An Argument for Deleting the "Short-term Relationship" Option on the Dating Apps
That's not what it means, and everybody knows it.
This is not about value systems; it’s about linguistic clarity, honesty, efficiency, and not wasting everyone’s time.
Literally nobody is looking for a short-term relationship.
Let’s unpack this for a minute: Do you know anyone who would legitimately say, “Ideally, I’d like to find a monogamous partner and have a relationship that works out, but only for a little while. Maybe 3 months.”
Nobody wants that.
The dating apps include this relationship structure as an option because it sounds softer, less-offensive, and—let’s be honest—offers more opportunity for misunderstanding and manipulation and therefore leads to more connections, which financially serves the apps themselves.
So, the thesis of this article is this:
The mainstream apps should just list the actual options, the options that people actively want*, in a way that’s clear to everyone:
Long-term monogamy
Ethical non-monogamy
Casual hook-ups
Situationship/undefined/friends-with-benefits
*I’m intentionally limiting this to mainstream apps as opposed to kink/alternative apps because those fall outside the purview of my platforms, my academic interests, and my expertise.
I would appreciate that level of transparency. It also makes me chuckle just thinking about the men who are going to be thrown into a quandary as they try to figure out which option would get them the results they want. LOL.
I don't think it would necessarily be polyamory. I think it would be more so ethical non-monogamy. Polyamory has way too connection and agreements on other partners that these men just aren't looking for. They want to have sex with you for an undetermined amount of time without going into details about who else they're sleeping with