Is it unfair that hinge has a height preference but doesn’t have a weight/body type preference?

PurplePillDebate-ModTeam · 2023-11-09T01:33:12+00:00

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demedermidimi · 2023-11-08T17:54:15+00:00

app designers don't care about making things fair, they care about keeping customers

Lina-Inverse · 2023-11-08T18:23:32+00:00

These apps are designed for women to be happy and for men to be unhappy and pay money to be happy (they'll still be unhappy after paying, but by the time they figure it out the dating app company will have made $100s from them and another sucker will replace him next year).

With that in mind you'll quickly understand why there isn't a weight body/type preference.

RonMexico432 · 2023-11-08T18:14:53+00:00

Get off the apps

notmyrealnamepapi · 2023-11-08T18:14:23+00:00

Its crazy to me that they even have a height filter

wtknight · 2023-11-08T17:56:48+00:00

Yeah, it’s unfair. But women are more likely to be turned off to using an app like Hinge compared to men. If men boycotted Hinge because of the height filter, then I’m sure that they would not have it either.

AdhesivenessLevel379 · 2023-11-08T18:00:54+00:00

A weight preference is a bit more ambiguous.

A 150lb 5,0’ woman would be pretty overweight whereas a 150lb 5,9’ woman would be thin. Then you have muscle mass etc. at my heaviest I had visible abs and triceps.

Idk why it would be necessary at all, can’t you tell by someone’s pictures if their body is what you’re into? ‘Fair’ doesn’t really factor in.

-Shes-A-Carnival · 2023-11-08T18:40:18+00:00

it's hard enough to get women to use OLD, you want a total sausagefest?

NakedStreets · 2023-11-08T18:10:44+00:00

No.

If you can’t look at someone’s photos and tell if their body size is acceptable to you, weight isn’t going to help you.

Height is a static measurement that you can’t see from photos.

MidoriEgg · 2023-11-08T18:33:53+00:00

It would cause more controversy than the app can be bothered to deal with.
Height is a lot more straightforward than weight. 75kg is going to look a lot different depending on your frame and where you carry it. Weight is a lot easier to lie about than height.

Personally I’m not sure how I feel about height filters or any sort of filters that tune out a specific aspects of a person’s appearance but those are probably the practical reasons as to why there isn’t one for weight.

Nellylocheadbean · 2023-11-08T18:42:16+00:00

I think it’s unfair.

There are less women on dating apps than men, so a weight filter would just deter women from joining the app.

Dating apps in general are trying to increase women users.

Legitimate_Author289 · 2023-11-08T20:00:27+00:00

Yeah, but it’s not meant to be fair. Plus if they introduced weight preferences it would likely drive away at least some of their female user base. Bad for hinge as they already have significantly more men

Spare-Estimate5596 · 2023-11-08T18:12:45+00:00

These apps need to keep women on the site. Otherwise why would men pay for them? There are still men dumb enough not to think women only want chad. So the men that use them think hey there is so many women on the site i might finally get laid. But they never do no matter how many months they are in the site

concretecannonball · 2023-11-08T19:38:43+00:00

IIRC some apps have a body type section?

You can’t tell anything about body type from just a number. You get photos of people. What’s the problem exactly? Or do you just want to feel like men should be able to reject women based on their weight because you feel like men are getting rejected based on their height?

Whiskeyjack1982 · 2023-11-08T20:20:07+00:00

If they put a weight filter on they would lose 90% of their female users lol. Its already 80/20 ratio of men to women on the app as of now. They would lose a lot of male users too once they realize that most women on their are obese.

safestuff987 · 2023-11-08T18:09:09+00:00

It's totally unfair, but Hinge is an app by a private corporation. They don't care about fairness, they care about profit.

jpla86 · 2023-11-08T18:41:31+00:00

I'm 6ft and that's considered short now, lol.

karspearhollow · 2023-11-08T18:06:12+00:00

Height is an objective measurement that's not immediately evident from photos.

Weight is deceptively objective. The same weight presents very differently on different people. And 119 pounds vs 120 is a very dumb way to try and judge someone's fitness.

You can judge a person's body type by their photos. And if they only have closeups of their face, they're fat. No filter needed.

If this is a double standard, and I don't think it is, it's the last one to put energy into.

If you’re someone who likes living an active lifestyle you should be able to filter out anyone who doesn’t. Same goes for people who don’t like being active.

