so just out of nowhere this morning on my drive into work i had an idea about a new dating site for bw.
i know, nothing groundbreaking, right? whatever. but while this was occurring to me i was also reminded of a conversation i had with my coworker where she just randomly mentioned the site shaadi.com (that i had never heard of, and i consider myself very familiar with online dating sites) which is for indian people to find other indian people to marry. not so groundbreaking, lots of ethnicities have sites like this (jdate comes to mind).
but all out of nowhere it just started occurring to me that with the proper amount of oversight, a site specifically geared toward finding partners for eligible black women might have a market. i mean it would obviously have a market for women, but also one for attracting suitors.
if you follow my posts here you know that i am very very big on misrepresentation of black people in the media. it is my personal belief that rampant negative stereotypes are more than a little bit responsible for many of the different kinds of racism and sexism we have to deal with. so in addition to being a functional site for eligible women to find eligible partners, part of its goal would also be focused on redirecting and rebranding the image of black women.
we are the most highly educated group in this country, our entrepreneurial pursuits are groundbreaking, and we are damn fine and make (obviously loyal
) very committed and loving partners. we need the paradigm to shift, damnit.
so heres what i would propose:
a site for eligible AND ATTRACTIVE single black women. an eharmony for bw if you will.
sorry to say but i had a thought the other day. i was in the car or something and saw a bw who looked like, you know, the stereotype of a typical "hood" bw. i am not making a comment on whether or not she was legitimately attractive because i didnt even get a look at her face, but i thought... when people say they aren't attracted to bw, are they talking about real live black women, or some negative stereotype of what they think a bw is? so a key selling point would be quality control for attractiveness. i am in no way implying that you have to look (or be, or act, or think) any certain way in order to be considered desirable, but is this not what we discuss on this site all day long?
there would be a non-negotiable emphasis on the site being solely for attractive bw. of course, the criteria would be diverse and inclusive, but frankly, there will be no bbws. this is about image and perception. this is about branding. so the selling point is going to have to be, delicately, attractiveness. that could also work as an incentive!
another non-negotiable criterion would be high achieving. college degree at a minimum, but advertised, obviously, with the best of the best.
there will be no restrictions based on parenthood status, age, employment status, or location. or um... biracialness?
black-identified will suffice. but the line is drawn there. no dolezals.
i would imagine a site like this would have no audience initially, so it would have to function in some other way in its early stages, not for a different goal, but just a precursor until it was able to function as a dating or matchingmaking service. but once it starts attracting men, the men will be verified by credential and employment. the minimum bar here will also be a college diploma, and maybe for additional membership benefits they could choose to verify their income if they wanted, or something.
i think with a really cute design, high quality site maneuvering, and a catchy name this is something that could take off. the funding could even be crowdsourced because hey, arent we the newest group to flaunt our disposable income?
thoughts?
It certainly sounds better than "A group of young black women, disgusted by local dating choices, teamed up to... "
and I just checked, it's not taken.
