March 15, 2018

"A Portland transgender woman filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming that the popular dating app Tinder is discriminating against transgender people by deleting their dating profiles."

The Oregonian reports.
Tinder offered the following statement Wednesday, saying it has not been discriminating:

“While we do not comment on pending litigation, we can say, categorically, that we do not ban users from Tinder due to gender identity. At Tinder, we fundamentally believe that gender is not binary and we support inclusivity and acceptance of all people, which is why we offer more than 37 gender identity options for our users in the United States.”
ADDED:  Are corporations people? Do they have the capacity to "fundamentally believe" anything? I'm reminded of arguments I beat to death when the Hobby Lobby case was pending. (Could a corporation have a religion that could be substantially burdened by having to pay for abortions?)

When a corporation says "we fundamentally believe X," isn't it simply deploying a slogan intended to win favor from customers? Isn't Tinder simply saying the corporation's position is what it's management has determined is most likely to enhance its profits? Or, especially in this case, it's saying what is most like to fend off lawsuits, like this one, which cost money and generate what we've determined is bad PR.

83 comments:

rhhardin said...

Next he'll want a wedding cake.

MadisonMan said...

more than 37

Does that mean 38?

Why not just say the number, as of today? Something specific, and factual, instead of an approximation.

tim in vermont said...

Why not just say the number, as of today? Something specific, and factual, instead of an approximation

To ask the question is to answer it.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

MadisonMan said...

Does that mean 38?

No, it means ~37.2649917...

It's actually an irrational number.

Very, very irrational.

Qwinn said...

"At Tinder, we fundamentally believe that gender is not binary "

Thereby proving that Tinder is run by drooling morons enslaved to an ideology of laughably ignorant groupthink.

Cause aside from the 0.0001% of the population that are true genetic hermaphrodites due to *error* - uh, yeah. There ain't much else in the universe that is so utterly and obviously binary.

And these guys claim to be the party of science.

CJinPA said...

It is actually a discriminatory dating site, but it identifies as non-discriminatory.

Lexington Green said...

They fundamentally believe that gender is not binary.
It sounds like a line from a new, government-compelled catechism: "I fundamentally believe ..."
What other biologically and historically baseless and destructive things will everyone be compelled to "fundamentally believe"?
If a person fails to celebrate the non-binary nature of gender in the workplace, not merely acquiesce to it are they creating a hostile work environment and subject to immediate termination?
We all know the answer, once the Democrats are in power again.

tim in vermont said...

One of Hawkins’ Portland attorneys, Michael Fuller, said it’s likely that an algorithm for the site automatically deleted her profile after bigoted users who target transgender people reported her profile as inappropriate.

Makes you wonder how this “cam girl” listed herself, like as a “woman”? It doesn’t say. It’s fine for most things, like jobs, or whatever, but come the revolution, it’s still not going to be “To each according to his needs, and from each according to his abilities” when it comes to sex. Sorry...

Ignorance is Bliss said...

It's pretty clear that she presented herself as a woman in her Tinder account, people who wanted to date a woman arranged dates with her through Tinder, at which point they found out that she had a penis, so they flagged her account as misleading, which caused it to be deleted.

All because those bigots didn't want to date a woman with a penis.

WK said...

Gender is not binary. They offer over 100101 identity options on their site.

Leland said...

User can't remember username and password, can't be bothered to click link for an email reminder of username and password, and sues company for deleting account.

Peter said...

Identity Politics Self-Cannibalize, Episode 247.

California Snow said...

If men can say they're women and vice versa what keeps them from thinking they're a different species and having society recognize it since using DNA as a determination is being thrown out. Up is down, black is white, men are women....how did we get to this point?

Lewis Wetzel said...

"At Tinder, we fundamentally believe that gender is not binary and we support inclusivity and acceptance of all people, which is why we offer more than 37 gender identity options for our users in the United States.”
I was hoping for robot butlers & flying cars. I don't think that I like this future.

tim in vermont said...

Ariel Hawkins, 25, claims Tinder deleted her profile on Saturday shortly after she updated it to identify herself as a “preop trans woman.”

“Shortly after she updated it”? What was it before? Was she inflicting her penis on unsuspecting straight guys?

Lewis Wetzel said...

