Not sure how I feel about this. The guy is an ass, without a doubt, and blocking him is the right move. However Bumble have taken the incident and publicly shamed the person, and used it as a marketing opportunity. I can't help but imagine Bumble PR staff being pretty happy when this came across their desk.
I think this is one of those “chain of free speech” issues. This guy was exercising his freedom of speech and being an ass. Bumble’s exercising their freedom of speech by shaming him publicly. And we are all exercising our freedoms of speech by discussing the instance and deciding whether to publicly voice our approval/disapproval. Yay free speech!
Absolutely. But also, fair play to them that they are also acting in line with their principals (a hassle-free dating app for women).
As to public shaming anyone, I thought most people knew that anything you write on the internet you ought to at least consider the possibility it will be printed in the New York Times the next day...
>> "they are also acting in line with their principals"
That's kind of my problem here though. They are doing that by banning him - by using it as a PR op it makes me see them in less of a good light. Just the fact they looked at one of their users being harassed and decided to use it to their advantage is in bad taste imo.
Women are harassed endlessly on dating apps/sites. I know lots of women who won't use them at all due to multiple bad experiences.
If Bumble wants to position itself as radically protective of a woman's experience, more power to them. Every app has to differentiate itself. If it's really problematic for men, they won't use the app.
(Semi-related: the quality of women on Bumble in my area is far better than any other app. They're smarter, have better jobs, and are a lot more likely to actually interact once a match is made.)
I completely agree (and I'm a user) but this just seems more like a cheap stunt to me. Publishing the messages to show the kind of abuse women receive on the app - good idea. People need to see that stuff. Publishing the persons name and promoting a couple of hashtags around it just gives me this image of the marketing department rubbing their hands with glee when this came across their desk. It's difficult to put into words, it just makes me feel less good about the company.
I agree that it's gross, but this is the kind of "good" corporate behavior you get in a capitalist society. The good things are always adulterated to some degree. Sometimes the adulteration is a problem, and sometimes it isn't.
In this isolated instance, I don't see it as a problem, but Bumble has the power to do this in much less clear-cut situations, which is a bit troubling.
I sort of wonder, with so many guys acting like assholes to women, is it because they are just mean? Or is it because they have to be mean to get a boner? Is it a rape mentality or is it something about testosterone in general?
