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THE DANGERS OF DATING APPS PAGE 6
E RE F /
LETTER EDITOR from the
I didn’t date much while growing up. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I just wasn’t sure where to start. When I went to college, I downloaded Tinder and I started dating more. However, dates started to become more and more underwhelming. They started to lose their charm. That was until I went on a first date with my ex-girlfriend. The charm was back and I realized what a good date feels like. That relationship ended with heartbreak but I gained a sense of awareness from it. For a lot of people, dating sucks. Meeting new people is hard enough and when romance is introduced, things become murky and complex. It can make people feel alone, rejected and pressured. It’s awkward and annoying and heartbreaking, but it’s also one of the great joys in life. A good date sparks synergy, it brightens a person’s eyes and it lightens a person’s step. It opens access to feelings that would otherwise be convoluted. It can inspire people to better themselves. Dating brings so many things with it, and truly embodies what it means to be human. The Dating issue starts with our cover story where we discuss how dating apps have created new dangers that can lead to sexual assault (page 6). A student discusses how Tinder is not inclusive to the transgender community (page 4), we take a look into how dating has changed from the ’80s and ’90s compared to today (page 10) and we explore the impact of iconic power couples in the arts (page 12).
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Managing Visual Editor Joshua Pacheco photo@csun.edu News Editor Gillian Moran-Perez city@csun.edu Assistant News Editor Kimberly Silverio-Bautista city@csun.edu Chief Copy Editor Ivey Mellem copydesk@sundial.csun.edu Copy Editors Munina Lam Sarah Shabbar copydesk@sundial.csun.edu A&E Editor Ivan Salinas ane@csun.edu Assistant A&E Editors Kayla Fernandez Deja Magee Moss ane@csun.edu Opinion Editor Raychel Stewart opinion@csun.edu Sports Editor Bryanna Winner sports_sundial@csun.edu Assistant Sports Editor Andres Soto sports_sundial@csun.edu Photo Editor Logan Bik photo@csun.edu Social Media Manager Natalie Fina sundialsocialmedia@sundial.csun.edu Graphic Designers Ewan McNeil Elaine Sanders Natalie Miranda Illustrator Joelena Despard Audio Editor Pejvauk Shahamat sundialpodcast@gmail.com Video Editors Andrea Esparza Elaine Sanders Noelle Nakamura Assistant Video Editor Brendan Reed-Crabb
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CONTENTS “Swipe Left on Tinder” Page 4
Gabriel Krongold
Dating apps need to be more inclusive for LGBTQ users to prevent discrimation.
“Awkward Encounters” Page 8
Contributors
Two people share their Tinder horror stories about dates that went wrong.
“Dating Through the Decades” Page 10
Deja Magee
A look at how dating techniques have changed over the years, the integral role of media and apps, and the future of dating as a whole.
Distribution Lead Brendan Reed-Crabb Distribution Nicole Benda Emilio Bravo Publisher Arvli Ward arvli.ward@csun.edu General Manager Jody Holcomb jody.doyle@csun.edu
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r t fo in u b t rld is Ar ries o e w ssue rt sto al h t i n o r ve this r sh erso o all e for r you ur p m ro hem er, o en yo f t le tt v op . The Twi rk, e e d p eces , and d wo rk! n o i a k ily sterp boo lishe ur w m b o e a s, f t ma , Fac lf-pu see y d n e n rie insta gramher s ke to f ith eir nsta y ot ld li w us st th om I r an wou d o r o cte to p sts f ion, t we e n t e on form tic po nFic tern c t n e a av pla artis d, F the i h a a r s pp d as you attp t’s on a s i e dia serv nd u blr, W e! If e l m has e. Se Tum bsit a i t c g we So ists i al A from t art Digi oetry the nd p a
thesundial The submission DEADLINE IS THURSDAY, NOV. 21. We are accepting digital short prose, poetry and stories (1,000 words or less). For visuals we are looking for photography, illustrations, audio and video! Submit to sundial.csun.edu/arts-lit-submit/. Fill out a brief form with your info. Tell us about the story behind the artwork you’re submitting and anything relevant to your artistry! Don’t forget to include links and username handles from the social media or website you’re sharing your work from. If you have any questions, direct them to ane@csun.edu. #sundial #ArtsandLit #ArtintheDigitalAge 1 day ago
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OPINION
Swipe Left
ON TINDER Dating apps need to be more inclusive for LGBTQ users to prevent discrimination. Gabriel Krongold CSUN Student
