After eight years of on-and-off online dating, a London woman has deleted her profiles for good, citing a series of traumatic encounters that ranged from casual racism to bizarre behaviour on dates. The final straw, she says, was being fetishised for her skin colour.
One of the worst dates involved a man named Rob, whom she met at a pub in Hammersmith. He seemed charming until a woman walked in, whom he greeted with a shout of 'Stacey! Where've you been, you old slapper?' It turned out Stacey was his mother and his lodger, and their exchange grew vicious as he demanded rent money she owed him.
Another date from Maidenhead was so thrilled to be in London that he seemed more interested in the city than in her. Friends shared equally shocking stories: one received an unsolicited nude showing the man's genitals in a chastity belt; another went on a date with a man who claimed to be an MI5 agent and used that as an excuse to leave abruptly; a third was told she was 'too powerful' and that her confidence gave her date anxiety.
After a string of such experiences, the woman says she has given up on swiping and now prefers meeting people in the real world. 'It was more for my mental health,' she explained, adding that the race fetishisation she experienced a handful of times was enough to delete the apps for good.
