June 2, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – If proof was needed that online dating is encouraging promiscuity, here’s food for thought from an opinion poll in France that's surprising even the pollsters. According to the IFOP institute, which has been assessing dating site behavior for years, more and more registered members are using dating services for “one-night stands.”
Over the last three years, the percentage of users who say they are deliberately using such websites to obtain a passing sexual encounter has almost doubled: 38 percent in 2015, up from 22 percent in 2012.
At the same time, the number of French people who have ever registered with a dating site like Tinder, Happn, or Meetic has doubled in five years: while two out of every 10 people had done so in 2010, that proportion has now reached four out of every 10.
Some 26 percent of the respondents said they have already had a sexual relationship with someone they met through a dating site. Among actual users of those sites, 68 percent have met another user “for real,” and 83 percent of these users have had at least one sexual relationship as a result. That’s 12 percent more than in 2012.
Most of those encounters were “exclusively” sexual (56 percent) or short-lived relationships (62 percent). That is despite the fact that most dates (75 percent) arranged through an online service are a “disappointment”: the partner does not live up to the expectation created by the “user profile” on the site.
The director of studies at IFOP, François Kraus, commented that the new tendency towards fleeting sexual encounters is a deep-seated one. “We don’t see many evolutions of this type in such a short lapse of time: three years,” he said.
He calls it the “emergence of a hook-up culture,” in which sexuality is “totally separated from conjugality.”
“All these trends are part of a new tendency that is reducing sexuality to an activity in which there is no emotional commitment, a sort of masturbation with the other person’s body,” he writes.
Despite this, 62 percent of dating site members dream of a “serious relationship.”
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Online dating sites made their appearance in France 18 years ago. Their first clients were male homosexuals. “The generalization of technology that was first adopted by gays…seems to have trivialized the model of ‘one-night sexual encounters’ which for a long time, only existed among the homosexual community,” observes François Kraus.
Even today, 72 percent of homosexual or bisexual individuals have ever registered with an online dating site, nearly double the 37 percent of heterosexuals who have.
François Kraus explains that the ease and discretion with which dating apps can be used on Smartphones and tablets has created a very favorable environment for people who want to find an occasional partner, “especially women.” But women are still a minority: 63 percent of heterosexual users are male.
Most online dating sites claim to help their members find lasting love. But that is not the primary motivation of an increasing number of users. While most users are single, the number of people already in a long-term relationship who are joining online dating sites has doubled from three to six percent over the same period.
This is particularly true about gay “couples” where “the principle of sexual exclusivity is much less upheld,” writes IFOP.
Some sites have picked up on this new trend by aiming their publicity at married couples – and especially married women – in order to “sell” extramarital affairs.
Over the years, the membership profile has also changed. Users were wont to be young, male, and upscale. Nowadays there are as many “popular” users as socially “favored” members, and while site-use is prevalent among under-35’s (50 percent of that age category has used or is using an online dating site) numbers are rising among middle-aged persons (40 percent of 35-49ers) and those aged 50 to 69 (31 percent).
Online dating sites are increasingly being used for “virtual sex,” with half of users under the age of 35 having already received a nude photograph of their online contact. Up to 31 percent of all users have used webcams for “virtual sex.”
Women are more likely than men to seek true love from their online partners. Only 32 percent acknowledge having had an exclusively sexual relationship, versus 64 percent of men who consider they had an exclusively sexual relationship.