Tinder brings back conversations on consent and safe dating
Aug 26, 2022
New Delhi [India], August 26 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Tinder, the world's most popular app for meeting new people, is bringing back 'Let's Talk Consent', its initiative to encourage conversations around consent and safe dating. This year, the campaign launches with "
", a short film that explores the nuances of consent in interpersonal relationships amongst young Indian adults.
This will be followed by a first-of-its-kind Consent and Safe Dating curriculum, developed by experts and available online and in person in select universities, to give young adults access to appropriate information and a safe space to have a healthy discourse on the subject. The initiatives this year build on Tinder's existing resource center
launched last year, in partnership with
and
.
A recent survey by Tinder reveals that most young adults in India have little or no confidence in navigating consent and find it hard to have conversations on the subject. More than 65 per cent* of those surveyed don't know how to give consent, how to ask for it or how to withdraw consent when dating someone*. Amongst those surveyed, 50 per cent* do not know what to do if their consent is violated. When asked about situations when their consent was violated, only 1 out of 4 admitted to speaking to their date/partner about it and preferred turning to a friend and looking for resources online, illustrating the need for continuous dialogue on this subject.
Tinder's
, directed by Sonam Nair and conceptualized in collaboration with
, addresses some of these above inhibitions and showcases the importance of enabling conversations on consent. The story centers around a birthday party where a group of young adult friends play a popular party game, Never Have I Ever. A seemingly innocuous question goes awry when one friend is called out for violating someone's consent. This question in turn sparks multiple conversations between party guests about their varied understanding of consent based on personal and lived experiences. In one particular moment, a character in the film asks his partner, "Have I ever made you feel like you are doing something you don't want to do?" and the female protagonist reveals how she does lie sometimes because she was afraid to hurt his feelings. Young adults in India echoed this sentiment through the survey stating the top three reasons for not communicating their consent included the fear of hurting their date's feelings, feeling awkward/uncomfortable, and not knowing how to say no.
"Our conversations with Tinder members and the survey with young adult daters in India gave us insight into the overwhelming need to create safe spaces for conversations on boundaries and mutual respect, which are not often discussed in our society,'' said Taru Kapoor, GM, Tinder and Match Group, India. '' Our
initiative aims to give young adults the tools and resources to understand how consent equates freedom in making choices, mutual agreement and normalizes open discussions on tough topics. Coupled with safety products in the app and initiatives such as these, we are committed to working towards creating a healthy dating ecosystem in the country."
Tinder's long-standing commitment to safety started with, requiring mutual consent to send a message. Over the past several years, the app has continued building best-in-class safety features and has provided members complete control over who they interact with, setting the pace and intent of each interaction while reserving the right to withdraw consent at any time. This initiative is part of Tinder's wider trust and safety efforts to support proactive member education in-app and off-it. Many of the safety features and initiatives have now become the standard for the industry as daters overwhelmingly value the choice, control and agency that Tinder brought to them throughout their dating journey with Tinder:
, which was designed by Tinder's safety team to facilitate a pre-IRL date that puts comfort first,
to ensure members are who they say they are,
to avoid any colleagues or exes, an
amongst other product features, such as
and
to ensure you have all the tools from the time you match to when you go for your first date.
Following last year's film on Consent,
, which was made available across platforms, this year's film too will be seen across Tinder's Instagram, YouTube and Voot starting today.
*Research conducted by YouGov - survey of 1,018 Indian young adults (18-30) across Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad.
This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)