Haven't been on hinge in a while but is there not an option to filter by interests? I know it at least highlights common ones. That covers this more than how fat someone is. Unless you're gonna tell me Tyson Fury and Nikola Jokic aren't active.

Ok-Coat7665 · 2023-11-08T17:57:07+00:00

Kinda, but categorizing people by body type is less straightforward than height. Like, if you’re 5’6” you’re 5’6”, but terms like skinny, muscular, curvy, thick, chubby, fat, etc are subjective. Plus you can see in photos if someone has your preferred body type. (And yes, people can use old photos or editing tricks to lie about their current body type, but the kind of person who does that would probably lie if asked to pick a label anyway.)

tiddermacss · 2023-11-08T18:29:20+00:00

we can find out if over weight by pics itself?

MoreSanitizerPls · 2023-11-08T18:52:08+00:00

I think it’s fair. You can tell if a person isn’t fit by their pictures. It’s hard to tell how tall someone is though.

sine120 · 2023-11-08T18:17:55+00:00

Both the dating market and the actual dating app for $$ market doesn't care about what's fair, they care about what makes money. They are selling access to women, so to get women to the platform they have to provide what they want to see. Everyone has determined men can do the vetting by weight on their own if they care.

Environmental_Day558 · 2023-11-08T18:37:06+00:00

At the very least I think they should have a fitness filter. If you’re someone who likes living an active lifestyle you should be able to filter out anyone who doesn’t.

I wouldn't rely on this at all. I remember using sites like OKC and POF where they did have these type of filters. I've seen a ton of women who were visibly overweight using the "athletic" and "slim" tags so they appear in these searches. You basically just have to go by pictures and hope they're not filtered and recent.

gntlbastard · 2023-11-08T19:52:50+00:00

Dating apps success is based solely on the number of women on those apps. They need to capture the female demographic. The males will come provided the women exist. That being said, if a fat chick contacts you just reject. You are not obligated to tolerate a fat chick anymore than a woman is obligated to tolerate a short man. It follows the same pattern as bars having a ladies night. The women drink for free because they understand that the women being there is going to draw the men who will offset the cost of the free drinks given to women.

skon7 · 2023-11-08T20:16:38+00:00

The government should subsidize dating Apps lol

Safinated · 2023-11-08T23:32:16+00:00

Who said dating apps had to be fair ?

Also, lying exists

TSquaredRecovers · 2023-11-08T18:01:55+00:00

I don’t think weight would give an accurate assessment as to what someone looks like because everyone carries weight differently. However, I do think a “body type” preference could be included. That seems reasonable.

blebbyroo · 2023-11-08T17:51:25+00:00

Weight isn’t always accurate indicator of thick or thin. You would need height and muscle mass too.

Edit doesn’t tinder have label for body type?

youreloser · 2023-11-08T17:53:22+00:00

A weight preference will obviously not be received well. They are a company looking out for their best interests, they don't care about equality, whatever that means.

Second of all, weight varies with height and musculature. So a singular weight filter is not that helpful. Even BMI doesn't consider body composition.

PrecisionHat · 2023-11-08T18:38:05+00:00

Yes it's unfair. It's a double standard that benefits women mostly.

soontobesolo · 2023-11-08T18:15:02+00:00

Of course it's backwards and unfair. At least people have some control over their eating habits/fatness, while they don't have a choice about their height.

People are allowed to have preferences, but some preferences are more socially acceptable than others.

Relative_Bee8356 · 2023-11-08T19:08:28+00:00

Unlike height, weight is usually pretty easy to determine from pictures. If you can't tell, you already know what that means and can just swipe left.

OKC def has (or had, it's been a while) a body type filter. I don't think it's off-putting so much as just not very necessary.

SlowEffective8146 · 2023-11-08T20:42:45+00:00

Of course it is.

Imagine if dating apps allowed men to filter by bodycount. Women would be screeching.

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obviousredflag · 2023-11-08T19:23:01+00:00

Do you want to have women on the apps or not? Next thing you say that Ladies' Nights are unfair. Holy fuck.

januaryphilosopher · 2023-11-08T19:25:16+00:00

Weight is actually different than height because a) most people don't know their exact weight, b) it changes over time throughout your life and c) it doesn't tell you anything useful without other information, such as height and how they carry that weight (where on the body and as far or muscle). This makes it pretty hard to make any easy-to-understand dating app figure about it, although if I was using an app I'd certainly love some way around this so I could use it. But unless there's a workaround I guess you just need to look at pictures and do it manually. Some apps do have the option to describe your body type and interests to put on your profile as far as I'm aware.

