Dating and Sex in the Pandemic Age
New York City’s Department of Health recently published guidelines titled “Sex and Coronavirus Disease 2019”. The guidelines discussed ways to have safer sex during this pandemic. They explain that “you are your safest sex partner” in addition to discouraging people from having sex outside of their homes.¹
These guidelines are significant because they show that memes like one above are not true and that people should understand how their sexual behavior affects others in relation to COVID-19. It is important that the non-profit fact-checker Africa Check created the “FAKE” symbol on the existing meme of Wolf Blitzer to debunk its credibility.²
Sexual conduct is paramount, but dating conduct in the COVID-19 age is different and necessary to learn as well. The dating app Bumble recorded a 21% increase in sent messages in Seattle and a 26% increase in San Francisco.³ In response, dating apps have encouraged video chatting during this time.
COVID-19 has compelled people to rely on technology to date, which broaches interesting questions of surveillance. By having more sensitive conversations online, are people at risk of feeding data companies more of their information? Dating apps know what you like, where you are from, your age, and have a record of conversations you probably won’t want anyone else seeing.
1.https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/imm/covid-sex-guidance.pdf