This market resolves as YES upon Manifold Dating:

• Renaming their current "ethnicity" category to "race"

• Altering their current "ethnicity" category in such a way that it actually allows users to select an ethnicity, rather than a race

• Removing the current "ethnicity" category, and either not including it or replacing it with a more accurate one.

Otherwise, this resolves as NO on February 14, 2024.

The problem

Currently, Manifold Dating's "ethnicity" option is actually a "race" option. It has a DNA symbol next to it* and the choices include "Caucasian** and Asian," neither of which are ethnicities - they're racial categories.

An ethnicity is a cultural group with shared traditions, art, and history. Examples include Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Catalonian, Japanese, Ainu, Tamil, Palestinian, Asian-American, Arab-American, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Xhosa, Jamaican, and African-American.

A race is a social construction based on perceived biological differences between different groups of people (there are biological differences, but they amount to things like "melanin concentration in skin," "hair texture," "eyelid type," etc. - race is literally skin-deep.) Examples include white, Asian, and Black. Race can create ethnicity in racially divided societies - e.g. the development of an African-American ethnic identity in the U.S.

*Maybe not the best look for a site that's part of the same brand as another site where a significant minority of users support "scientific" racism and eugenics.

**"Caucasian" is a fictionalized racial categorization based on "scientific" racism and theories of "biological race" and it should really be replaced by "White" or "European," but that's not a requirement for this market to resolve as YES.

Potential solutions

Change the label from "ethnicity" to "race."

• Pros: Simplest option, least effort.

• Cons: Having a "race" option with a DNA icon next to it is not a good look for a website sharing a brand with one that has a non-insignificant population of "scientific" racists.

Change the category to accurately reflect ethnicity

• Pros: Avoids the cons mentioned above. Allows people to express a cultural identity, which is more relevant information than race if you're interested in understanding someone's personality.

• Cons: Requires Manifold to either add hundreds of options or allow users to input text freely, which could open it up to abuse (what do you do with a user who puts "Aryan" as their ethnicity?)

Remove the category entirely (and possibly replace it with something else.)

• Pros: ...?

• Cons: ...?