Gender is a construct of language, not biology. It's always been that way. You use female gendered language to refer to a creature's biological sex.
These days they (the bad guys) like to say a person is "assigned a gender at birth." That's true, but the assignment is determined by biological sex. If the clerk at the hospital wrote down "girl" on my birth certificate by accident, I wouldn't be a girl.

tcrosse said...

Dear Miss Manners, Is it proper for a lady to ask her date for a blow job ?

Bob Boyd said...

Do any of the more than 37 gender identity options have a moose?

Do they include Vamoosexuals - those who decamp, disappear from or hurriedly quit the scene after sex? "No time for a sandwich, I have to get back to the ranch."

Quaestor said...

Do any of the more than 37 gender identity options have a moose?

If not I'm suing the racist bastards.

Financial independence, here I come!

Lewis Wetzel said...

I am kind of irritated at the injustice of having only positive integral numbers of genders. It is bigoted to believe that since fractions, negative numbers, and zero aren't so-called "natural numbers", there can never be a fractional, a negative, or zero number of genders.

Quaestor said...

This crap will never end until a courageous judge finally rules as Nature dictates.

Quaestor said...

[Lewis Wetzel is] kind of irritated at the injustice of having only positive integral numbers of genders.

The number of genders >2 is irrational.

Bay Area Guy said...

To avoid the dispute and chaos over the 37 gender identity options, can we simply revert back to 2 sexes? Or does that have pitfalls too?



Ignorance is Bliss said...

When a corporation says "we fundamentally believe X," isn't it simply deploying a slogan intended to win favor from customers?

Would you say that if the corporation was a church? ( For this example, assume a small local church, not a mega-church televangelist type operation. )

It is certainly possible that the statements made in the name of a corporation are purely about the bottom line. But it's also possible for the people who own/run a corporation to have other motives, and those other motives could override the profit motive.

Fernandinande said...

ADDED: Are corporations people?

Of course not.

"At Tinder, we fundamentally believe that we are people working at Tinder, and we have beliefs."

I'm reminded of arguments I beat to death when the Hobby Lobby case was pending.

Inventing goofy legal fictions sounds like a boring hobby.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

They could add a simple profile checkbox: Do you now have, or have you ever had, a penis. Add a similar one for vaginas.

Identify as whatever gender you want, but let users search on whatever criteria they care about.

tim in vermont said...

Inventing goofy legal fictions sounds like a boring hobby.

And yet, after inventing that “goofy legal fiction,” here we are in America, awash in plenty. Places without corporations? Not so much.

Curious George said...

"tcrosse said...
Dear Miss Manners, Is it proper for a lady to ask her date for a blow job ?"

Awesome!

tim in vermont said...

37 is a prime number, that probably accounts for the fixation. Until they get enough genders to read the next prime, 41, the statement stands.

Curious George said...

"....which is why we offer more than 37 gender identity options for our users in the United States.”

Pffft. They're no Heinz.

tim in vermont said...

tcrosse has been on fire for months.

tcrosse said...

tcrosse has been on fire for months.

Only when I pee.

Bob Boyd said...

Dear Miss Manners, Is it proper for a lady to ask her date for a blow job if her penis feels like it's on fire when she pee?

Tom said...

Well run companies have values that stand the test of time. There are two sorts of company values. The core values, such as honesty and integrity are one type of value. They don’t change. The second type of value are transactional - like teamwork. The company strategy might require teamwork but it might change in the future. Yes, the point of a for profit enterprise is to win customer’s buying choices and make money. But really strong biz leaders see their role as sustaining a thriving enterprise - which means taking a longer view of the purpose and mission of the organization. In some companies, this is rooted in religion. I work with a company that is made up of mostly 7th Day Adventists. The stop the operation at sundown on Friday to observe the sabbath. The religion and the company are intimately linked and it shows up in how well people are treated.

Sebastian said...

Trannies should be able to sue Tinder for forcing them to represent themselves honestly and customers should be able to sue Tinder for allowing posters to misrepresent themselves. Everybody wins, until the company runs out of money.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Does tinder allow you to only look at potential partners of certain races? Can you exclude races or ethnicities? There are some interesting implications either way.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

I like a clever, nuanced, mystery as much as the next person but if you have to puzzle out someone’s gender then it’s a certainty that they’re just mentally ungrounded (at best). God knows there are enough good old binary gender types who are emotional plague ships around, if your perverse self feels like that’s what you need. Hilarious that the other 35+ types wonder why they might be unwanted.

bagoh20 said...

