As the popularity of dating apps has risen, more dating platforms dedicated to niche groups have appeared. While these options can be nice for people who know what they want, at a certain point being too ānicheā can start to feel like a cover for exclusivity and, in some cases, body shaming. This is the problem many are pointing out with the app Slindir, which launched in 2016.
Slindir markets itself as a dating app focused on “health.” An introductory blog post in its website stated that its intended purpose was to ābring together those who can say āActive is my DNA, feeling good is my purposeā, because we understand why itās such a pivotal part of our everyday lives.ā
However, in an essay for Allure, Wellness Editor Rosemary Donahue contends that the version of āhealthā that Slindir promotes is exclusionary. As Donahue points out, with a name so dangerously close to the word “slender,” itās no surprise that the app has a limited view of health ā seeminglyĀ focusing only on those who are white, able-bodied, and thin.
For Donahue the appās lack of self-awareness hit close to home. After receiving a pitch from the app, asking her to consider featuring it in a magazine, Donahue writes that āIf the person sending the email had done even a small amount of research on the recipient of the pitch, they’d have known that I, in fact, have an eating disorder, along with 30 million others, just in the U.S.. To create an app that is potentially triggering to so many folks is exclusionary and dangerous.”
Hey PR folks, maybe donāt pitch a dating app called Slindir ā for āactiveā people (read: skinny joggers and cross-fitters) to date ā to an editor who has written about their own eating disorder https://t.co/kcH7SxDCTd
ā Tyler Kingkade (@tylerkingkade) December 14, 2018
As a company, Slindir does acknowledge its own exclusivity. The same blog posts where the company outlines its mission also states āSo no, Slindir is not for everyone, and thatās ok.ā
For folks who are about bodies of all shapes, sizes and disabilities finding love and connecting (and never being shamed or made to feel less than), maybe it isn’t.Ā