Popular news comedy television show The Daily Show covered an interesting topic recently – sexual racism in online dating. In the segment, produced by Jessica Williams (Daily Show correspondent) and Ronny Chieng, the two explore what this term means, and how it affects so many online daters.

There are definitely racial stereotypes when it comes to sex and dating, both overt and subtle. Most of us think of attraction in terms of physical preferences. Many women prefer tall men or strong biceps for instance. Lots of guys prefer thin women, or women with blonde hair. Physical appearances are important in attraction, so it seems to follow that many daters would state their racial preferences on an online dating site, too.

But as the segment pointed out, having race preference in dating is a kind of racial discrimination. While you might prefer tall men or blonde women, chances are you are willing to date those who aren’t, or at least consider dating them. Many daters however refuse to date outside of their own racial preferences, going so far as to state in their online dating profiles that they won’t date people of a certain race.

This is where the term “sexual racism” comes in. Williams and Chieng interviewed Zach Stafford, a writer for The Guardian who noted: “When someone says something like, ‘I don’t date black people,’ talking about all black people, that would be referred to as sexual racism.”

There are some stereotypes that persist in American culture about who is considered “beautiful.” And some races are viewed in a negative way, especially African American women and Asian men.

Williams and Chieng also interviewed OkCupid Founder Christian Rudder, who studied many online dating trends for his book Dataclysm, race preferences included. “There is kind of a systemic racial bias pretty much in every dating site I’ve ever looked at,” Rudder said in his interview. “We found that 82 percent of non-black men have some bias against black women… And Asian men get the fewest messages and the worst ratings of any group of guys.”

For black women, there is the cultural perception among non-black men that they are not as pretty as white women. While this sounds hard to believe, in the segment, some daters admitted to receiving texts and messages saying just that. And for Asian men, the stereotype that many aren’t sexually endowed persists, despite it being a stereotype, making them the least messaged group on any dating app or site.

In fact, Williams posted a profile of Chieng on numerous dating apps to see what happened. She swiped right for every profile he was sent. He received no messages or matches in return, proving Rudder’s assertion correct.

Have you encountered sexual racism in online dating? How have you responded? We’d love to know – please leave a comment or send us an email.

Tinder has just released an update to its app. Now, Tinder users in New York City (where the new feature is being tested) can play "matchmaker" with other users by sharing profiles in their social networks outside of Tinder.

WIth the new feature, these users can share profiles of other users on messaging apps like Slack, Evernote, and Gmail, or social platforms like Linked In, Tumblr, GroupMe, and Wunderlist. Tinder users however are not able to share profiles over Facebook.

In theory, a matchmaking feature on Tinder makes sense because of the sheer volume of users - it expands your network and opportunities even more. The downside of this latest update is that other people on Tinder can take your profile, post and share it wherever they want, and you have no control.

People post their profiles on Tinder knowing that other users of the app can swipe and accept or reject them, but like with online dating sites where users don't necessarily want their work colleagues or family members to know they are signed up - swiping and matching has always been done within the confines of the app. Even though you sign up on Tinder with your Facebook account, and photos are pulled from your Facebook page, your activity on Tinder isn’t posted to your Facebook account for all to see. The two are kept separate for privacy. 

Our work and love lives have generally been kept separate for good reason. Let’s say you have a business meeting with some important clients, who are connected through your boss (and to you) on a platform like Slack or LinkedIn. You probably wouldn’t want them to know how you present yourself on a dating app – as it could be very different from your professional persona. In Slack, you can send a Tinder profile you received to your entire work team if you want. In LinkedIn, you can share the Tinder profile with the general LinkedIn public. (This might make for a good revenge plot if you are upset with a co-worker or an ex girlfriend.)

If you share over Wunderlist, you can essentially make the profile you are sharing part of your “to-do” list. If you want to save and read someone’s profile later, you can do this when you share with Pocket.

Once you share a profile, the recipient gets a link to open the profile in Tinder. If they don’t have an account, they are prompted to join in order to view. (The shared links expire after 72 hours or five clicks, so at least there is a limit on sharing one profile.)

New York is a testing ground for this app feature, so it might be tweaked before it’s launched to other cities.

Will this new feature work for Tinder users? It's hard to tell, but it definitely will make online dating not only more interconnected, but more complicated. When you blur the lines between public and personal and don't give people the capacity to maintain some control over their own profiles, chances are, they won't stick around.

Tinder’s simple swipe functionality has long made it a target of criticism. Detractors claim the dating app is a magnet for promiscuous singles hoping for hook-ups, while defenders say meaningful relationships are also part of the package. A new study suggests the latter may be right.

Researchers at Webster Vienna Private University in Austria asked 75 users of Tinder and other dating services to complete questionnaires about their motivation for online dating. They were also asked to rate their sociability, self-esteem, and sexual permissiveness. They shared their findings in a paper entitled 'On the differences between Tinder versus online dating agencies.'

