Swipe Out: The Best (and Worst) New Dating Apps

Anka Radakovich's Sexplorations column for February originally ran in the current issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the digital edition. The demand for mobile dating is more throbbing than ever. Over the past year, dating apps have popped up like boners, with apps for every dating demographic you can imagine. There are dating apps for fit people, fat people, trans people and poly people. Whether you’re a farmer, a stoner, or a senior, you can get laid with your phone. Here are a few of our favorite apps, and a few that are hard to believe. THE BEST Dating on a Higher Level Now that cannabis is either legal or “medical” in so many states, people want to enjoy the wonder weed with other sexy (stoned) people. Sex and cannabis can be an amazingly erotic experience, and many sex therapists recommend couples try the plant for its sensual, relaxing yet exciting side effects. (Fun fact: one strain, formerly called “Mr. Nice,” was found to be so great for sex that it was renamed “Sexpot.”) High There is a new dating app for “the modern cannabis consumer.” It’s for people who want to “weed out” other people who won’t judge them for enjoying cannabis, which btw has fewer side effects than alcohol. For those who see themselves as pot connoisseurs rather than “stoners,” the new app helps you meet your future bud-smoking sex buddy. The app asks questions only a pot app would ask, like your preferences (sativa, indica, edibles) and what your “energy level” is once you’re high. The app locates users near you and even lets you post a video, perfect for letting someone know what you really think right after you just took a big bong hit. We also like 420singles.com, a “420 friendly dating site built for stoners for stoners.” On this site and app with a “solid base of 42,000 real members,” you can “message, chat, flirt, skype and get high with single stoner guys and girls online or from your phone.” “Cannabis is slowly becoming legal all over the world,” they say, “so jump on the fun train and start dating other singles who share the same for the magical Cannabis plant.” The More The Merrier Dating For anyone already in a relationship who would really like to be in an “open relationship,” there is a new dating site just for you. In its first week, Openminded.com attracted 36,000 new members. This means there are tons of people, both men and women, who are curious or seriously interested in the new sexual frontier of “non-monogomish” or polyamorous relationships. The lifestyle has its roots in the hippie 1960s, when it was known as “wife swapping” (“wife tasting”) or “group marriage” (“You may all kiss the bride”). Since then, millennials, aged 18-34, are more inclined to explore dating more than one person at a time because they often came from divorced parents, and don’t buy into the concept of traditional, monogamous relationships. Plus, millennials are more bisexual and more open to “Three is not a crowd” dating. The dating site was founded by Brandon Wade, the brains behind WhatsYourPrice.com, and SeekingArrangement.com, the successful site that started the sugar baby phenomenon. He wanted to start a dating site where people could define their own relationships. The site has the most interesting sign-up form we’ve ever seen on a dating site. Under “select your gender” its selections include “male, female, agender, androgynous, bigender, cis, gender fluid, gender non-conforming, and gender questioning.” Under “Romantic Orientation” the options are “heteroromantic, binoromantic, homoromantic, pannoromantic, polyromantic, skolioromantic, aroromantic, heteroflexible, sociosexual, androsexual, and sapiofluxuating,” which requires an hour of googling the categories. We love the thinking of this site; if you think dating is difficult being straight, try being a transgender polyromantic heteroflexible. And finally, under “I’m interested in” the choices are “man, woman, MTF, FTM, two-spirit, transmasculine, non-binary, pangender, transsexual, neutrois, and gendervarient.” Finally, a site where nobody feels left out. THE WORST White Racist Seeks Other White Racists A new dating site has debuted for white people who want to date other white people. ’Cuz it’s just so hard to meet white people! For those people who don’t want to date anyone outside their race, there’s a dating site for racists to meet other racists! Gigantic billboard ads have appeared in Utah, where most of the population is white. Sam Russell, a used car salesman and founder of WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com, says he came up with the idea after “being bombarded” with television ads for BlackPeopleMeet.com. Russell told a television station in West Valley City, Utah, where he lived that “It was an inexpensive way for us to begin and we hoped that it would draw some attention and get some media buzz.” The media buzzed and he got his much-needed attention. More than one journalist called him a “racist” and another called him a “white supremacist.” Russell tried to defend himself by saying, “The last thing in the world I am is a racist. I dated a black woman once.” In the “about us” section on the site Russell writes that the site is for “like-minded people” to find a “soul mate.” If you think White People Meet is scary, check out Wasp.Love, the site for people who only want to procreate with people of the same (white) race to “preserve their heritage.” Don’t even think of joining this dating site unless your Ancestry.com DNA test says you’re 100 percent White Anglo Saxon Protestant, Irish, Scottish, English or German. Or Nazi. Wasp.Love is the site for “Traditional Christian, White Nationalism, Quiverfull, Confederate, Southern Nationalist, Christian Identity, Kinism, and Alt Right” they say. Here’s an app where evangelical Christians can get together and hate their other-than-Christian neighbors. The Anti-Defamation League has described “Kinism” as “A racist and anti-Semitic religious movement” that has “appeal for hardcore white supremacists ... in their minds, it legitimizes their racism and anti-Semitism.” On this dating site you’ll find bible believin’, Jesus Freakin’, black people hatin’ white racists who hope to procreate with other racists. “Love your race!” the app proclaims. Preserve your heritage,” says the app’s propaganda. “The patriarchs of the Old Testament continually warned against marrying strange wives which would lead to idolatry. We must obey the wisdom of our fathers by only marrying within our own race,” they stress. The site has thousands of members to meet—for a nice church date on Sunday, followed by a KKK meeting. Anka Radakovich is legendary sex columnist who wrote a groundbreaking column for Details magazine. Currently she writes for British GQ and Sexpert.com. She is the author of three books, including her newest, The Wild Girls Club, Part 2. She has appeared multiple times on television talk shows, including eight appearances with Conan O’Brien. She is also a certified sexologist. We are thrilled to have her as a contributor. Follow Anka Radakovich on Twitter: @ankarad.