A popular app for meeting new people, Tinder has brought back ‘Let’s Talk Consent’, its initiative to encourage conversations around consent and safe dating. This year, the campaign launches with We Need To Talk, a short film that explores the nuances of consent in interpersonal relationships amongst young Indian adults. This will be followed by a first-of-its-kind consent and safe dating curriculum, developed by experts and available online and in person in select universities, to give young adults access to appropriate information and a safe space to have a healthy discourse on the subject.
A recent survey by the dating app reveals that most young adults in India have little or no confidence in navigating consent and find it hard to have conversations on the subject. More than 65% of those surveyed don’t know how to give consent, how to ask for it or how to withdraw consent when dating someone. Amongst those surveyed, 50% do not know what to do if their consent is violated. When asked about situations when their consent was violated, only 1 out of 4 admitted to speaking to their date/partner about it and preferred turning to a friend and looking for resources online, illustrating the need for continuous dialogue on this subject.
This short film, directed by Sonam Nair and conceptualized in collaboration with The Script Room, addresses some of these above inhibitions and showcases the importance of enabling conversations on consent. The story centers around a birthday party where a group of young adult friends play a popular party game, Never Have I Ever. A seemingly innocuous question goes awry when one friend is called out for violating someone’s consent. This question in turn sparks multiple conversations between party guests about their varied understanding of consent based on personal and lived experiences. In one particular moment, a character in the film asks his partner, “Have I ever made you feel like you are doing something you don’t want to do?” and the female protagonist reveals how she does lie sometimes because she was afraid to hurt his feelings. Young adults in India echoed this sentiment through the survey stating the top three reasons for not communicating their consent included the fear of hurting their date’s feelings, feeling awkward/uncomfortable and not knowing how to say no.
“Our conversations with app members and the survey with young adult daters in India gave us insight into the overwhelming need to create safe spaces for conversations on boundaries and mutual respect, which are not often discussed in our society, ” said Taru Kapoor, GM, Tinder & Match Group, India.
Let’s Talk Consent initiative aims to give young adults the tools and resources to understand how consent equates freedom in making choices, mutual agreement and normalizes open discussions on tough topics. Coupled with safety products in the app and initiatives such as these, we are committed to working towards creating a healthy dating ecosystem in the country.