It has never been easy for transgender individuals to date, so many resort to dating apps such as Tinder in hopes that it will be easier to find a partner. Lorenzo Lopez, a transgender male student at the Otis College of Art and Design, has been a frequenter on Tinder. He hasn’t had the best experience with the dating app after being banned multiple times without real reason. “I made a few different accounts because I kept getting banned and I was confused as to why,” Lopez said. “I reviewed the terms. I wasn’t violating any terms and then I started realizing most of the times I would get banned was when I switched over to the men’s side.” According to a 2018 VICE i-D article, transgender YouTuber Kat Blaque “brought attention to the issue with a Twitter thread about how Tinder had deleted every single account she had created on the app since she initially got it.” Last November, Tinder made an update to include all genders. However, transgender people have said that the update hasn’t done anything to make their experience on the app better. Numerous transgender individuals have come forward about this problem well before the update came into effect. In 2016 Ariel Hawkins, a transgender woman, brought a lawsuit against Tinder to prohibit them from discriminating against transgender individuals in the state of Oregon, TMZ reported. Tinder had sent Hawkins an email notifying her that she had violated their terms of service after she added “camgirl on the side. Pre-op trans woman” to her bio, wrote the Independent. To fight all the allegations stating that transgender users have been mistreated by Tinder, the company launched a campaign led by “transgender activist Munroe Bergdorf titled #AllTypesAllSwipes,” according to an article by the Independent. Why is it that even after the update, transgender individuals still don’t receive fair treatment on Tinder? “There are a lot of transphobic people in the world,” Lopez explained. “They report me based on the fact that I am trans and then Tinder sends me an email saying I violated terms!” Tinder has not since replied to Lopez after he had asked for a clearer explanation of why he got banned. “I won’t use Tinder anymore, I will not support anything or anyone that doesn’t treat me or my friends properly,” Lopez said. A company like Tinder that deals with so many people’s lives should be more proactive in communicating with their users and not allow people to be discriminated against based off of their gender identity. By not securing the promises they made or making sure that the update actually does anything to assure everyone fair use, Tinder continues to let down many who use or have tried using the app.
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By Joelena Despard
OPINION@CSUN.EDU
LUCKY IN LOVE
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THE DANGERS OF DATING APPS The complex relationship between dating apps and sexual assaults.
By Gillian Moran-Perez / Photo Illustration by Logan Bik During the summer of this year, Captain VanScoy from the CSUN Department of Police Services received two different cases from the Los Angeles and Simi Valley Police Departments about two CSUN students who encountered sexual predators from dating apps. Though information about the cases of the victims are not available, both victims from the LGBTQ community were sexually assaulted and met with their assailants around the CSUN area then moved locations, according to VanScoy. He says this could be a new trend that is starting to come to fruition, the trend being that people may encounter sexual predators through dating apps. One of the victims had met their assailant through Grindr. But after doing some digging online, he says there really isn’t much out there about the subject, and he’s right. Meredith Jean Scannell, faculty member at Bay State College in Boston, wrote a report called “Online Dating and the Risk of Sexual Assault to College Students” where she found national data on the relationship between dating apps and sexual assault only in the United Kingdom. Her research could not find data on the matter in the U.S. She says the problem is no one is really collecting this data, but there’s three issues as to why there’s no data. “The healthcare system is fragmented,” said Scannell, because each state collects data on sexual assaults differently, meaning there’s no national standard. Second, a lot of sexual assaults go unreported, and not everyone seeks care or reports it, so that creates a barrier for data. She knows, because she’s also
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a sexual assault nurse examiner for the Center for Clinical Investigation Brigham and Women’s Hospital who treats those who seek care services after a sexual assault. “The other issue is, when people do categorize sexual assault as a stranger or friend, we don’t have any category for online because when someone meets someone online, that relationship can go on for days, weeks or months so they don’t feel like they are a stranger, some people will consider them as an acquaintance,” said Scannell. Scannell says that online dating is a trend, especially for college students. That’s because 18 to 24-year-old’s make up 27% of users on online dating sites, according to a study from Pew Research Center in 2016. Barret Morris, director of the office of Equity and Diversity at CSUN, says that their office informs students to take precautions on all kinds of dating through in-person and online training. He says there’s not enough data to support that there could be a trend between dating apps and sexual assault, because not a lot is collected. When it comes to online dating, Morris says no one knows who the other person is and that adds “a whole other layer of complexity for safety.” “Sometimes people don’t report things that happen,” said Morris, and where one person met their assailant is not at the top of the list of questions he said, only the crime itself. Morris said college campuses need to do more proactive marketing on having safe meet-ups while using dating apps. Dating apps usually provide people with
