Dick Pic
I am chatting with my friend when she tells me a Tinder story. We share Tinder stories. Some of them are funny, some of them are frustrating, and some of them have us praying to deities we don’t believe in to save the human race.
It seems that she’d been chatting to a young man a few months ago and he went MIA. This is nothing new, people disappear all the time in the online dating game, sometimes they have met someone in person, sometimes they get cold feet when they have to actually meet another human face to face.
So today, after three months, the guy writes a random text message just to say hi. My friend responds with a hello, and then he sends her a picture of his penis.
OK. I am not judging. I mean I don’t understand how “hi” naturally leads to “here are pictures (4 in total) of my genitalia,” but still, not judging.
Also, I am no prude. And I have done my fair share of naughty textual interactions. But those interactions involved people I was intimately involved with and, moreover, there was a clear understanding on the part of all parties involved exactly what was happening.
My friend’s experience is far from isolated. According to many female friends who have been on Tinder or OK Cupid or any other number of dating sites, getting a picture of a penis is not an unusual occurrence. Often these penises are attached to men they have never met or seen before in any way. Women can apparently expect to be greeted with several anonymous members whenever they log into the site in question.
I am just wondering if I have missed a memo or something. Have the rules of the dating world completely changed? This would not be the first time I was late to the dating party and I have learned many dating lessons five months too late. So the idea that I am out of touch on this one is not out of the realm of possibility.
But if this is the new norm, where does it fall in the line of dating steps? Is it now: first date, kiss on cheek, second date, kiss on lips, between second and third date, send picture of junk, third date, depends on how picture was received, pack a lunch for your interrogation.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not preaching and I refuse to color this post with anything close to a “In my day!” or “We used to have values…” theme. It doesn’t matter when you lived, live, or will be living, people have always been and will always be horny and stupid. And the laws of physics state that the hornier you are, the stupider you get. Is it just that now we have technology to help us share our stupidity in photographic naughty form?
If this is the new way of the dating world, what’s next?
