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Home > Dating & Relationships > Tinder Now Warns If You’re in a Sexually Intolerant Country

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Home›Dating & Relationships›Tinder Now Warns If You’re in a Sexually Intolerant Country

Tinder Now Warns If You’re in a Sexually Intolerant Country

By M. Christian
March 30, 2020
2086
0

An important step in acknowledging the risks LGBTQ+ people face when traveling

Tinder Warning

The popular dating app Tinder has announced a brilliant new feature: when an LGBTQ+ user is in a sexually repressive or intolerant country, they’ll receive an automated alert warning them of possible danger.

Available for both Apple iOS and Google’s Android platform, the Traveler Alert will activate for anyone who self-identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community.

This feature shows Tinder has recognized the need to be much more active in protecting its users.

It also can be seen as a rallying call for customers to demand other companies to show this level of consideration, and even sex tech should join in to ensure the safety of everyone at risk of arrest, physical attack, and social and cultural ostracization.

LGBTQ community

The alert itself is very clear in its message that LGBTQ+ Tinder users should exercise caution, and even suggests important safety precautions for its users:

Based on your geographical location, it appears you’re in a place where the LGBTQ community may be penalized. We want you to have fun, but your safety is our #1 priority. Please proceed with caution and take extra care when making new matches and meeting with people you do not know.

After the alert is triggered, the app then offers two choices: the first being a way for users to obscure themselves in the app, making them invisible to other users. 

The second option is that, should they choose to remain visible, users can make their gender identity or sexual orientation invisible in their profile until they exit the potentially dangerous area.

Making this system even better

Making this system even better

Not to dismiss or diminish Tinder’s new feature, but there’s still a lot that could be added to its app, as well as to similar dating apps from other companies.

To start, the alert shouldn’t only be triggered by an LGBTQ+ identity. Not that members of these communities shouldn’t be protected, but there are other sexual preferences and identities that should be cautioned as well. For example, BDSM, polyamory, and sex tech users should also be on the warning list. 

It would also be much more useful if the warning contained a more detailed explanation of the actual risks involved in being in an intolerant country. Is the warning based on an area’s actual laws, and if so, what legal penalties might be involved? Is the alert triggered by a country that is religiously or culturally intolerant, and if so, what can users do to avoid exposure?

This is especially needed in some countries, where being gay, lesbian, or queer might be frowned on but rarely results in imprisonment, while individuals who identify as trans are routinely persecuted or harassed. 

Since we’re putting together our wishlist, it would also be ideal for the warning to be specific about not just a country/region but also specifically which sub-regions may be more severe, such as certain towns or neighborhoods within an urban area. 

Going even further, safe areas could be suggested, even using information and suggestions offered by other users, to keep the alerts updated.

Finally, it would be important to have the alert not only tied to a country or a region but also states or municipalities within them: appropriate warnings could appear in a city, town, or state that is risky, even if it is within an area that might otherwise not be. 

For sex tech as well

For sex tech as well

This is all pretty obvious for things like dating apps, but the sex tech and adult entertainment industries should get involved as well with their own version of the alert, letting customers know what could happen should they be exposed. 

After all, in certain states in the U.S., like Texas and Alabama, it’s still or recently was illegal to sell or own sex toys. This kind of thing should really be pointed out to residents of states and cities like this by sex tech manufacturers when they place an order.

It might have a long way to go to be thoroughly responsive and thoughtful but Tinder’s alert system has called attention to this important issue, and other companies need to join it in caring for the safety of their clients and customers. 

Image sources: Global Panorama, Elvert Barnes, Carl Campbell, Eva Rinaldi

M. Christian

M.Christian (they/them) loves nothing better than exploring the intersections of sex and technology—and speculating on the future of both. A highly regarded erotica writer they have six novels,12 collections, 100+ short stories, and 25 anthologies as an editor to their name. Their non-fiction regularly appears in many sites, but they're most proud of being a regular contributor to Future of Sex.

Of their erotic fiction, Tristan Taormino said that “M.Christian is a literary stylist of the highest caliber: smart, funny, frightening, sexy—there's nothing [they] can't write about… and brilliantly.”

Reflecting their unique ability to sympathetically and convincingly write for a range of genders and sexual orientations, their stories have appeared in multiple editions of Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Mammoth Books of Erotica, and others. Their collection of gay erotic fiction, Dirty Words, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

While a majority of their stories have been collected into books like Dirty Words, their fondness for combining sex and science fiction is clearly evident in collections that include Rude Mechanicals, Technorotica, Better Than The Real Thing, Skin Effect Effect, Bachelor Machine, and Hard Drive: The Best Sci-Fi Erotica of M.Christian.

As a novelist, M.Christian’s versatility is on full display with Running Dry, The Very Bloody Marys, Brushes, Painted Doll; and the somewhat controversial queer BDSM/horror/thrillers Finger's Breadth, and Me2.

M.Christian has worked on the industry’s production side as an Associate Publisher for Renaissance E Books and as a Publisher for Digital Parchment Services. The latter dedicated to celebrating the works of science-fiction legends such as William Rotsler, Jerome Bixby, Jody Scott, Arthur Byron Cover, Ernest Hogan, and James Van Hise.

Covering topics like BDSM safety, sexual education, senior sexuality concerns, queer and gender issues, plus reviewing a variety of sex tech products, M.Christian’s non-fiction has appeared on sites like Kinkly, Tickle.Life, Sexpert, Queer Majority, Sex for Every Body, and—of course—their ongoing work for Future of Sex.

If there’s anything M.Christian enjoys more than writing, it’s teaching. A featured presenter, sometimes with their friend Ralph Greco Jr, at national sex and BDSM events, they have lectured on kink play (with an emphasis on safety), polyamory, boosting sexual creativity, and erotica writing--for beginners or those wanting to go pro.

M.Christian is a cohost on two popular sex-education podcasts: Love’s Outer Limits with Dr. Amy Marsh and Licking Non-Vanilla with Ralph Greco, Jr.
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