The ‘Men And Coffee’ Instagram Is Giving Followers Everything…Except Diversity

The Internet has been on a [hot guy + (cute animal ∧∨ symbol of refinement)] = [virality + new underwear] kick lately, most recently culminating in the Men and Coffee Instagram.

I love coffee and I generally harbor no homicidal feelings toward men, so I immediately checked out the account and its corresponding website that also hosts pictures of celebrities/models with or without coffee. When I reached the end of both streams, my immediate thought was “That was a lot of white guys.”

There’s a light sprinkling of men of color, but Men and Coffee, like most of its viral counterparts, is noticeably whitewashed. It isn’t until you dive, very deeply, into the hashtags themselves that you begin to find a smidgen more diversity.

Obviously, attraction is subjective and intersects with socioeconomic status, but it’s unmistakable how much white beauty permeates the world as the gold standard, evidenced by media representation, the black hair industry and OkCupid’s data, just to name a few.

This isn’t an attack on Alex Tooby, the Men and Coffee creator who mostly just pulls images from the newly created hashtag; this is a broader issue of how we perceive attraction.

I’m sure there are men of color drinking coffee, reading and walking their dogs around you all the time. Why not diversify some hashtags?