Lulu: the horrifying us v them man-rating application | Sarah Ditum |



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lifetime ago, when cellular telephony was actually really youthful together with idea of performing any such thing with your handset besides speaking felt exceptionally innovative, a woman I was pals with introduced us to the woman new sweetheart. “Here, look at this,” mentioned the boyfriend thrusting his Nokia towards me, and presenting me therefore to a bald, grinning guy with a lube-slicked head whoever adult escapades questioned my personal comprehension of the elasticity of human anatomy. That has been the worst thing I experienced ever observed on a phone until past whenever, in a spirit of journalistic attraction, we installed the
Lulu app
to my new iphone.





‘the type of thing Lulu thinks females need to find out about men are comprehended by such brands as #big.feet, #kinkyintherightways and #smellsamazeballs’

Lulu seems like a powder-puff euphemism for ladybits, and though that isn’t exactly what the software is actually, with its tyrannous magenta colour scheme and its own relentlessly twee scrolled typeface, it epitomises just that sort of female dreadfulness. If this was an individual, it would take in increased fizz and giggle that it felt “a bit naughty”. Just what Lulu is clearly is a service allowing females to speed guys as commitment leads. Sorry, perhaps not females: “By ladies, for girls … purely ladies merely, indicating no young men permitted,” says the explanation in the application store, in case anybody was actually underneath the illusion that fixing hashtags on your own crushes like pins in a beetle was at any way the occupation of an emotionally mature individual.

The kind of thing Lulu thinks females need to find out about guys are understood by these tags as #big.feet, #kinkyintherightways and #smellsamazeballs. Its like a stiletto stamping regarding face of humanity permanently while Kathy Lette screams chuckling. So when far when I can inform, there is no opt-out for males who would rather never be shagged and tagged: once I set-up my personal account, the Facebook profile of each chap i am aware was actually pulled in to the Luluverse and I ended up being invited to comment on their particular qualifications. I’m very sorry, dudes. It did not ask me personally if I desired that to occur, never actually.

The oddity about Lulu is this desire to categorize and categorise is actually stereotypically said to be a male trait, there really are lots of internet sites dedicated to guys revealing viewpoints about females with a view to sharing the women. Within the weekend, I study an
article
through the New York Observer about “artisanal hookers”, which are handcrafted from conventional products and fireblasted in a history rock kiln. Certainly not, they are just extremely pricey. And another ways by which which rich millionaire women seeking men source their unique growers’ industry grade prostitutes is through analysis sites, which allow johns level ladies throughout the fidelity of these advertising and marketing resources and also the top-notch their solutions.

I had a glance at certain write-ups using one web site. These people were remarkably polite, in a visitors’ Confessions method: “Lisa replied the door in a dangerously tight black outfit,” that kind of thing, created as though getting moments of enjoyment from the experience (and for the rates included, it’s difficult to begrudge any punter that). I do not doubt that tone of those recommendations varies significantly, however in by far the most simplified means, examining the premium service of a prostitute hits me personally because significantly much more ethical than investing records on a guy exactly who don’t realise that by stepping into a brief union with a Lulu individual, he had been redefining himself as a rateable consumer product.

Lulu is actually gross, next, and a definite privacy menace. It is it also useful? The data collection options are intended for a rather specific profile of female need: #willwatchromcoms is the main concession to society inside the “best thing I am able to say about him” number; #trekkie appears only in “worst thing” options. If the idea of a beneficial night in involves watching The Wrath of Khan followed closely by some #kinkyinthewrongway activity, then Lulu will not assist you in your quest for Spock.

When your idea of a evening in involves another woman, forget it: Lulu is straightsville. Its hideous presence is centered on a sniggering us-v-them vibrant, and so the indisputable fact that ladies could possibly be both customer and reviewee would blow the revolting green world apart. The worst news for Lulu, though, would be that I don’t know women also love this kind of crowdsourced understanding of their potential times.

My old pal’s boyfriend turned-up towards pub that long-ago evening along with his very own worst thing – #collectshorrifyingpornclips and therefore affair outlived the rosy shine of feminine comradeship. Really love and sex tend to be far stranger than just about any record can accommodate.