With the advent of new technologies and social networks, the use of dating applications has increased considerably. Today, applications such as Tinder, Bumble or Badoo have become a common way for young people to search for sexual relationships.
The problem is that these applications are one more space in which to reproduce the sexist violence that exists in society. This is demonstrated by Apps without sexual violence, the latest study by the Federation of Young Women that analyzes the sexual violence suffered by women in dating applications; Specifically on Tinder.
The entity has conducted a survey of 963 heterosexual women between the ages of 18 and 35 who are Tinder users. According to the study, one in five women (21.7%) who had dates through this application say that they were forced to have a sexual relationship through explicit violence. That is, they were raped by the man they met on the app.
The study also reveals that 57% of the women considered that one of their dates had encouraged them to drink in order to have sex. In addition, almost 30% stated that they felt pressured to perform a sexual practice that they did not feel like and that the boy continued even though they had expressed physical pain and desire to stop.
Despite acknowledging the suffering experienced in these encounters, users are not always aware that they have been victims of sexual violence. In fact, only 11.5% consider themselves a victim on these dates.
Tinder is one of the most famous dating apps in the world: it is estimated that today it has more than 50 million active users. The application allows you to create a profile where users must indicate their name, age and gender. In addition, they can complete the profile by adding photos or a biography to introduce themselves to other users.
Once the profile is complete, the user must choose which profiles he wants to see (men, women or both) and select the range of kilometers. The application works through geolocation, so this range allows us to define how far away the people who appear to us can be.
How Tinder works is very simple. Different profiles appear to the user and they can select the ones they would like to know by giving them a like (by pressing the heart-shaped icon). If the other person has also liked her profile, the match takes place, which makes it possible to start a conversation through a chat.
Since its birth in 2012, the application has been incorporating different settings to promote user safety. In 2021, Tinder introduced “Does the message make you uncomfortable?” a feature that encourages members to report inappropriate language in a message they've received.
Despite this type of security additions, Tinder has not been able to stop situations of harassment and abuse, such as those compiled in the latest report from the Federation of Young Women.
The Apps without sexual violence study also denounces how dating applications have become one more element through which women not only communicate, but also build themselves. In this way, the feminine ideal that is promoted in media such as television, cinema or advertising, is now also reproduced in these apps.
In the male profiles on Tinder, desired women are often described with adjectives that respond to the traditional model of femininity: feminine women, with poise, with values, familiar, young and beautiful.
However, now it is also common for boys to demand other types of characteristics, linked almost exclusively to sexuality: daring, liberated, without prejudice, self-confident and kinky women.
According to the study, these demands from male profiles have a direct impact on the way women perceive themselves. Respondents answered that they liked to show themselves in their profiles as a "fun and carefree" (79.1%), "smiley, affectionate" (77.2%), "feminine" (69.4%) and "sexually empowered" woman. ” (56.1%).
The study denounces that, in this way, women remain totally subservient to the male gaze. The feminine ideal reproduced by dating apps is based on patriarchal stereotypes, where most women are reduced to aspects related to their sexuality.