MistyMaisel · 2023-11-08T19:51:11+00:00

Unfair? Not that I can think of. There's no reason for them to offer such a filter when photos often reveal this. There's no double standard here that I can see. They also don't let you sort for who has blue eyes, a big dick, or big titties? Is this a double standard and unfair?

purplish_possum · 2023-11-08T18:40:41+00:00

As a 6'4" guy I don't have a problem with this.

doggiedoc2004 · 2023-11-08T20:40:58+00:00

Men designed these apps. They designed them to make money and to keep users interested.

Muscletov · 2023-11-08T18:39:42+00:00

Of course it is, from a moral standpoint. But dating apps are also businesses and they're far more dependent on pleasing women's egos than men's.

Turbulent-Tonight975 · 2023-11-08T18:46:26+00:00

They don't do this because the app would become so undesirable by women that most women wouldn't use it all. The AVERAGE American women is a size 16 with around 40% of women being obese and 2/3 women overall being at least overweight.

Considering men have a strong preference against overweight women, this would basically mean that these overweight women, who already are having issues getting the men they want on dating apps, would be even that much more challenged. From my experience as a dude in my 30s, I think that at least 2/3 women on Hinge over the age of 27 is overweight and many are easily in the obese category.

I don't disagree with you in the double standard that women can easily filter out the phyical trait they are most concerned with while men cannot. The difference I guess is that men have fewer standards and thus dating apps can cater to women as a result. More men are on the apps, but men will like a large percentage of profiles while women are highly selective. If the apps don't do enought to pander to the women, these women will go to other apps and the men will leave the app also because there are not many women on there.

It's called market force and thats why it is that way.

Cethlinnstooth · 2023-11-08T18:59:49+00:00

Hinge isn't there to be fair it is there to make money. As such they can choose to have any sets of filters they want, so long as they don't have filters that actively endanger customers in ways that would get them sued out of existence.

People need to stop working from the perspective that dating apps are a public service and should be fair to users. Dating apps are businesses and are there to be fair to those who invested in them...by preserving the value of their investment and paying out profits.

Hinge has decided that a height filter helps them make money more than a weight filter would. End of discussion. There is no more to say other than complain to hinge if you want then take it or leave it.

If you want an app that decides filters on a different basis that prioritises profit less, you might have to ask your government for such an app.

A government app could and would do a whole lot of things differently. It also may not do exactly what you want and oh hell would it have more power to verify stuff...it would be easily possible for a government app to allow people to authorise use of personal information held by the government and thus allow other users to filter them by income, lack of criminal record, whether they have been married in the past, whether they are on a child's birth certificate, where they officially live for government purposes not just where they say they live, whether they are currently making pay as you earn tax payments to the government...ie have regular style waged employment, whether they owe money to the government and how much, whether they are in receipt of government assistance, whether they own a valid current driver's licence.

Heck...the government could make you authorising use of your passport or driver's licence photo a requirement of using their app. No choice of a flattering pose on that photo.

The government could also legislate a standard data provision method for doctors to use to collect info for dating app filtering regarding height and weight. No more adding two inches or knocking off twenty pounds!

I personally support the idea of a government dating app to consider doing things commercial apps can't or won't do, with the goal being quicker market clearance not extended app use and selling of additional services. There's lots of things important in getting people paired up. The government has more power and more motivation than investors do.

I think the solution is a more granular data provision, not less. Make everyone capable of prefering their most preferred option until they are out of the game in some way. People will then choose to pull back on some of their prefering. Maybe she sits there looking at her huge list of preferences and thinks "ok I can come down to five foot eight inch but dammit no scrubs...no criminal convictions, and a driver's licence and current waged employment must stay" or maybe he looks at his list and thinks "fine. I've only been getting broke bitches who want to use me. BMI can go up to 28 but dammit the bitch gotta have a job of some sort and not be on government support"

I think that's the best way to make people reasonable. Give them a thousand ways to prefer this or that then when consequences hit they have a thousand different ways to pull back from their preferences. And they really need to think at that moment or they will need to repeat that moment.

NoPea6878 · 2023-11-08T19:08:43+00:00

I think it would be unwise from a marketing perspective for them to add that option. Also, consider: you can tell someone's body type instantly from looking at their pictures. You cannot always tell someone's height, sometimes you have no clue from looking at photos. If you don't like fat chicks, you just swipe left on them. But if you don't like short dudes, it's hard to know whether someone is short unless they give their height.

