On dating apps like Grindr, there is the ubiquitous hateful saying: “No fats, no fems, no Asians”. Gay men’s skinny and thin bodies are viewed with disgust by other men seeking more “masculine” presenting partners. Research suggests that this phenomenon is linked to gay men’s tendency to openly discriminate against other gay men who express a gender outside of traditional masculinity. For many gay men, Facebook and Instagram and gay-specific dating apps are hotbeds of body image struggles and online gender-based discrimination. Within our research, we seek to understand and illuminate femmephobic attitudes. Dating apps: hotbeds of body image struggles
The posts raise alarms for us because we believe they are part of a growing culture of gay men glorifying femmephobia and elements of toxic masculinity. They also echo widespread issues of body dysmorphia (the obsessive feeling that a part of your body is flawed) and include fat-shaming or inadvertently praise disordered eating.
As we scroll through these posts, especially by gay men, we believe many sentiments expressed reveal a deep femmephobia within LGBTQ+ communities.