Isn't every argument a lawyer makes really saying this is just what I need to say to get the maximum payout for my firm?

Isn't every written word by a blogger really just saying this is what I need to write to get more clicks on my Amazon portal?

Lewis Wetzel said...

"....which is why we offer more than 37 gender identity options for our users in the United States.”
Apparently people outside the United States don't have as many genders as we Americans do. Or . . . maybe they have more genders? *Gasp* Could we be looking at a GENDER GAP?

Lewis Wetzel said...

If there are 37+ genders, then once you get past homo, hetero, and bi, chances are that even in pretty big town you probably know everyone who matches you.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Tom,

I also work for a company owned by a 7DA and yes, the employees are treated very well. Plus, we knock off at noon on Fridays.

bagoh20 said...

If you believe there are 37 genders and the sexual binary system of biology is nonsense, then what will you not believe. Is there anything that is too absurd for your mind, or is it turtles all the way down?

Lewis Wetzel said...

I'm sure gender can eject people for misstating their gender. How would that work? Suppose a hetero male passed himself off as a butch, pre-op transsexual woman looking for a lesbian? How would you even know?

gilbar said...

Could we be looking at a GENDER GAP?

I can Guarantee you these things didn't start happening before they started putting fluoride into our precious bodily fluids

Henry said...

Civil rights by database.

That's what you get for not making gender a BLOB field.

Bob Boyd said...

GENDER GAP

The hot new non-binary clothing and accessories store in the mall.

Chris N said...

I can’t imagine the company would ever allow such a thing to happen, unless one algorithm is filtering for ‘camgirl’ or ahem, ‘online prostitution’ which could easily lead to real prostitution and the site running afoul of the law and driving away all respectable users (especially available women which are absolutely vital).

Fuck off with the victim olympics already and try to find a different line of work.

***Or do like your lawyers and engage in a form of more reputable prostitution.

Stacy Jo said...

I'm not a lawyer but didn't the Supreme Court rule that corporations were indeed people for purposes of first amendment rights (particularly pertaining to supporting/opposing politicians)? And if they have a first amendment right for that purpose, it would seem they have a first amendment right to practice a certain religious belief or political belief too.

Darkisland said...

In Canada Moosehead is a beer

In the US it's a gelony

John Henry

Darkisland said...

Felony not gelony

John Henry

Lewis Wetzel said...

US Code 1:
" . . . the words “person” and “whoever” include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals;"

Darkisland said...

What is a person's obligation with regard to sex?

Would a man, pre or post op claiming to be a woman on a dating site be committing legal fraud?

What would be my recourse if after wining and dining a "woman" I find out that she has a dick? Can I sue for misrepresentation?

It would probably be transphobic think people should be upfront about their real, or birth, sex.

Sure am glad my dating days are in the distant past.

John Henry

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Only 37? Trump's America truly is a repressive dystopia.

rhhardin said...

Corporations are people who have organized to limit liability.

We believe may be true or for larger groups a policy statement from HR.

One shades into the other.

It might be like Hillsdale College, what they believe as a marketing and fund-raising tool, which then reflects additional belief from the outside.

Or like Oberlin, which has noticed falling donations for it.

rhhardin said...

You can't know the belief and which way it's changing at the same time.

rhhardin said...

Believing is not thinking.

You can think for five minutes, you can start thinking, you can stop thinking.

Believing is more like hoping and expecting.

Claiming a firm belief tries to move it into thinking.

mockturtle said...

"...At Tinder, we fundamentally believe that gender is not binary and we support inclusivity and acceptance of all people, which is why we offer more than 37 gender identity options for our users in the United States.”

Is this some alternate universe, somewhere?

Lewis Wetzel said...

"we fundamentally believe that gender is not binary and we support inclusivity and acceptance of all people" Balderdash. They don't support including and accepting people who are pedophiles (I hope).

Henry said...

Back in the day, in the print classifieds, you could just make up your own acronym But you were limited. There are only 26 letters in the alphabet. Who are you going to sue?

