Navigating a world where sparks fly through a screen is a skill our generation is still learning to master. Today, relationships that gain their humble beginnings through dating apps are becoming increasingly common. Casual hookups, made possible by dating apps, are also becoming more prominent and shaping hookup culture among many young adults. While you most likely have heard of Tinder, Okcupid, Grindr or Match.com, there is a new free dating app on the horizon that you may not be familiar with.
The new pioneer of dating apps, Bumble, was founded by 26-year-old Whitney Wolfe. The app was created in an effort to empower women and reduce the stigma of the common misconception that “guys have to make the first move”. Before creating Bumble, Wolfe already had expertise in the realm of dating apps: she was a co-founder of Tinder but left Tinder after suing the company for sexual harassment from one of her colleagues. Since then, her career has only prospered and this year she has been listed as one of Forbes Magazine’s “30 under 30” for consumer technology.
Bumble operates in a similar manner to Tinder, where people can swipe left (decline) or swipe right (show interest). If both people swipe right, a match is created. This is where Bumble’s unique feature comes into play. Unlike other dating apps, once a match is formed, only girls have the ability to initiate the conversation. After a match is created people have a 24-hour window to make conversation until the match disappears. In same-sex matches, either person can initiate the conversation. In the FAQ section of Bumble’s website, Bumble reiterates that it is in fact a dating site for everyone.
The website reads “We designed the ‘girls talk first’ aspect of the app to correct a lot of the common problems that women face when chatting with men online. That being said, Bumble is a place for everyone regardless of their gender or dating/friendship preference. Since this concept was designed to correct an issue with opposite sex dating, we’ve removed that functionality and restriction from any same sex connection. Both parties in any same sex connection are encouraged to make the first move and are completely able to do so. Bumble loves every user, and we continually take feedback that will help us make the app more friendly and successful for everyone.” Ultimately, when introducing its distinct characteristic Wolfe’s goal was to challenge heterosexual dating norms by leaving the first move in the hands of women.
When asked about the values of Bumble in an interview with Vanity Fair Wolfe stated, “We are 100 percent feminist. We could not be more for encouraging equality. If you look at where we are in the current heteronormative rules surrounding dating, the unwritten rule puts the woman a peg under the man—the man feels the pressure to go first in a conversation, and the woman feels pressure to sit on her hands. I don’t think there is any denying it. If we can take some of the pressure off the man and put some of that encouragement in the woman’s lap, I think we are taking a step in the right direction, especially in terms of really being true to feminism. I think we are the first feminist, or first attempt at a feminist dating app.” During the interview, Wolfe, the thriving entrepreneur, continues to highlight her inspiration and motivation surrounding the unwritten rules of heterosexual dating along with her own experiences.
After interviewing several college students to gain some perspective on their experiences using Bumble, the notion that having women initiate the conversation yields some kind of positive outcome was a common denominator. When asked about using Bumble, a female sophomore at Cal Poly said, “I think that providing an app where girls initiate the conversation is really important! It creates a safer, more comfortable environment for women, especially those who may have experienced some sort of dating violence, sexual assault or unwanted male attention in the past. There is a lot of awareness nowadays about sexual predators using technology as a way to get closer to potential victims and I think that by giving women more control over who can see and interact with their profile we are improving the level of safety and consent in ‘virtual meeting spaces’ or social apps. I also think it generally reduces the amount of confusion as to whether or not the girl is consenting to the interaction.”
When a male Cal Poly student was asked about his Bumble experience he stated, “I feel like Bumble is a little more classy than other dating apps because it allows the girls to make the first move instead of 1000 guys texting her. It gives the power to the woman which is a nice shift from other dating apps.”
A female student at UCSD brought up the positive aspect of venturing beyond her comfort zone. When asked what she likes about Bumble, she responded, “What I enjoy most about bumble is how the features of the app have really encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone a bit and be the one to reach out to someone I am attracted to. It is definitely different from how I act on other apps, like Tinder, where I just stare at my matches and hope the other person is more willing to start the conversation than I am.”
She proceeded to describe her preference of Bumble over Tinder, explaining, “I think I am more active on Bumble and talking to people I match to in comparison to Tinder because I know I have to be the one to initiate the conversation and there is initially a time limit/countdown. It seems like more people use Tinder, but I do find myself being attracted to more people on Bumble. I think it may have to do with the idea that, it takes a lot of self-confidence for men to believe that women will not only swipe right for you, but also be attracted enough to you to be the one to start a conversation. Some of the messages that men sent on Tinder to initiate conversation were pretty disturbing. From Asian-fetishization to being outright misogynistic, these messages’ content initially put me off to dating apps until I discovered Bumble, where aggressive messages like these happen a lot less. That is definitely a huge benefit. I think in terms of traditional gender roles, it allows women to understand the pressure that men are under when it comes to initiating conversation with women.”
Another male student interviewed had quick success when he started using the dating app and, similar to the other people interviewed, vouched for Bumble over other dating apps. He told Her Campus, “So I only used Bumble for about a week, and that was all it took to meet someone. I guess that’s what I like, it made it easy to meet someone very, very compatible. The short bio and pictures say just enough for you to get a sense of the person on the other end. But if you really want to learn more about the person you need to meet up. I’ve tried Okcupid and Tinder, if that counts. Okcupid was ok but took a ton of work to try to express yourself online; plus, there weren’t a lot of young people. On Tinder you get tons of matches but it is very hard to meet up with anyone, which is the whole point. I think having the girl answer first changes the dynamic of how it usually is in our society.”
Although the experiences of these Bumble users do not represent the experiences of all Bumble users, the fact that they all appreciate the feature that Bumble has introduced is notable. With 11 million users as of January 2017, this refreshing dating app is undoubtedly gaining momentum and Wolfe is amplifying her goal of defying the unwritten rules of dating. If a dating site that vows to challenge the norms, empower women and give you the opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone sounds appealing, then Bumble is definitely worth checking out.