Does The World Need Another Dating App?

Allison P. Davis mulls over Wyldfire, a new app where female users double as gatekeepers:

[F]emale users can sign up freely, but any man on the app has to be invited, theoretically creating a network of only women-selected desirable, dateable, single men. “Everyone has that one friend who they think is a great-quality guy but they either don’t want to date themselves or want someone else they know to date,” says brand manager Jesse Shiffman. Founders Brian Freeman and Andrew White created the app, “designed specifically around the needs of women,” after hearing several of their female friends complain about “getting creeped on” whenever they used Tinder. … By using existing social networks to build an expanded dating pool, it simulates a more desirable, “organic” dating experience – like Hinge, but with more options. …

But here’s a problem:

How many men in your inner circle do you consider dateable that you don’t want to date yourself? I have maybe two. On a good day. Will  “female-centric” dating networks turn into a smorgasboard for dudes? They might be “safer,” but they don’t necessarily increase chances of dating success for the female user.

Amanda Hess is similarly skeptical:

As Davis notes, that type of eligible bachelor – the single, straight guy you don’t want to date, don’t want to set up with any of your friends, and yet are eager to recommend to all female strangers in your general area – may be even more elusive than the guy who actually sparks your interest.

But let’s say we all have these men in our lives: Identifying a guy as an obvious creep isn’t easy, either. The Wyldfire system operates on the assumption that men who text aggressively crude material to strangers on the internet have no female friends in real life. While it’s tempting to believe that men who type with their penises have simply never had any contact with female human beings, who really knows what lies in the dark recesses of your friend’s Tinder messages? Not you – you just hang out at parties.