Safety Tips to keep their information safe and how to stay safe during a date. Lindsy Reyes, 21, a CSUN student, says that she has used Tinder and Chispa and has never really had a bad experience. But she says there are people that mean harm, so she shares some precautions to take, such as getting the other person’s social media because she says it’s a common thing that people can catfish. “I feel a lot of people post their life on social media so you can see who they really are,” said Reyes. She says that someone always has her location when she goes on dates with someone new and always meets up with them in public spaces. Scannell sites research in her report on how online dating can be a tool for sexual predators. According to her report, 47% of assailants who used online dating sites to connect with their victims had previous criminal convictions, because it’s easy for sexual predators to create fake profiles. “You really don’t know what you’re getting into,” said CSUN Chief of Police Greg Murphy. Murphy and VanScoy both said they just want students to take precautions while using dating apps, creating safety measures such as letting people where they are going. In terms of bringing awareness to the issue, Scannell says it’s everyone’s job to be more aware. “I think it’s everyone’s jobs, the college and the university, the responsibility should be everyone. This is a global/public health problem and the responsibility should be everyone’s,” said Scannell. “Man, I wonder if this is the start of a bigger issue,” said VanScoy.
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A K ARD NTERACTI NS My tinder horror story was a wannabe Youtuber from the midwest with the sole intention of getting Youtube famous. I went on a two dates with her and quickly realized that she was one of the most self-absorbed people I’d ever met. Everything she talked about either led back to how funny/smart she was or what she could do for her youtube channel. Around a week after our second date, I was playing Dungeons & Dragons and I got a call from her. I ignored it and texted her that I couldn’t talk. When she texted me back most of it was incoherent, but basically she told me that she had drunk half a handle, smoked a lot of weed and took a molly. She asked if I would come over and I told her that I was playing Dungeons & Dragons. She started crying and told me that she was going to kill herself if I didn’t come so I headed over. On my way, she told me to pick her up so she could get Taco Bell. When I told her that I would pick it up for her she told me to pick her the fuck up now so she could get Taco Bell. I told her that I didn’t deserve this and was going to turn back. She started crying again and said that if I turned around, it was going to be my fault if she killed herself. I got there and took care of her. A week later she asked if I would buy her nudes so she can get Plan B. I blocked her after she called me salty for saying no. PJ
A few years ago I went on a Tinder date after breaking up with my long-term girlfriend at the time. She was really attractive, seemed really down to earth and was really cool over the app and over text. Totally different when I met her in person. When the day came for us to meet up she was several hours late and arrived incredibly high, to the point where she was slurring her words. Throughout the entirety of the date she smelled like a skunk. But I chalked it up to her being really nervous and getting high to compensate for it. While I was driving us over to this little seaside restaurant we started making small talk. The usual icebreaker questions while getting to know someone, like what they do, etc. She non-discreetly told me that she was a stripper or “dancer” as she put it, saying that she had clients and regulars and did other things for them. I didn’t judge her at all since she can live her life however she wants, I was just super surprised. But then she started talking about the numerous men she slept with and how she would get free drugs and alcohol out of sleeping with these guys. Needless to say I haven’t seen this many red flags since the Soviet Regime and I had no idea who was in my car at this point, and should have just made an excuse to leave. But we were already at the restaurant and she drove all the way to meet with me so I stuck around to not seem rude. She then proceeded to smoke several bowls outside the restaurant and started talking about her cocaine habits. And after an interesting dinner I drove her back to her car where she talked about way too much dark and personal stuff for a first date. We went our separate ways and she texted me saying that it wouldn’t work out. To this day I can sleep like a baby knowing that I dodged a massive bullet. Matt
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DATING THROUGH THE DECADES A look at how dating techniques have changed over the years, the integral role of media and apps, and the future of dating as a whole.
