Today in “Is this a joke? SMDH,” a new matchmaking site connecting straight women with gay male best friends is being rolled out this winter.
What we know so far about the Every Girl Needs A Gay matchmaking site, a real thing, is...
1. It has a forum called the “Rainbow Room” (ugh) and...
2. It wildly exaggerates our definition of scientific research. A post on the matchmaking site-to-be claims that new research from the journal Evolutionary Psychology suggests that what creates a special (read: stereotypical) bond between gay men and straight women is “their unique ability to provide clear-headed counsel regarding romantic relationships.” It’s like they didn’t get the memo that straight girls basically don’t exist. To start, their interpretation of the study that legitimizes the site's business model is off-base. A visiting researcher and his team at the University of Texas at Austin supposedly wrote, “Our results suggest that straight women and gay men perceive mating advice provided by each other to be more trustworthy than similar advice offered by other individuals.” That means a small sample of subjects believe that sexuality stereotype validates their friendships, not that it’s true or would be a good way to view women or gay men; as it is, something about the bogus term “fag hag” reflects poorly on both parties. Do we really need to enable this narrow-minded view of us? Besides its premise being wack, it’s irrelevant. The limitations of such a binary on sexuality and gender labels have no positive connection with the success rate of platonic friendships. And anyway, do we really need a paid service this specific? (Yep, there’s a pay model.) If you can’t help yourself, like, if you don’t bump into your new gay best friend at your New Years Eve rave of choice, registration for Every Girl Needs A Gay will apparently become available on January 1, 2016.
2. It wildly exaggerates our definition of scientific research. A post on the matchmaking site-to-be claims that new research from the journal Evolutionary Psychology suggests that what creates a special (read: stereotypical) bond between gay men and straight women is “their unique ability to provide clear-headed counsel regarding romantic relationships.” It’s like they didn’t get the memo that straight girls basically don’t exist. To start, their interpretation of the study that legitimizes the site's business model is off-base. A visiting researcher and his team at the University of Texas at Austin supposedly wrote, “Our results suggest that straight women and gay men perceive mating advice provided by each other to be more trustworthy than similar advice offered by other individuals.” That means a small sample of subjects believe that sexuality stereotype validates their friendships, not that it’s true or would be a good way to view women or gay men; as it is, something about the bogus term “fag hag” reflects poorly on both parties. Do we really need to enable this narrow-minded view of us? Besides its premise being wack, it’s irrelevant. The limitations of such a binary on sexuality and gender labels have no positive connection with the success rate of platonic friendships. And anyway, do we really need a paid service this specific? (Yep, there’s a pay model.) If you can’t help yourself, like, if you don’t bump into your new gay best friend at your New Years Eve rave of choice, registration for Every Girl Needs A Gay will apparently become available on January 1, 2016.