Lewis Wetzel said...

"we fundamentally believe that gender is not binary and we support inclusivity and acceptance of all people"

Tinder's terms of service:

"2. Eligibility.

You must be at least 18 years of age to create an account on Tinder and use the Service. By creating an account and using the Service, you represent and warrant that:

you can form a binding contract with Tinder,
you are not a person who is barred from using the Service under the laws of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction–meaning that you do not appear on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals or face any other similar prohibition,
you will comply with this Agreement and all applicable local, state, national and international laws, rules and regulations, and
you have never been convicted of a felony and that you are not required to register as a sex offender with any state, federal or local sex offender registry."

JAORE said...

MORE than 37?

Ho Lee Katz!

I'm not even tempted to jump into that swamp of definitions and sub-sets.

Are there some of these represented by a single individual?

Or were they the invention of a single individual, made public and the band wagon load began to swell?

Jupiter said...

"When a corporation says "we fundamentally believe X," isn't it simply deploying a slogan intended to win favor from customers?"

You've got it exactly backwards. When the people being paid by a corporation say "We fundamentally believe X", they are telling you that they have taken over the corporation and they are running it to suit themselves, not the shareholders. And there is a *lot* of that going around.

tcrosse said...

Expect someone to write "The 38th Sex".

Richard Dolan said...

"Are corporations people? Do they have the capacity to "fundamentally believe" anything?"

Well, 'corporation' is just a word for things we do together (if you want to keep your job, that is).

Lyssa said...

we fundamentally believe that gender is not binary

If I were looking for a sex partner, I would be far less interested in that person's gender than I would be in that person's, well, sex.

Caligula said...

"When a corporation says "we fundamentally believe X," isn't it simply deploying a slogan intended to win favor from customers?"

And not just corporations, but any large organization that anthropomorphizes itself?

When some UW-Madison functionary declares (yet again) that UW-Madison is "inclusive," or says "we believes (in this-or-that)," one assumes the speaker has been authorized to speak for UW-Madison. It's convenient to imagine UW-Madison (or Wisconsin, or the USA, etc.) as some monolithic entity (or at least reference it by name), yet ultimately it's just a fiction, a convenient handle with which to reference a plural entity.

Do (or should) corporations have a formal credo? And what of non-corporate group entities, such as cities, nations, universities or pro-sports teams? It's almost a form of synecdoche to reference a plural entity with a singular noun, but, the simplification obviously works for most of us, most of the time.

So, Tinder corpo-bots are trying to walk a fine line here: the lawyers (as always) seek safe harbors, management wishes to avoid negative publicity (and perhaps lawsuits), yet users want to know (more or less) who or what they're right-swiping.

RNB said...

Last week, the president of Delta Air Lines reacted to his company’s loss of a $40 million tax break (the price for social-signaling the company’s suddenly-discovered distaste for the National Rifle Association) by saying, “Our values are not for sale.” So apparently he believes that corporate entities do have values. By a happy coincidence, those values appear to coincide with his values. Almost certainly, Delta’s values do not match those of at least some of the non-corporate entities (AKA “people”) who work for Delta Air Lines. (For instance, Delta workers who are also members of the NRA.) Obviously, simply being an employee of Delta does not get you included in the community that decides what “our” values are.

This would be an example of "corporate values" that did not maximize profits.

Steve said...

The specification of 37 genders as applicable in the U.S. is a likely recognition that most of the world does not concede there are more than two sexes, nor that a platform should be given to those seeking to assert that plethora of sexes. Getting customers in those places would mean making only two sex choices available in the web sites visible abroad.

gilbar said...