By Deja Magee Dating in our generation has changed. No longer do we consider being set up by parents or through family members as a regular practice. Marrying someone who lives next to us or even at the end of our block isn’t a common occurrence anymore. We crave new experiences when it comes to our dating circles. Even movies produced by Hollywood provide an open discussion of a social commentary that is relevant to everybody’s present dating ideals and practices. Gone are the days of “When Harry Met Sally” and “Working Girl.” Now we have movies like “Catfish,” “How to be Single” and “You’ve Got Mail.” Even though there are reasons why modern dating is drastically different from dating techniques from previous decades, what parts of the modern dating world have intertwined with dating concepts of the past? Two CSUN faculty, Wallace Zane, a professor of anthropology, and Stacy Missari, a professor of sociology who specializes in human sexuality, shared their views on the subject. “Well, we’re talking about American culture. We think of the man as making the first move and asking someone to do something in a public place,” Zane said. “And then time after getting to know each other (they) meet in private. Now it’s even more public because, from what I understand, you have the apps where you can look for people and find them. So, everybody is available.” Missari said that the biggest change from “old” versus “new” techniques are that now we have more of a chance to meet people outside our circle of friends and family or immediate geographic area.
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“We do not have to rely on friends or family members to set us up or wait to meet a stranger at a local bar, we can use apps to find people to date that we may have never encountered in our social circles,” she said. Missari also explained that a lot of movies from the ’80s and ’90s didn’t touch on a lot of intersectional issues that pertain to our culture today. “This is important for people who live in areas where the LGBTQ population is really small or does not have an established gay community to meet dating partners and friends,” she said. “I think while the specifics of movies from the 80s and 90s versus today may be different, the overarching themes are pretty much the same in terms of the fear and exhilaration of dating and trying to find a long-term partner, the reliance on your friends to figure out the norms for dating and sex, and how issues related to sexual identity, gender, race, class, etc. complicate dating.” Like Missari said, society’s old ways of meeting people from bars and through friends is no longer the only way to meet new people. It is still probable that a person can meet and develop a relationship with another in a bar after they get out of work like in the film “Working Girl,” or meeting in college as friends and running into each other throughout their lives for the 12 years they’ve known each other like in “When Harry Met Sally.” The likes of “Catfish” (the movie and the TV show) and “You’ve Got Mail” demonstrate how much social media (then and now) has changed the way we look at our dating lives and how we connect with people.
“People can be more upfront about what they are looking for in terms of a relationship,” Missari said. “If you are looking for someone to have casual sex, friends with benefits or a serious relationship, there are apps specifically tailored for that.” However, she did speak about the ways that dating apps have become a threat in the way people meet potential partners. “One of the downsides of increased ability to ‘screen’ for the specific characteristics we want in a partner is that we may be missing out on great people just because they don’t ‘fit’ the certain traits we think we are looking for,” Missari said. “In person, you may click with someone who you may have discarded on a dating app. This becomes even more problematic when people use veiled or overtly racist language in their dating profiles but couch it under the label of ‘just their sexual preference.’” While this may make dating apps seem like a bleak experience, Missari believes that there may be more professional matchmaking services being used in the future as dating continues to evolve. “If we think of finding a partner as a service that could increase efficiency in our daily lives, I think it’s only a matter of time before a tech company finds a way to provide a free or cheap matchmaking that is specifically customized to us,” she said. “Postmates for mates!”
ANE@CSUN.EDU
GENDER ROLES IN MOVIES Top: Zack walking off carrying Paula after she declares her love for him in “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982).