Particular_Trade6308 · 2023-11-08T19:22:39+00:00

The top response is the correct one, apps need women to get men to pay, so including a weight filter would torpedo their revenues.

There’s nothing preventing apps from including fields that are optional. There are already filters for religion, smoking, etc., that are optional. It would be trivial to include optional filters for weight, BMI, bust/waist/hips measurements, whatever you want. However the legions of out-of-shape girls on apps would be discouraged which would kill traffic, kill revenues, etc etc.

Strangely enough Tinder allows this, you can filter by “active” and by frequency of gym-going, I basically don’t see fat women on tinder anymore. Problem is, the fit girls are in even higher demand so the match rates are still poor. That said it’s a more pleasant experience not having to left-swipe 100 fat women

Sensitive_Bluebird22 · 2023-11-08T19:25:00+00:00

Companies are trying to make money not make things fair

throwaway164_3 · 2023-11-08T19:36:59+00:00

Men are the expendable sex. It’s supply/demand.

Hairy-Ganache-7457 · 2023-11-08T19:47:48+00:00

Most of the people who would use the height filter are women.

From a business perspective, a lot of those dating apps don't have a lot of women signing up for their services. Giving them a height filter would entice women more compared to a weight filter.

bluehorserunning · 2023-11-08T20:10:08+00:00

I wouldn’t say it’s ‘unfair,’ but it’s stupid on a capitalist level. Anyone who cares about that has a plethora of other app to go to.

TheMedsPeds · 2023-11-08T20:45:37+00:00

I’d turn the height thing to not show me dudes over 6 foot if I could, but I’m not paying.

What I’m surprised about is race. They allow you to sort by race.

Flightlessbirbz · 2023-11-08T20:47:09+00:00

Apps want to attract more women, since it tends to be mostly men. And men won’t stick around if there are no women - it’s a business after all, and they want to make money.

That being said, as a woman I’d prefer they have a body type filter. I wouldn’t want to date a morbidly obese man, and if I’m not a man’s preferred body type, I’d prefer to just be filtered out rather than waste time accidentally matching with someone who isn’t attracted to me.

CalmNeedleworker3100 · 2023-11-08T21:19:43+00:00

It shouldn't have height preferences. They would never be allowed to have race preferences

VTHokie2020 · 2023-11-08T21:38:07+00:00

No, it's a private company. 'Fair' is so subjective it's pointless to talk about.

The reason they have that is because the app with the most women will be the most successful. They're catering to them, not the men.

Adorable-Plane-4776 · 2023-11-08T22:07:50+00:00

The same weight can look different on different people, even with the same height due to different body compositions and amounts of muscle mass, so it's not really useful

kvakerok · 2023-11-08T22:09:23+00:00

I would pay good money for the app that would allow to enter a height-to-weight ratio.

Just weight or just height is silly. My buddy is 6'5" and he's unattractively rotund.

hishinist · 2023-11-08T23:01:38+00:00

Weight looks different on certain body types and heights so it wouldn't matter. People also get a lot of weights wrong. I'll hear guys guess a girl is 125 when she is actually 160 but 160 sounds fat to them. People don't know what weight actually looks like. Muscle also could cause a weight increase.

jay10033 · 2023-11-09T00:01:52+00:00

It doesn't need to be fair in a fantasy world. The real world will filter by weight. Can't escape that.

SecondEldenLord · 2023-11-09T01:02:39+00:00

Apps do not care about catering to men. Men are almost the only paying customers for these dating apps. They will do anything to get money out of desperate lonely men

GlamSunCrybabyMoon · 2023-11-09T01:10:33+00:00

Just swipe left?

kek2w13213 · 2023-11-08T18:18:48+00:00

Are you not just saving yourself the trouble?

If they're selecting for height, and you don't meet that criteria, are you not just wasting your time being in that person swipe list?

Title	Is it unfair that hinge has a height preference but doesn’t have a weight/body type preference?
Author	fvckit88
Upvotes	78
Comments	207
Date	November 8, 2023 5:47 PM UTC (2 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/17qr62q/is_it_unfair_that_hinge_has_a_height_preference/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/is-it-unfair-that-hinge-has-a-height-preference.1237688 https://theredarchive.com/post/1237688

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