The adventures of swiping

Priyanka Paul

When illustrator Priyanka Paul asked her 27.5k followers on Instagram to share their Tinder experiences, the responses she received were vastly different. For instance, "One guy asked me if we could continue meeting or hooking up after we got married - to other people," a submission read. Then some reflected clichés such as, "Let's uninstall Tinder together." But there were genuine love stories as well.

In an ongoing series called Tinder Adventures, the 20-year-old artist curated these experiences as well as the notions that non-Tinder users have about the app - such as parents.

Tinder Adventures by Priyanka Paul aims at depicting dating experiences as well as the notions of non-Tinder users

"It's a critique of this evolving culture that we have today. Through this, we're engaging in a deeper conversation about consent, sex and intimacy in today's world, where things can seem 'flimsy' with regard to human connections. And as a young adult, this is my take on things," she explains.

Online dating is largely criticised for having a notion of superficiality attached to it, with the meme and cannabis culture attributed as personality traits. "I'm not an expert but at the end of the day, a dating app works on the principle of how well you market yourself. People who aren't good at that whine about well, not getting to meet people. Not everyone can be interesting, but maybe you can act like you are. As a woman on a dating site, again, you have to watch out for your safety, such as telling a close friend if you're going on a date," she says, adding her protip. "If he 'super-liked' you, he is probably a creep because no one uses that option."

But Paul credits the app as being helpful for queer people like herself, although there is much to be done to make them more inclusive. "Given that there is no specific queer women app like there is Grindr, Tinder does help that very limited dating pool. And it does feel like a safe space, because there is no other way for us to meet other queer people, until recently with the emergence of queer parties and collectives," she shares.

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