The first time I can remember taking a survey was in grade school when I was asked — on a scale from one to ten — how cute I thought a boy was. Nowadays, with technology people aren’t holding these ranking sessions in the back of a classroom or in their best friend’s basement, but right on the Internet for the whole world to see.
The new app LuLu has been created to allow women to anonymously rank men on their looks, style of dress, and other traits. Any woman can sync her Facebook account with the app and rank any of the men she is associated with on the site. The creators brag that the site is for girls only (NO BOYS ALLOWED), and that immature mantra is reflected in the content of the app.
The primary purpose seems to be for laughs and entertainment, but these women aren’t creating reviews for entertainers; these are reviews of ordinary guys. This is a platform for any girl 17 or older to state her thoughts about any guy she knows.
Other dating apps seem to have a positive agenda, but this one makes me skeptical. In my opinion, only a girl that is upset with an ex or looking to thwart a guy from dating other girls would take the time to rank and make comments on an app. If she dated a guy that was so great, she’d still be dating him. Moreover, she wouldn’t want anyone else to have him by telling everyone how great he is on an app.
The reviews from the ladies who have downloaded and tinkered with Lulu reveal that there is a lot of male bashing going on here. Some girls plead with the makers to take the app down, while others warn potential users of all the negativity waiting inside. Of course there are some that rave about how cool the app is, but that might be the same girl making false comments about your brother.
The worst part is, according to Mediabistro’s AppNewser blog, is that the men being reviewed have no way to refute any of the comments and cannot clear their good names. They only have access to view the reviews and nothing else.
I’m sure some scorned guy will soon be interested in making a copycat app just for men. (Reddit is known for pages publishing revealing photos of women without their consent, so certainly, it already happens to women in varying forms.) Hopefully the girls (and women) making hateful comments about men on LuLu can dish it as well as take it.
