More than 65%* of young adults in Bengaluru don’t know how to give, ask or withdraw consent when dating someone
India, 1st October , 2022: Tinder, the world’s most popular app for meeting new people, has brought back ‘Let’s Talk Consent’, its initiative to encourage conversations around consent and safe dating. This year, the campaign launched with “We Need To Talk”, a short film that explores the nuances of consent in interpersonal relationships amongst young Indian adults. This will be followed by a first-of-its-kind Consent and Safe Dating curriculum, developed by experts and available online and in person in select universities, to give young adults access to appropriate information and a safe space to have a healthy discourse on the subject. The initiatives this year build on Tinder’s existing resource center www.letstalkconsent.com launched last year, in partnership with Yuvaa and Pink Legal,
A recent survey by Tinder reveals that most young adults in India have little or no confidence in navigating consent and find it hard to have conversations on the subject. Amongst those surveyed in Bengaluru, more than 65%* of young adults are hesitant to give consent, ask for it and to withdraw consent when dating someone. When asked about situations when their consent was violated, 60%* of young Bengalureans chose not to speak to their date/partner about it and turned to a friend and looked for resources online, illustrating the need for continuous dialogue on this subject. Infact, 80%* of these young Bengalureans believe that consent should be discussed more openly with partners.
Parvathy Thiruvothu, Indian Actress, says, “In today’s world, there is an ever growing need to educate ourselves on how to respect one another while breaking past the norms of patriarchy. To achieve this, it is essential to understand the concept of consent, beyond its definition alone. We must make an effort to listen and understand each other through the lenses of both, an individual and shared lived experiences. Therefore, it’s important to facilitate forums where open dialogues can take place to understand how we can set healthy boundaries, and help every individual exercise the right to determine how they wish to engage with others. I am happy to be a part of the panel Tinder has brought together as I myself am an earnest student who wishes to unlearn and relearn so I could be of better service to society.”
“Our conversations with Tinder members and the survey with young adult daters in India gave us insight into the overwhelming need to create safe spaces for conversations on boundaries and mutual respect, which are not often discussed in our society, ” said Taru Kapoor, GM, Tinder & Match Group, India. ”Our Let’s Talk Consent initiative aims to give young adults the tools and resources to understand how consent equates freedom in making choices, mutual agreement and normalizes open discussions on tough topics. Coupled with safety products in the app and initiatives such as these, we are committed to working towards creating a healthy dating ecosystem in the country.”
Tinder’s long-standing commitment to safety started with, requiring mutual consent to send a message. Over the past several years, the app has continued building best-in-class safety features and has provided members complete control over who they interact with, setting the pace and intent of each interaction while reserving the right to withdraw consent at any time. This initiative is part of Tinder’s wider trust and safety efforts to support proactive member education in app and off it. Many of the safety features and initiatives have now become the standard for the industry as daters overwhelmingly value the choice, control and agency that Tinder brought to them throughout their dating journey with Tinder: Video Chat, which was designed by Tinder’s safety team to facilitate a pre-IRL date that puts comfort first, Photo Verification to ensure members are who they say they are, Block Contacts to avoid any colleagues or exes, an updated Reporting process amongst other product features, such as Does This Bother You and Are You Sure to ensure you have all the tools from the time you match to when you go for your first date.
Following last year’s film on Consent, Closure, which was made available across platforms, Tinder’s latest short film, directed by Sonam Nair and conceptualized in collaboration with The Script Room, addresses some of these above inhibitions and showcases the importance of enabling conversations on consent. This year’s film can be seen across Tinder’s Instagram, YouTube and Voot.
More on the survey
More on Tinder’s safety features
