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The dating app announced Tuesday that users would be able to select up to three terms best describing their sexual orientation in an "Orientation" tab of its application. Previously, people were limited to choosing a preference for "men", "women" or "both".
In collaboration with GLAAD, Tinder said he selected nine initial terms from which people can choose, including: heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, demisexual, pansexual, queer, and questioning. For new users, the ability to choose among these terms will be part of the registration process.
Originally designed for more heteronormative dating, the company has been working in recent years to respond to growing calls for inclusion in its community. Tinder, from the IAC Match Group, explains that the decision to add sexual orientation options comes in response to user feedback and an internal investigation. Among the results: about 56% of the 1,000 respondents said that they would be interested in dating apps or websites offering them more options to express their sexual orientation.
The selections of the user will be taken into account for surfacing potential connections. People can also choose to display the terms on their profile.
"We want all of our users to feel empowered to express their identity while staying in touch with new people – and we are always working to make it easier for our users on Tinder," said Elie Seidman, Tinder's CEO. .
Tinder said that the terms of reference could evolve over time and that it is open to user feedback.
While dating apps such as Bumble (which allows women to take the first step) and that Grindr gay dating app have more specific local to attract users, Tinder's largely address singles seeking quick and easy to find matches nearby.
Tinder reorganized its approach to gender identity in 2016 in response to the harassment against transgender people on its platform. Transgender women, for example, were falsely declared "false" on the platform by other users who had chosen "female" – the application at that time only included a "masculine" or "feminine" identity option.
To address this problem, Tinder has partnered with GLAAD to add 37 gender options allowing people to identify themselves as "trans man", "trans woman" or "transgender" . Deployment of sexual orientation is the next step.
"I think this change is pretty simple, but the impact will be particularly felt by people who feel that they could not be what they were on the platform," he said. said Rich Ferraro, GLAAD Communications Manager, CNN Business.
Tinder says that this will allow users to see people in the same orientation first, but do not let people filter by sexual orientation. For example, if a user identifies as a heterosexual man, he can be associated with a trans woman who is interested in men.
The new feature will initially be available in English markets.
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