Courtney Act says sexual racism dictated her sexual preference for white men
The 'RuPaul Drag Race' star took to Twitter to discuss her experiences of sexual racism
By Steve Brown
Courtney Act has said sexual racism dictated her sexual preference for white men.
The star of RuPaul’s Drag Race – whose real name is Shane Janek – took to Twitter to reveal that when she was growing up in Australia, she was never shown examples of “people of colour being sexual desirable”.
She wrote: “Growing up in Australia I was never provided with examples of people of colour being sexual desirable (let alone queer POC).
“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.
“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.
Growing up in Australia I was never provided with examples of people of colour being sexual desirable (let alone queer POC). 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.
— Courtney Act (@courtneyact) September 26, 2018
“Now as a white gay of a certain age I realise I grew up in a society that taught me to be racist.”
The Celebrity Big Brother winner went on to say that she is attracted to people “irrespective of their skin colour”.
She continued: “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!!!”