It’s time to reclaim singledom as a symbol of power

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“Are you swiping?” my best friend asks me over breakfast one morning. I gulp down a spoonful of woefully bland porridge and think for a moment about how to reply. 

The answer was no, I wasn’t swiping. But in saying so, I was met with a bewildered expression. I’m reluctant to swipe these days, or just to date in general, due to a long, troubling pattern of power imbalances that have occurred in every single relationship I’ve had since I started dating when I was 15. 

Now, at age 30, my status as the perennial singleton is firmly established after taking countless protracted hiatuses from dating. Not because I don’t like the idea of being in a couple, but rather because I find dating really hard. Let’s be real, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that dating is plain sailing for literally no one. But, as a woman who dates men, I’ve found that every breed of relationship I’ve ever had — from casual sex to long-term relationships — has felt completely antithetical to the vision of equality I’ve envisaged for my own life. The lack of agency I feel in my love life made me want to remain single just so I could cling on to any semblance of control. Read more…

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Guy sends Bumble message about Bloody Sunday to Irishwoman and yeah, don’t do this

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There are some things you should definitely steer clear of mentioning when you’re sending an opening message on a dating appThe Troubles in Northern Ireland is high up on that list. 

Who would anyone do that, you may well be wondering? Well, we hereby present exhibit A as evidence of one of the very worst exchanges in Bumble history.

Irish Twitter user @Blaisinsquad tweeted screenshots of her interactions with a man in New York City. 

In honor of Valentine’s Day, let me share the single greatest dating app interaction of my life, from when I was in New York. (note: all my bio said was that I was Irish) pic.twitter.com/VD7lVR3RMj

— blaisinsquad (@BlaisinSquad) February 13, 2019 Read more…

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OkCupid now has a dedicated space for preferred pronouns

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Personal pronouns are important as they play a vital part in acknowledging and respecting people’s right to identify however they choose. 

That’s why it’s a huge step in the right direction that dating app OkCupid now allows users to display their pronouns prominently in a dedicated space on their profiles. 

Before, users had to write their pronouns in their bio to avoid misgendering, since the profile template had no designated pronoun space. Now, pronouns can appear right at the top along with other basic information.  Read more…

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Zoosk review: Easy to use and a great design, but loaded with fake accounts

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With the number of dating sites and apps out there in the wild, you might think it’s never been easier to find someone special. And in some ways, it is. Options are good, right? Thanks to technology, there are loads of options for connecting with someone online. Love is now just a swipe away. 

But with each new dating app or dating site that hits the market, there is the potential for new dating sites to dilute the dating pool, thus making it more challenging to find a parter who’s well-suited to you.

Enter Zoosk, an online dating site and mobile app that promises ease of use and practicality in the singles world. Instead of filling out long and tedious questionnaires about yourself and your ideal match, it simply takes the online profiles for the social media accounts you’ve already created and seamlessly integrates your information into your account. Who knows you better than Google and Facebook when it comes to your life online? In fact, Zoosk started out as one of the first Facebook apps when the social media platform began to open up to more users back in December 2007.  Read more…

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I can’t stop watching strangers go on blind dates on YouTube

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This is Ode To…, a weekly column where we share the stuff we’re really into in hopes that you’ll be really into it, too. First up: Blind dates on camera.

Throughout my tenure as a YouTube connoisseur, I’ve cycled through plenty of content — but there are only so many vlogs, old celebrity interviews, and beauty tutorials one can take in before turning into a pile of mush.

There’s one type of video, though, that still makes me click: videos of folks going on blind dates. My ice-cold heart melts whenever I settle in to watch two strangers meet. I stay glued to the screen, just in case this couple falls in love before my eyes. Read more…

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People are tweeting the stories of how they met their partners and it’s super sweet

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It’s a question as old as time itself, but one that truly never gets old — “How did you two meet?”

One curious tweeter posed this question to the internet, asking followers to share their stories of how they met their partners. And, boy, did the internet deliver. 

People chimed in with their romantic tales — some heartwarming, and others downright hilarious. 

Someone tell me their love story. How’d you meet the person you’re with ?

— DannyMack 🌔 (@iLoveeeLucy) June 11, 2018

One Twitter user tweeted that they had met their partner “through World of Warcraft trade chat.” The pair chatted over Skype for one year before getting in to a long term relationship. Now the couple live together in Norway!  Read more…

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Facebook announces new dating service ‘for serious relationships, not hookups’

One is the loneliest number, which is probably why Facebook is taking steps to connect the people on its network who aren’t in a relationship.
At it’s annual F8 developer conference Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company wil…

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