While Craigslist isn't the most reliable
site for anything – from jobs, to romance, to cars and houses – it undeniably
fills a void that the most desperate can truly appreciate. Like a 24 hour café,
sketch-bags get the most use out of it, but it's still nice that there's a
place always open for when you really need it.
There are a ton of dating sites out
there, including some specifically
for trans people. But Craigslist is remarkable not only for its
trans-friendliness, but also because of its accessibility.
Apparently, once upon a time, desperate
singles would put personals in newspapers. Seems audacious now, but I guess it
made sense. Everyone read the paper and anyone could subtly and discreetly glance
at who’s available while skimming the latest trends, weather, and sexual advice
column.
Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT praising
the good old days. The internet is way better for dating than newspapers. Repeat:
do not put a personal in a newspaper (unless you’re a sex worker, in which case
this is still a relevant practise, at least in TO). The problem with most
dating sites is that they are only accessible to the other people who have
joined the same site as you. This not only means a limited pool of
overly-enthusiastic seekers, it also means that they are just as prepared as
you to lower their standards, but not ready to stop pretending to be generic.
Dating sites usually ask you to describe
yourself in length for the purpose of “matching” you with someone, according to
painfully rigid standards. Of course, you want to know the stats and interests
of a potential future partner, but it often seems to be the case that the
length and detail of a profile is in proportion to the size of their ego. On
the other hand, with dating apps like Badoo, you can hardly expect more than a
single-lined response of bad grammar. Like this straight-to-the-point pick-up
line that was sent to me:
Dating sites that you pay for are worse.
The mere fact that someone has paid money to the cyber-world for a chance at
love is as much as a turn-off as it is disheartening. Even dating sites that exploit gold-digging expect “sugar babies”
(people who are looking for a sugar daddy/mama) to purchase an account before
being able to get in touch with the real sugar
parents (as opposed to an endless flow of spam). You pretty much have to be a
professional, full-time gold-digger for the time and money to be worth it.
Another really annoying aspect of online
trans dating is that most sites don’t even offer a way to identify as any kind
of non- M/W gender (I’m looking at you POF)
making for complicated introductions and awkward clarifications.
Which brings me back to Craigslist. Why?
Because of this:
The only shame is that they don’t
distinguish trans men from trans women. Trust me, we're into really different things, like pretty much the opposite. Hopefully Craig will get around to that someday.
But for now, his list is still on top.
Everyone who internets knows about it, at least vaguely. Someone who may never
have considered dating a transsexual might give it a shot simply because the
options are visibly available. What’s an anonymous email + dick pic in 2014 worth
anyway? C’mon boys, woo me. I need some NSFW pictures to kill time at work.
P.S.
Please don’t actually send me a picture
of your penis. Thx!
