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

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.”

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Nuke on Wednesday April 29 2015, @07:37PM

    by Nuke (3162) on Wednesday April 29 2015, @07:37PM (#176799)
    Splodus wrote :- "Those who are good at manipulating first dates will garner more ............. doesn't take into account what people are like when you get to know them."

    As ever in this world. The part I have replaced with dots was not needed.
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  • (Score: 2) by splodus on Wednesday April 29 2015, @11:56PM

    by splodus (4877) on Wednesday April 29 2015, @11:56PM (#176876)

    One day, perhaps, there will be an app, or a social network site, that caters for people who struggle with the 'dating'. It's not just boys - there are plenty of girls that struggle with the way things are.

    I read a book once, I think it was 'Microserfs' - Douglas Coupland. One of the characters corresponded with someone on line, and over time they fell in love. Subsequently they arranged to meet - he didn't know if the person he'd fallen for was male of female, young or old. He didn't care.

    Wouldn't it be nice if there was a place to go, anonymous, declare your gender or not, offer your geographical location perhaps (because it makes sense if you hope to meet at some point). But to know that everyone there was looking for someone, for a partner, or just a friend. No pressure, no societal rules, no judgement based on appearance, no need to 'perform' in the social arena.