Hallelujah! Feminist Dating App Siren Hands the Reins to Women

(Image credit: Courtesy of Siren)

published 6 October 2014

Two New Girl episodes ago, Schmidt reminded après-nine-dates Jess that she's the last piece of pie. Although "girls are like leftover dessert" might be rather iffy as a simile, the thought that counts here is that, in the game of finding someone to long-term hang out with, women ultimately do the choosing.

New dating app Siren (opens in new tab) underscores that idea, swapping out sketchy dudes (opens in new tab) and am-I-back-in-school questionnaires for more substantive communication that doesn't emphasize appearance nor revolve around appendage length.

CEO Susie Lee and design director Katrina Hess said (opens in new tab) they imagined Siren as a fun, comfortable space in which women initiate real-world interaction. According to (opens in new tab) Tech Times, Siren prompts users to upload just one profile-verification photo, then to answer an open-ended question of the day. Only when Siren notifies a woman someone's interested and she decides to make herself visible does the app share her picture. Male users, on the other hand, see a woman's responses—but not her face—until she accepts his invitation. (Take that, Shallow Hals!) As for the "Siren Call" part, that comes in when a woman asks to meet IRL.

At the moment, Siren is in private beta testing, but a nationwide rollout and an LGBTQ version are on their way.

Hear, hear.

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Image via Siren (opens in new tab)

Chelsea Peng is a writer and editor who was formerly the assistant editor at MarieClaire.com. She's also worked for The Strategist and Refinery29, and is a graduate of Northwestern University. On her tombstone, she would like a GIF of herself that's better than the one that already exists on the Internet and a free fro-yo machine. Besides frozen dairy products, she's into pirates, carbs, Balzac, and snacking so hard she has to go lie down.