Should You Have Sex on the First Date? By Miss Know It All

Image by Solen Feyissa from Pixabay

Miss Know It All

Many years ago, I was watching a talk show, and the subject matter was should you have sex on the first date. A guest on the show said he had asked a woman on their first date if she would have sex with him. Her answer was, “Will you respect me in the morning.” His answer was, “I don’t respect you now.” Wow, that was a punch in the gut. However, we were not facing a pandemic back then, but COVID-19 has changed all of that, as to how we date and engage in sex.

With the easing up of COVID-19 restrictions, what is in store for folks wanting to meet someone online for a date, thinking they may also get some nookie on the side? Well, brace yourself for the rude awakening because dating app Bumble surveyed roughly 1,000 Americans in May and 30% of them said they would not go on a date or have sex with someone who had not received the COVID-19 vaccination. Therefore, if you have skipped the shot so far, it could cost you the first date.

 

In 2014, Whitney Wolfe Herd founded Bumble, which also offers ways to meet friends and professionally network on its app. When Bumble Inc. went public in February of this year, Herd became the youngest self-made woman billionaire, according to Forbes. What makes Bumble unique is when two daters swipe right on the app, women are required to message first.

The app is also implementing new features to encourage people to get vaccinated. A "Vaccinated" badge, for example, launched this summer, will allow Bumble's US and UK users to indicate that they have received the vaccine on their profile and will offer complimentary credits for premium features to those who enable the "Vaccinated" badge. These will include giving them the Spotlight, which advances their profiles to the top of the stack, and SuperSwipe, which lets them indicate to a potential match that they stand out.

 

Bumble's research suggests the pandemic has dramatically altered social and sexual interactions. In the survey, commissioned by Bumble and carried out online in May by Censuswide, a research company, 91% of respondents said they believed there was no longer a stigma attached to meeting someone online or through a dating app since the pandemic began. 

 

Here is an attention-grabbing footnote to consider. In another survey, conducted by Research Without Barriers in 2021, 62% of respondents said it was important for them to talk about key social issues on a first date, namely gender equality, politics, race, or the environment. In addition, 75% of respondents said they would only date someone if the majority of their political and social views matched.