture with different values, ethics, and experiences. If you're not interested in knowing ANY of that, and you just want the guy? You're racist in nature, if not in action. It's easy for me to separate out the genuine from the superficial, but so many brothers and other younger minority guys seem so hurt by this. I have a fixed experience from the '60s, and that informed me in a way that I don't think the younger minority guy guys "get." They have - unfortunately - a sense of expectation - if not entitlement - that they should be desirable. Ah, if only Life were that fair and just. But it is not. And it is THEY who will have to adjust to the fact that there is a new kind of racism out there now, based on a lack of empathy, and the he's-not-heavy-he's-my-brother ethos of the '60s. Nowadays, with apps rampant, guys just stick their head in their phones to meet someone. Gone are the days where you had to meet face to face, actually look someone in the eyes, and make conversation (No "160 character" conversations back then! And some conversations now just start with "Hey." Ugh. Pardon my judgement, but how utterly superficial can you be that you can't even write an entire sentence to someone you are supposedly interested in???) So, the less actual human contact you are forced to have, the less actual empathy you develop in yourselves. Why bother, when you can simply not type a response back and move on to the next person in 5 seconds or less.
So, to the younger minorities reading this: use the responses you get to evaluate the person you're trying to get to notice you. And then, GROW FROM IT. Too many people miss the oriole flying overhead because they have their head up their ass ....sorry: face in their phone. What's missing is not necessarily racism (of the old sort). It's a lack of humanity and empathy, so guys just want what they want, and don't expand their interests until such time as they age, and can no longer summon a torso to appear at their door. When they hit 50, things will change, but until then? Don't expect change. I've observed it over 7 decades. It happens WAY more slowly now than it EVER did before. Yes, it's racist, but it's based in a "can't-be-bothered to learn about others" culture. And a very high degree of the culture is like that now.


						
and then, makes me sign in, and THEN,  when it lets me in, it duplicates my post. I wouldn't blame people for falling asleep on my posts even on the best of days, but this is absurd. Sorry, guys.