ONCE AGAIN SCIENCE has told us what we already knew: men who write “no fems” on dating apps are deemed to be brain dead. A study titled Masculine Guys Online, published in a recent edition of Computers in Humans Behavior, looked at a sample of 144 queer men. Among the results, they found that men who proclaim “masc 4 masc/no fems/real men only” were seen to be significantly less intelligent, significantly less sexually confident, and significantly less dateable than their counterparts. Well, duh.
This is the least surprising experiment since the one which found that people who post inspirational memes have lower levels of intelligence (have you ever noticed how it’s never your successful or happy friends posting whimsical nonsense about how to achieve success and happiness?). The proliferation of gay dating profiles that feature a headless torso alongside a description of “no fats, no Asians, no fems,” is one of the most depressing aspects of modern gay culture. For me, it’s doubly troubling. First because people are so plainly ignorant, and second because they seem comfortable advertising that ignorance. As introductions go, “no fats, no fems, no Asians,” is as enticing as: “I collect human hair and masturbate over Peppa Pig.” Or indeed, “I’m a racist body-shamer battling significant internalised homophobia.” The issue of camp-shaming is complex. You can’t police internal desire — if you could, I’d have stopped fancying Richard Madeley.