Bumble's #MyLoveIsBlackLove campaign
‘My Love is Black Love’, Bumble’s recent campaign, is refreshing. Bumble recently released a series of ads featuring famous Black women of differing sexualities, such as Love Island’s Amber Gill and Youtuber Nella Rose as they share some of the stereotypes and assumptions they've encountered in dating. The ads celebrate the ways in which Black women are deserving of love, which is wonderful to see in a society where statistics consistently show Black women to be the least sought-after racial group in dating. Despite this, to me the ads still fall slightly short in capturing the gritty realties of dating as a woman of colour. Having done qualitative research for my master’s dissertation with women of colour based in London and Brighton about their dating experiences, both online and offline, I’ve learnt that stereotyping can be just the tip of the iceberg… Many of the women I spoke to experienced regular racial fetishization on dating apps. This relates to a fixation on race, the act of sexualising individuals based on a characteristic of their race, such as darker skin tone. Consequently, these women experienced higher levels of objectification on dating apps. Additionally, some women discussed how, in comparison to their white counterparts, they receive fewer matches on dating apps or felt that men were more reluctant to approach them. This made them hyper aware of how they measured up against Eurocentric beauty standards. These experiences had detrimental effects on their mental and emotional wellbeing, with most women expressing increased levels of anxiety, being filled with doubt - constantly questioning someone’s intentions towards them and being acutely conscious of how they come across. Their sense of self and relationship to their racial identity was also impacted. For some, negative dating experiences increased feelings of shame and self-hate which affected how they perceived their racial identity. And for others, these experiences motivated them to find other women of colour who could understand and validate their experiences. Whilst the Bumble ad is a much welcomed step in the right direction, it perhaps doesn’t go far enough in accurately representing the dating experiences of women of colour. We should remain aware of the plethora of other ways the dating experience impacts Black women.
By Malaika Kambona-Masika
Research Executive