Need a metronome to stay on the beat? Want your boyfriend to better understand you? With the advances in technology, there’s now an application for everything — including an application for parents who want to figure out if their son is gay.
This inappropriate Android app was created by French developer “Emmene Moi.” Representatives said the app was designed to be playful and humorous, and that it isn’t based on any scientific research. It’s supposed to help mothers accept their son’s homosexuality if that is the case.
However, the app isn’t being perceived in that manner.
Mike Thompson, acting president of Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said, “Socially responsible companies should have standards that prevent such offensive and derogatory content. The ‘Is My Son Gay?’ app
promotes inaccurate stereotypes about gay people and should be removed
immediately.”
The app, which is priced at $2.68 has users answer 20 questions about their son including, but not limited to: Does
he dress well and pay close attention to his outfits and brands? Does he love football? Before he was born, did you want him to be a girl? Does he remain in the bathroom for long periods of time? Does he have a piercing in his tongue, nose or ear? Is his father very authoritarian? Is his father absent?
After the questions are answered and if the app determines that the son is gay it displays a message which reads, “No need to look the other way! He is gay! ACCEPT IT!”
Another possible response from the app is: “Your son is a normal young man: modern and concerned about taking care of himself assuming some feminine habits while maintaining his attraction to girls. However, he may have already had some homosexual experiences with his best friend. These things happen. It is more and more usual in these times to maximize pleasures without taboo.”
If the app deduces that the son is straight it replies, “You do not have to worry — your son is not gay. So there are chances for you to be a grandmother with all the joys it brings.”
This isn’t the first offensive app to hit Android or Apple markets. Apple recently dropped the “Jew Or Not Jew?” celebrity identifier application, which was also created by a French company. Apple also pulled the “Gay Cure” app that used Biblical teachings to help “cure” gay men. In March, Android was criticized for not dropping the virtual dog fighting game “Dog Wars.”
These applications promote the use of offensive stereotypes and don’t take into consideration characteristics of individuals. A person’s sexual orientation or religious belief is a
personal matter that no series of questions can accurately pinpoint.
Maybe someday there will be an app to determine if someone is homophobic.