Courtney Act | Photo: Photo by Mitch Fong
RuPaul’s Drag Race’s, Courtney Act, has admitted entrenched racism dictated her sexual preferences for white guys.
Act (Shane Jennek) took to Twitter that she mainly dated and hooked up with white men because of ‘unconscious bias’.
‘Growing up in Australia I was never provided with examples of people of colour being sexual desirable (let alone queer POC),’ Act wrote on Twitter.
‘It makes sense that I have socialised racisms when it comes to my sexual preference which is why I have had to consciously unpack those over the years.’
Act, is one of the most popular Drag Race alumni and finished third on the reality show’s sixth season. She is also the host of the new series The Bi Life and won Celebrity Big Brother UK in 2017.
Ending unconscious bias ‘is just due diligence’
The Australian born Act said that she has had to work for years to unpack these biases. Those biases are hard to overcome because society is ‘bombarded with images of white beauty our whole lives’.
‘When I was a younger white gay I thought I was just attracted to white men as some sort of unconscious preference, but really it was an unconscious bias. Now as a white gay of a certain age I realise I grew up in a society that taught me to be racist,’ Act wrote on Twitter.
‘The truth is, once examined, I’m attracted to people irrespective of their skin colour, and my dating and sex life has never been…more fulfilled I started by not swiping so fast on Grindr, I used to unconsciously swipe faster on a person of colour.
‘As an exercise I tried to just pause, look, & see what my bodily sense felt about the image in front of me, surprised by how many people I actually thought were attractive that I had previously swiped over. If nothing else you’re increasing your odds of getting laid!!!’
When I was a younger white gay I thought I was just attracted to white men as some sort of unconscious preference, but really it was an unconscious bias. Now as a white gay of a certain age I realise I grew up in a society that taught me to be racist.
— Courtney Act (@courtneyact) September 26, 2018
Racism in the gay community has been an ongoing issue for years with many arguing they don’t date POC because it’s a ‘preference’ rather than to do with a race issue.
To combat the toxic racism in the gay community, gay dating app Grindr recently launched, Kindr. Grindr created the initiative in response to complaints from some users after experiencing racist, body-shaming or stigmatizing language.
As an exercise I tried to just pause, look, & see what my bodily sense felt about the image in front of me, surprised by how many people I actually thought were attractive that I had previously swiped over. If nothing else you’re increasing your odds of getting laid!!!
— Courtney Act (@courtneyact) September 26, 2018
Kaleidoscope
Act posted the Twitter thread after LGBTI activist Alexander Leon published a powerful video on sexual racism.
Courtney Act is also an ambassador for Kaleidoscope Trust which is an LGBTI international human rights charity.
She recently promoted its Roofstock 2018 fundraising party in East London on Thursday 27 September.
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