Weekly Seeds | June 30, 2024 | Be Careful of What You Ask for
Published by Noa Elan on
Note to self: It’s essential to be specific with my requests.
In last week’s newsletter, we announced our referral program, and I asked you to spread the word about Plura and help us grow the community.
This week, we saw an insane surge in bots and scammers! So.. it’s either that my loyal readers are heading dating scam operations and answered my call, or that Plura made it to a how-to-scam manual. We’ve identified and removed many of these accounts, but please help us by reporting anyone suspicious on the app.
No one is safe
Dating apps are fertile grounds for burnout, heartache (even Billie Eilish is complaining), and loss of time and money due to bad actors and scammers), and even loss of life. On Thursday, a Chilean actor was found dead after going on a Tinder date with two Colombian women. I’m starting to warm up to the Tokyo Gov’s dating app, which requires you to submit your tax returns.
Specific invitation: Bay Area! Come hang out with us at SF Pride’s Leather Alley on Sunday between 1-3pm.
This will be our fourth year participating in SF Pride but this year, we’re going stationary. Instead of marching, we have a booth at Leather Alley, part of Pride’s Adult Area “Roots of Pride”. Come meet the Plura team, grab swag, and experience the Pussy (no) Waffles, and (nitro) Coffee portal.
This week, I read two not-news articles about the state of dating apps. Again, the articles themselves were not interesting to read, but what I found interesting is the cultural narratives associated with the same data in the context of gay vs. straight dating apps; one is shaming half of the straight population for wanting hookups, and one is shocked that half the gay population is looking for a long-term relationship.
Couples Privilege
Married and unmarried couples account for 71% of home buyers, mostly because, with two incomes, they can afford it. This is not great news for a generation of people that want to operate more solo, and multi, than duo. Times article covers the trend of friends purchasing a home together and highlights the complications associated with this. “All of the systems that we built to facilitate and enable homeownership [including] financial, legal, and tax frameworks are all catered to a married couple”.
Straight Cisgender Privilege
On the topic of homeownership. Axios reported that LGBTQIA+ homeownership rate is 20 percentage points lower than the rate for straight and cisgender people. The article notes that one of the underlying challenges is related to real-estate marketplace dynamics in the cities where LGBTQIA+ people want to live: affording an average home in LGBTQIA+-friendly areas is nearly 50% higher than areas without LGBTQIA+ protections (Redfin study).
Hosted at Hit Me Up, Heart to Hearts is intended to cultivate community amongst folks who want to continue to challenge what they’ve been taught about intimacy, sex, & relationships through themed discussions + panels, activities & resource sharing.
The first Heart to Hearts will take place on 07/10/2024 and include a Men & Mascs panel, a facilitated open discussion, and light refreshments.
Note: This newsletter represents my personal opinions and thoughts. I understand I may have unexamined views and I appreciate when people point them out so that I am made aware and can start thinking about them. When I make mistakes I am committed to learning about my impact on others and repairing.
