Gilded Desire

These past few days I watched several films and documentaries that deal with the commodification/objectification of men. I’ve been exploring desire & masculinity; how desire & masculinity are formulated & expressed in the gay scene.
During my research I came across the term “sexual racism“, i.e. racist behaviour and speech in gay men who use online personal services like gaydar/Grindr opportunistically to make discriminatory preferences more overt (for instances, No GAMs – Gay Asian Males).
I tried online dating when I was younger only to abandon it in exasperation. I’ve never been a fan of online dating; mainly, because it is bleak. It strips the process of  dating & getting to know someone down to the bare essentials: it makes dating much like grocery shopping. This effect makes it easier for people to be very biased, if not outright racist (I don’t like Asians, Blacks, Whites, Arabs, etc.). It seems anything goes if one employs the defense of  a highly “personal” sexual preference and under the cloak of the Internet. Moreover, most guys on the Internet are not really interested in “getting to know each other” if it doesn’t lead to sex.

At any rate, I’ve been wondering whether someone’s penis can be described as racist – like John Mayer joked. Is desire really a personal affair?

If you’re curious to know I’ve watched these films/documentaries – all of which are definitely worth watching:

Men for Sale: (official website)
The Butch Factor
Strapped
Jet Boy
The Graffiti Artist

E.

• Abstraction
• Change
• Desire
• Gender Construction
• Gender Roles
• Identity
• Online dating