Middle: Harry and Sally finally together at the end of “When Harry Met Sally” (1989) after battling through their feelings about whether or not to be friends or lovers.
Bottom Left: Tom and Alice from “How to Be Single” (2016) talking about their exes before they hook up with each other to get over them.
Bottom Right: Nev Schulman looking at the camera as he’s on a journey to find the woman he fell for online in “Catfish” (2010).
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POWER COUPLES IN THE ARTS A look at artistic couples whose passionate relationships were just as impactful as their work. By Deja Magee & Ivan Salinas
SALVADOR & GALA DALÍ Salvador Dalí and his Russian-born wife, Gala, had a beautiful yet unusual romance during their time together. She was his muse for many of his paintings, including “Galatea of the Spheres.” Gala was also a muse for other artists as well. Before marrying Dalí, she was married to French poet Paul Éluard. The two met in 1929 when Gala was still married to her poet husband. Dalí invited them to spend the summer in Cadaques, Spain. From the moment they laid eyes on each other they fell in love. In 1969, Dalí even bought a castle for Gala in Pubol, and a small village in Catalonia where they had their first meeting. According to The New York Times, Dalí would say: “Sentimental rigor and distance — as demonstrated by the neurotic ceremony of courtly love — increase passion.”
JACKSON POLLOCK & LEE KRASNER
DIEGO RIVERA & FRIDA KAHLO These Mexican artists are one of the most iconic couples of Latin America and the world. While Diego Rivera’s paintings portrayed the Mexican people of the working class and critiqued government ruling, Frida Kahlo’s art was more personal and featured many self-portraits that are now heavily commercialized. Rivera was not the most faithful husband during the couple’s relationship, and there are multiple occasions in which Kahlo slept with the same women her husband had affairs with, too. One of Rivera’s affairs was with Kahlo’s sister, which led to their divorce in 1939 after having been married for 10 years. The couple remarried a year later and spent their lives together until Kahlo died in 1954.
The couple met each other in 1942 after looking at the same gallery. Expressionist abstract painter Jackson Pollock was famous for his technique of splashing paint on canvases from all angles. Lee Krasner was also an expressionist painter. They married three years after they met in 1942, and they both influenced each other and settled in Long Island. However, their relationship turned sour because of Pollock’s drinking and his affair.
JOHN LENNON & YOKO ONO
ALFRED STIEGLITZ & GEORGIA O’KEEFFE This May/December relationship is unexpected with Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. In 1915, Stieglitz was in his fifties while O’Keefe was in her twenties and teaching at a Texas school. Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter. O’Keeffe was Stieglitz’s muse before she was his mistress and later his wife, after Stieglitz invited O’Keeffe to exhibit her art in his gallery. Their relationship was passionate yet tumultuous. O’Keeffe discovered that Stieglitz was cheating on her with Dorothy Norman, while in 1929, O’Keefe went to Santa Fe with her friend Rebecca Strand and had affairs with both Strand and Mabel Dodge Luhan.
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GERTRUDE STEIN & ALICE B. TOKLAS Canonized writer of American literature Gertrude Stein was a mentor to many authors from the Lost Generation of the 1920s. She is known for her novels and poetry of the modern literary period. Although she and Alice B. Toklas were open about their friendly relationship throughout their lives, they were private about their love affair. The couple lived in Paris during World War II and lived through multiple hardships as they were both writers always exchanging ideas with other artists of the European avant-garde genre. They were together until Stein’s death in 1946.
After John Lennon disbanded from The Beatles in 1970, he decided to continue making music as a solo artist in the new decade. As much of the creative inspiration came from his own experience of being in the world’s biggest pop band in the 1960s, it was Yoko Ono’s guidance that helped to conceptualize songs like “Imagine.” Rather than being framed as a non-talented artist who was responsible of The Beatles’ breakup, Ono should be given more credit for her work as a contemporary artist and her contributions to Lennon’s solo career. The power couple were not shy to show their love and artistic work to the press and the public. They posed naked for the cover of their third album which was full of experimental music, they protested for world peace by staying in bed for seven days straight in Amsterdam and they worked together on the numerous albums Lennon released as a solo artist before his assassination in 1980.