As any woman who has used a dating app for more than five minutes can attest, the creep quotient is high out there. To combat the insanely common practice of unsolicited dick pics, aggressive messages, and other perks of online dating misogyny, more and more dating apps that put women in control are popping up. First there was Bumble, where women make the first move when matched, then there was Siren, where women control who sees what on their profile, and now there's Jess, Meet Ken, where women have to nominate guys before they can even sign up.
Started by a couple (Jess and Ken) who met on a site with a similar female-forward feature, Jess, Meet Ken is a new twist on digital dating. Although straight women in particular are taught that other women are their competition, it's refreshing to see an app subvert this idea by making female friends and and/or family members part of the process. Not only do guys need a woman to nominate them to join, but those same women can suggest matches for their friends on the site, too, making it almost a communal matchmaking effort.
I reached out to the founders to get their thoughts on why this new app is different than a lot of the free-for-all apps out there. Jess Deckinger explained that her experience meeting her now husband, Ken, online with the help of his female friend Adele is what informs Jess, Meet Ken's approach — and what makes it unique.
"We've been there, we know that blind dating can be rough," she tells Bustle. "We truly believe that women are each other’s best resources to finding the real thing. In my case, Ken's best friend Adele knew him well enough to help me feel more comfortable before that first date. There are no guarantees, but we believe a little stamp of approval can go a long way to helping women find love!”
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Images: Fotolia; Jess, Meet Ken
