Commentary

Lulu Invites Women to Rate Men as Dating Material

Men have long suspected the existence of some sort of secret universal network through which women warn each other about men’s shortcomings as romantic partners, typically focusing on their infidelity, fear of commitment, and general untrustworthiness. Well now it’s a real thing, thanks to the magic of social media. It’s called Lulu and it’s brutal.

The site, featured today in the New York Times, invites women to post anonymous reviews of their male Facebook friends -- which means they can review not only guys they’ve dated, but also casual or close friends, crushes, co-workers, bosses, family members, you name it. The rating process includes a multiple-choice quiz and a descriptive section where reviewers make use of hashtags in all their concise, devastating glory (e.g., #ManChild, #NeverSleepsOver, #KinkyInTheRightWays, #ObsessedWithHisMom, #HasaDog), all of which then generates a number score on a scale of 10.

After thousands of years of men appraising women like delicatessen offerings, I guess turnaround is fair play. And you have to admit it makes a lot of sense as a way to get the goods on someone, albeit in a slightly creepy way. While it might seem a bit nasty to enlist, say, family members as a source of information about an individual -- wouldn’t you want to know if some guy’s sister thinks he’s a no-account loser?

The founder, Alexandra Chong, explained the rationale behind Lulu in the NYT article: “When you Google a guy, you don’t want to know if he voted Republican or what he wrote a paper about in college. You want to know if mothers like him. Does he have good manners? Is he sweet?”

According to the NYT, Lulu has obtained $2.5 million in funding from investors including Yuri Milner and Hosain Rahman. Needless to say both men will live forever in infamy for their betrayal of their gender. 

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