in case you wondered, here they are! And it seems that LOTS are redundant

Agender Genderless or lacking gender. Gender neutral.
Androgyne A gender which is simultaneously feminine and masculine, though not necessarily in equal amounts.
Androgynous A combination of masculine and feminine characteristics and features.
Bigender A gender identity that includes any two gender identities and behaviors.
Female to Male A person transitioning from female to male.
FTM An abbreviation for “female to male.”
Gender Fluid A gender fluid experiences a combination of gender identities.
Gender Nonconforming A person who doesn’t follow other people’s ideas or stereotypes associated with a certain gender.
Gender Questioning A person who is exploring their gender.
Gender Variant A person whose behavior does not exhibit gender norms of the gender they were assigned at birth.
Genderqueer A person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both or a combination of male and female genders.
Male to Female A person transitioning from male to female.
MTF An abbreviation for “male to female.”
Neither A person who does not see themselves exclusively as male or female.
Neutrois A person who does not identify with being solely male or solely female.
Non-binary A person who does not exclusively identify themselves as being masculine or feminine.
Other Someone who identifies as another gender.
Pangender People who identify as all genders.
Trans A person who is transgender or transsexual.
Trans Man A female to male gender transition.
Trans Person A person who is transgender or transsexual.
Trans Woman A male to female gender transition.
Transfeminine A person who was assigned male at birth, but identifies more with femininity than masculinity.
Transgender A person whose gender identity is different than their assigned sex.
Transgender Female A person who has transitioned into being a female.
Transgender Male A person who has transitioned into being a male.
Transgender Man A person who has transitioned into being a male.
Transgender Person A person who has transitioned from the gender they were assigned at birth.
Transgender Woman A person who has transitioned into being a female.
Transmasculine A person who was assigned female at birth, but identifies more with masculinity than femininity.
Transsexual A person who identifies with the gender opposite of which they were assigned at birth.
Transsexual Female A person who identifies with the female gender.
Transsexual Male A person who identifies with the male gender.
Transsexual Man A person who identifies with the male gender.
Transsexual Person A person who identifies with the gender opposite of which they were assigned at birth.
Transsexual Woman A person who identifies with the female gender.
Two-Spirit A spiritual identity based on gender.

Kyzer SoSay said...

Anyone who identifies as anything other than the gender they were born with is not welcome in my life. Simplification thru cutting out the bullshit. Quite frankly, anyone who identifies as anything other than their biological gender is mentally ill, and I have no time for them whatsoever.

mockturtle said...

Kyzernick, I agree they are mentally ill. Therefore, they should be treated, not celebrated.

LA_Bob said...

C'mon, Kyzernick, stop beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel.

LA_Bob said...

Ignorance is Bliss said,

No, it means ~37.2649917...

It's actually an irrational number.


No, it is a transcendental number, because the transgendered are transcendent.

gilbar said...

i'd vote for imaginary number

Howard said...

Please tune into another episode of "Cucks Triggered by the Mentally Ill".

n.n said...

Two sexes: male and female, and two genders: masculine and feminine, respectively.

The transgender spectrum includes homosexuals, bisexuals, transvestites, crossovers, etc., who exhibit divergent mental (e.g. sexual orientation) and physical traits.

Original Mike said...

The 37 descriptions manage to avoid the salient point; does the person have a penis/vagina (though I suppose “A person who was assigned male at birth” walks up to the line).

Known Unknown said...

Twitter deletes accounts, as they have every right to do as a private entity. Why not Tinder?

Earnest Prole said...

Of course corporations can “fundamentally believe” things. The New York Times is a corporation, and its right to publish what it fundamentally believes is enshrined in the First Amendment immediately adjacent to the right to free exercise of religion and the right to free speech.

Leland said...

in case you wondered, here they are!

If that's all of them; then I do not think they are woke to the large number of people that either identify as Male and the others that identify as Female. I don't see Tinder as a company that represents people like me. They seem very bigoted.

Think said...

"Isn't Tinder simply saying the corporation's position is what it's management has determined is most likely to enhance its profits?"

Sure, it could be. But it could also be that management really does hold those values. In my corporate experience, management really does have values that it would like to be reflected in company policies. Not everything a corporation does is profit driven. But even if we concede that the corporation's values come from a profit motive, we are still conceding the corporation has values (as set by its management).

rhhardin said...

There are lots of languages with 3 genders.

Das Fräulein, neuter.

MaxedOutMama said...

Her account was deleted because she said she was a camgirl in her profile. A camgirl is running a sex business. Tinder doesn't allow any sort of "professional" advertising on their site. You can be an escort or a prostitute or the best damn phone sex girl in the world and be on Tinder - but you can't list it in your profile.

Camgirlism:
http://cammingskillz.xyz/how-to-become-a-cam-girl/