Woman banned from dating app Tinder for posing with hunted animal
SAN FRANCISCO -- Millions of Americans, you may be one of them, use dating websites and apps like Tinder. But a woman was banned from the platform for her profile photo, which included a dead deer, which she hunted and later used as food.
Which raises the question-- should images like these be banned from dating apps?
On the dating app Tinder, users swipe left to "pass" on potential matches and swipe right when they like what they see. One Tinder user we're only identifying by her first name, Nichole-- suddenly found she couldn't swipe any direction while on vacation in San Francisco from Vermont.
"I opened up Tinder-- in a few hours I was banned from the platform!" explained Nichole via FaceTime from her New England home.
For Nichole, hunting is a family affair. She believes the images of her with the deer may have offended some Bay Area users.
When she reached out to Tinder to get a better idea of what happened, she says "they responded and said I had violated the terms of service and the community guidelines."
"I cropped it so there were no weapons, no blood-- my family, we are not trophy hunters, we hunt for food. We respect the animal, we respect the outdoors, we eat every part of the deer that we can and only take shots when we feel it's going to be a good shot and it's going to take the animal as quickly and painlessly as possible," says Nichole.
Not only was she permanently banned from the app, a user from San Francisco took his complaint one step further.
"An individual had emailed my employer with screenshots of my profile saying some not nice things," exclaimed Nichole.
When ABC7 perused the app, we found plenty of images of men posing with their hunted animals, making provocative gestures and more. It appears none of them have been reported for violating Tinder policies.
"It's really about this double standard that exists!" Nichole goes on to say, "It's a discrimination I have experience with as a female in a male-dominated sport for a long time, which is why it's so important to me to bring light and speak out against this."
A Tinder spokesperson did not answer all of our questions for this story but sent us a statement saying in part, "We have a team dedicated to investigating each report."
Nichole's account "had been reported multiple times...the matter has been resolved and they can now use Tinder."
As for if she wants to jump back in the dating app pool?
"I'm not sure. I'll leave that-- I'll decide that at a later time!"
What Nichole really wants?
"I just want to see some of the standards change. That's what it's really all about."
You can read more about Tinder's Community Guidelines and terms of use here.
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