The ever-popular dating and hook-up app Tinder has finally expanded their gender options beyond two (male and female) to 37 different gender options, including transgender, trans man, and trans woman. In a blog post about the update, Tinder writes, "Starting today, no matter how you identify, you can express your authentic self on Tinder." Users of the app will also be able to write in their gender identity if it doesn't appear in Tinder's list.
Tinder CEO Sean Rad tells USA Today that the Tinder team wanted to make changes after they learned trans users of the app were experiencing harassment on Tinder, saying that this made him "very angry."
Regarding the update to include a more inclusive diversity of genders, Tinder wrote in the blog,
Every new person in your life expands your horizons in some way. Inclusion and acceptance drive this expansion, and we want Tinder to reflect the world that surrounds us every day.
Nick Adams, who is the director of Transgender Affairs for GLAAD, tells USA Today that the update is "an important step forward (and) a message to its tens of millions of users that transgender and gender non-conforming people are welcome."
But Leanna, a trans woman who has used Tinder in the past, isn't so sure that the new update will be all Tinder seems to think it will be. "I'm super skeptical," Leanna tells Complex. "It's well-intentioned, but pretty much I foresee most people automatically swiping left on anyone trans, and then people who fetishize trans people will automatically swipe right." Leanna says she won't be using the new system.
"I think they should have 'man,' 'woman,' and 'nonbinary," Leanna adds. Specifying trans vs. cis isn't helpful. There should be a non-binary option for people who don't identify as a man or a woman," she says.
