Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

The Social Media App for Women, By Women, About Men

posted by martyb on Wednesday April 29 2015, @01:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the APPropriate-measures dept.

Hugh Pickens writes:

Andrew Marantz has an interesting read in The New Yorker about Lulu, a mobile app already downloaded five million times that allows female users of Facebook to make positive and negative evaluations of male users on the basis of their romantic, personal, and sexual appeal. Lulu is rigidly heteronormative—only women can rate men—and women tend to use Lulu the way someone investigating a potential mate a generation ago might have sought out the town busybody.

“It’s one of these rare products that evokes only strong reactions,” says Sam Altman. “No one feels ambivalent about it.” To rate a man on Lulu, a woman selects from a battery of pre-written hashtags—some positive (#LifeOfTheParty, #DoesDishes), some negative (#Boring, #DeathBreath), and some ambiguous (#DrivesMeCrazy, #CharmedMyPantsOff, #PlaysDidgeridoo). Those responses are distilled into a harshly precise numerical score. Alexandra Chong calls her startup “a community where women can talk honestly about what matters to them.” Others have called it Yelp for men. “Of course people on Lulu talk about sex,” says Chong. “Sex is part of what women talk about.”

A man must grant his permission for a Lulu profile to be created on his behalf, and, perhaps surprisingly, most men consent, says Chong. “We try to tell men, ‘Women on Lulu are building men up, not just tearing them down.'” Many women use Lulu for caveat-emptor purposes, such as managing expectations before a date. “One guy I went out with had a lot of hashtags like #OneTrackMind," says Sarah Burns, "so I dressed conservatively, didn’t drink too much—I tried to send the message, I’m not going home with you tonight. Which I didn’t.”

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Social Media App for Women, By Women, About Men | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 102 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday April 29 2015, @01:47PM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday April 29 2015, @01:47PM (#176600) Homepage

    "One guy I went out with had a lot of hashtags like #OneTrackMind," says Sarah Burns, "so I dressed conservatively, didn’t drink too much—I tried to send the message, I’m not going home with you tonight. Which I didn't."

    So that's apparently a bad thing, but she still goes out on a date with him instead of with the many other suitors gladly throwing themselves at their feet. Sheesh. Women logic.

    And now some related dating advice from my Female alter-ego Ethanola-fueled:

    - Everytime I show both armpits, I am asking for it. When I show you one, like when I toss back my hair briefly, I am interested and giving you a chance.

      - When I show both my armpits, like, when I'm enjoying our conversation and feel the need to have an extended adjustment of my hair with both my elbows to the sky, I am asking for it.

    - Exceptions to that rule are when I'm in a situation like at the beach or on a girls' night out, where my tossing my armpits to the wind doesn't not imply sexual preference in any one man, or even any person at all.

    - However, you can't be a creep about it. If I'm adjusting my hair and I see your eyes darting towards my breasts or underarms, it may not be a deal breaker but I will be in Alert mode like in Solid Snake games and you will have to be cool for awhile.

    - Maintaining eye contact, gentlemen. We ladies like to try to lure you with armpits and low necklines, but you must maintain eye contact and not take the bait.

    - And yes, we know when your hungry eyes even WANT to look down there even when you've learned to hold them steady.

    - If I go back to your place, You're probably gonna get laid unless you sperg out and blow it.

    - If when we first spend the night together isn't strongly correlated temporally with the first time we fuck, chances are you're being played or fucking up.

    - It could be the first date, it could be after 6 months. But the first lay had better take place within a week or two of the first spendings of the nights together.

    Sounds like sage advice.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +4  
       Funny=4, Total=4
    Extra 'Funny' Modifier   0  
    Total Score:   5  

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Wednesday April 29 2015, @02:21PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 29 2015, @02:21PM (#176616) Journal

    Sounds like sage advice.

    Personally, I prefer a rosemary advice to a salvia off. (or ethanola) one.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 29 2015, @05:06PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 29 2015, @05:06PM (#176729)

    Sounds like sage advice.

    Sounds like a woman I would avoid.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 29 2015, @09:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 29 2015, @09:47PM (#176841)

    Sounds like Ethanol-fueled has an armpit fetish

  • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Thursday April 30 2015, @05:04AM

    by davester666 (155) on Thursday April 30 2015, @05:04AM (#176941)

    So that's apparently a bad thing, but she still goes out on a date with him instead of with the many other suitors gladly throwing themselves at their feet. Sheesh. Women logic

    She dated him cuz he's a "fixer-upper".

    You always need to present yourself with some character trait that needs some fixing, that only the right woman will be able to fix.