“To date there has been little scientific research exploring the characteristics and motivations of those who use online dating agencies and social dating apps,” said lead author Dr. Kathleen Hodkinson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. “We were interested in understanding whether users of these two types of services differ from each other, and from those who do not use any form of online dating. What the research has essentially highlighted is that they don’t appear to.”

The study concluded that Tinder users have the same motivations as users of other sites, and that they do not significantly differ from traditional daters in their behavior or what they’re looking for. Those results are in line with a broader body of research that has found that online daters strongly resemble those who do not use online dating. “It is likely,” Hodkinson explained, “that as online dating continues to grow in popularity, its users are becoming increasingly diverse and therefore more reflective of the general population.”

Early studies of online dating drew completely different conclusions. They found a positive correlation between time spent on the internet, loneliness, and anxiety. Further studies failed to replicate that finding, and with the stigma surrounding online dating almost completely gone, Hodkinson’s study feels closer to the truth - at least the truth as we experience it in 2016.

What Hodkinson’s team did find is increased sexual permissiveness in Tinder users, which they chalked up to the younger age of the app’s userbase. They also found they men are more likely than women to use dating services to find casual sex partners, a finding that is consistent with other studies that show similar behavior patterns among males both online and offline.

The study hopes to inspire more in-depth research to further test the assumptions made, in particular taking other variables such as religious beliefs, income, and marital status into account. For now, it provides a starting point for evaluating how dating services are used today and how it may evolve in the future. For more on this dating app for which the study is about please read our review of Tinder

BeautifulPeople.com boasts that it offers “online dating for beautiful people only,” but it’s currently making headlines for something far from pretty. The site was recently attacked by hackers who put the personal info of 1.1 million members for sale on the black market.

According to security expert Troy Hunt, the data belonged to members who joined before July 2015. Information like weight, height, job, and phone number was reportedly compromised, though no passwords or financial details were included.

"The breach involves data that was provided by members prior to mid-July 2015. No more recent user data or any data relating to users who joined from mid-July 2015 onward is affected," Beautiful People said in a statement. "As far as we were aware, at that time [in December 2015], only the two security researchers who informed us of the breach had access to this data."

Chris Vickery, who originally discovered breach, told the BBC the firm acted quickly after he notified them - but it was already too late. "They published it openly to the world with no protection whatsoever," he said.

Like the Ashley Madison hack – which exposed 39 million people hoping to cheat on their partners – there’s a sense of schadenfreude to the news. A part of us enjoys seeing “bad” people (or in this case, people who have an inflated sense of their own goodness) get knocked down a peg. We call it karma, but what it really is, is a warning.

Hacking is a scary phenomenon no matter what, and doubly so when it’s done with the intention to shame. Online dating is now so commonplace that many users have grown lax about how they do it. Theoretically we know we need to protect our personal information, but how much effort do we really put into it? Our data is bought and sold constantly, whether we know it or not, both legally and illegally. Let the Beautiful People hack be a reminder to prioritize your privacy.

The good news is, the company says the leak has since been patched. But there’s no way to reclaim the data that’s now circulating. Victims of the hack must now take precautions like changing passwords and monitoring for identity theft.

Beautiful People said all affected members are being notified about the breach. You can also use Troy Hunt’s HaveIBeenPwned.com to find out what, if any, personal information about you is publically available online.

eHarmony is offering free communication from Wednesday May 25th to Monday May 30th, 2016. This long weekend event is available in the United States and celebrates Memorial Day.

eHarmony is the perfect online dating service for singles looking for long-term relationships. You can join via their website or dating apps which are found on iTunes and Android. Once you have created a free memberships all you need to do is then take the personality questionnaire before you can receive your matches. This takes most people between 30 and 40 minutes to complete. The questionnaire doesn't all have to be completed at once since you can save the questions you have answered and come back later to finish. Most questions are of the multiple choice variety.

After the questionnaire is finished you will receive your first set of matches. You can then go ahead and review your matches and start the communication process (which includes emails) with the ones you like. The great thing with free communication weekends is you know everyone can reply to your messages. These events also do not require a credit card so their is no cost or obligation to start a subscription. Every day or so you can expect a new batch of matches to arrive to your eHarmony account. Free communication events do not include photos, skipping the guided communication process or secure call (a phone feature). For access to these features you will need to purchase an eHarmony subscription.

For more about this popular online matchmaking service, you can read our eHarmony review.

Dream of seducing a supermodel with your charming personality and fantastic sense of humor? You may be out of luck, and online dating is to blame. Recent studies suggest that dating sites and apps make it harder to land someone out of your league.

How often have you heard that “opposites attract?” How unique do you believe your preferences are? Research shows that both ideas are myths - preferences matter very little once people meet face to face, and compatible couples are more likely to be alike than different.

Studies repeatedly support the idea of “assortative mating,” which Priceonomics defines as “the hypothesis that people generally date and marry partners who are like them in terms of social class, educational background, race, personality, and, of course, attractiveness.” In other words, 10s date each other and a 2 doesn’t stand a chance with any of them.