Just been sent another cock picture on Tinder? Sick of being asked if you’re DTF by creepy guys in plunging v-neck t-shirts when all you want is a candlelit dinner for two potentially followed by marriage and babies? Enter Wyldfire, the new online dating app that’s designed to protect women from the creeps of the world.
Basically, any woman can join, but guys have to be invited by a female member. The idea being that if the selection of men available on the site are curated by women, then they’re not going to be total gits. (Presumably the site will instead be filled with different versions of that ‘lovely guy’ who you wouldn’t want to go out with yourself, even though you spend every waking hour telling all your single female friends what an amazing boyfriend he’d make).
The site’s tag line is Ditch The Creeps, because, lest we forget, the Internet is a big, dangerous place for a little lady, so what we really need is a pool of all the men other women have rejected but deemed not terrible to choose instead. It’s My Single Friend for Gen Y, and it’s infuriating.
For one thing Instead of fending off a daily cock picture from a creep in Staines totally misusing his office wifi, you’ll suddenly find yourself fighting over the tiny pool of men who’ve made it through the selection process (by having at least one female friend who thinks they should be on day release) - where’s the fun in that?
And there’s a wider problem here - this app works on the assumption that where men are all sexual predators, using any technology they can get their hands on to harass women. Women on the other hand, are sexually passive victims, unable to cope with unwanted sexual attention - or to filter out the creeps and weirdos themselves. It also ignores the fact that men get harassed with tit shots and lewd messages on Tinder too. Being sexually aggressive and creepy isn’t just the preserve of men.
We all know that a man who has been ‘approved’ by other women instantly becomes more attractive - which definitely explains the appeal of the app. But why do we assume that if a guy has been ‘let in’ to the group by a women, then he must, by extension, be a good guy? Or that he'll never screw you over? Most people aren't either 'good' or 'bad.' Even the bloke who sent you that picture of his bum crack at 3 am last Saturday must have at least one female friend, or a sister. It might even turn out that he's a really good friend - he's just a fiend on Tinder. And why do we really need a separate app to protect us from these morons? Isn't that why the block button was invented?
Follow Rebecca on Twitter @rebecca_hol
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.