Tinder’s New Height Filter Sparks Outcry, Highlights Deeper Issues in Modern Dating
A controversial new feature reportedly being tested by Tinder, allowing users to set a height preference for their matches, has ignited significant debate and brought to light the escalating challenges in the modern dating landscape, particularly for men.
The new filter, currently available only to Tinder Gold Premium subscribers in a test group, allows women to specifically filter out men based on height. While some argue there’s nothing inherently wrong with preferences, many are questioning the fairness and implications of this new tool. Critics ask why Tinder hasn’t rolled out comparable filters for men, such as a weight filter, a “divorcee” filter, or a “single mom” filter, suggesting a clear bias. Our channel has discussed this extensively, highlighting how these filters are likely designed to attract more women to pay for the app, given that the vast majority of paid subscribers are men.
The introduction of such a filter is seen as a “dangerous slippery slope”. If a height filter is permissible, many argue that other preferences like weight, marital status, or parental status should also be included for all users. The sentiment is that if dating apps are going to facilitate such specific filtering, they should be consistent across the board. Furthermore, concerns have been raised about the practical utility of a height filter, given that many men already lie about their height on dating apps, rendering the filter potentially “useless” without verification. One Reddit user highlighted the real-world impact, stating they “1,000% would not have met my wife if this filter existed” as they would have been immediately filtered out.
This new filter adds another layer to an already complex and often disheartening dating market. Human beings are born with a sense of fairness and often believe that people should naturally pair off with someone at their own level. However, this “fairness” doesn’t align with how dating often works in reality, especially on apps.
The reality, often termed hypergamy, suggests a skewed dynamic:
- Only a select few men are highly attractive to a large number of women.
- These top-tier men, who have abundant attention, are often not interested in committing, primarily seeking hookups.
- This leaves many other men—those who might be considered average or below average in attractiveness—feeling “practically invisible” unless they possess other significant attributes like high income, a prestigious job, or a strong sense of humor. Essentially, they have to “make up for their lack of attractiveness by being extra nice”.
Dating apps further exacerbate this imbalance by giving users the “illusion of more options than they really have”. Historically, societal rules often meant people matched one-to-one, as women had less power and often had to marry. However, with women gaining more financial independence and societal power, those rules have been “thrown out the window”. Now, women are “no longer marrying who they must and instead they are pursuing who they want,” which, according to our analysis, is “all the same few guys”.
This shift has led to a dating market that many describe as increasingly transactional. Adding a height filter, in this context, makes dating an even greater “uphill battle” for men. While dating apps were once thought to make meeting people easier, for many men, it has become an “absolutely impossible task”. The historical perspective even suggests that widespread “sexual freedom makes society collapse,” with no instance of a civilized group retaining its culture after adopting less rigorous customs regarding relationships.
Ultimately, this new height filter from Tinder is seen not just as a preference option, but as a symptom of a deeper, imbalanced dating environment that continues to challenge traditional notions of partnership and fairness.
