Woman Goes On Tinder As A Muslim and A Christian - But Only One Profile Gets Blocked
A COMEDIAN posted Tinder profiles of herself as a ‘Muslim’ and a 'Christian’ in a social experiment – with interesting results.
The Canadian comedian, who goes by the name Davison, created two almost identical Tinder profiles of a 27-year-old woman named Sara.
Both mentioned 'faith’ in the bio – but the key difference in the two came in the picture: one Sara wore a headscarf while the other had an uncovered head and modest clothing.
The 'sexperiment’ posted on YouTube channel LOLPervs was to find 'How many matches does a woman dressed as a Muslim get compared to an implied Christian woman?’
She didn’t specify her religion in the profile of 'Muslim Sara’, but Davison said she assumed the headscarf was a sufficient identifier.
Similarly, the statement of 'Faith’ in was meant to be enough to convey that the non-headscarfed woman was also religious.
Friendly face: Davison ready for her experiment
As soon as the profiles went live, a number of men realised she had two profiles, with one even asking whether she was 'making an experiment’.
Davison eventually found that 'Christian Sara’ was the most popular of the two: she revealed that 'Muslim Sara’ had 214 matches out of 480 attempts, while 'Christian Sara’ had 300 matches out of 480 attempts.
And she noted: 'Saturday night is when there started to be a wider discrepancy between the two Saras with 143 out of 240 matches for the Christian Sara versus only 100 out of 240 for the Muslim Sara.’
'Muslim Sara’, however, did get more 'Superlikes’ – allowing her to see that another user liked her profile before swiping either way – than 'Christian Sara’.
But then 'everything fell apart’. Her 'Muslim Sara’ account had been 'blocked’ because too many people had reported the profile.
She even suggested that this was because she was a 'Muslim’, saying: 'Apparently it is not uncommon for people who do not conform to traditional gender identities to get their profiles flagged.
Profiles: Sara’s contrasting look
'I have no way of knowing if it’s that users were angry because they saw I had two identical profiles, or if it had something to do with the fact that I was Muslim that I was banned, but I find it very interesting that until today, Tuesday, I have a fully functioning Christian Sara profile and a completely blocked Muslim profile.’
In her attempts to get Tinder to reactivate the profile she told them: 'Can you please remove the block. I am worried it is because of my faith.'
But while she believes she had been the victim of discrimination, she may well have simply offended Muslim users.
What’s the point of doing this?’ asked one frustrated viewer. 'Muslim women have already gone through enough and this is just so patronizing.'
Another said: 'This is bulls***. I’m sure it’ll get lots of views, but culturally, anthropologically and socially worthless.’
Final analysis: The stats showed Tinder’s men preferred Christian Sara
‘What I don’t understand with this video is that why did you feel the need to explain to Muslim women what the experience of a Muslim woman is on Tinder?’ one YouTube commenter wrote.
In an interview with The Daily Dot, co-founder of the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival Maysoon Zayid said of Davison’s video: 'This is highly offensive.’
It follows an open letter written last month addressed to 'white girls wearing hijab as a social experiment’, by Chicago-based Muslim-Iranian writer Hoda Katebi
She wrote: 'My religion, my beliefs, my lifestyle, and the consequent oppression that I experience in the West is, not, a social experiment’.
'No matter how many times you wrap your headscarf, you still won’t “experience” my life. It’s only covering your ears from hearing our voices.’
Is Davison’s video a worthwhile social experiment? Or just insensitive to muslims? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK
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