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
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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!!!”