It’s a helavalife! Workshop IV ‘Menu-Driven Identities’ Amy’s Response to Q 2&3

The identities visible in lavalife struck me as particularly western and potentially discriminatory. My first thought was that if a "foreigner" were living in Australia and wanted to meet people, they might feel excluded from taking part. For example my experience of living in Japan was that people wanted to know what animal year I was born in, but it’s not possible to include this in your profile on lavalife. Also, the concept of star signs is particularly western and one which my Japanese friends weren’t interested in. However, it’s given a fair amount of credence on lavalife ie. it comes fourth in line, behind gender, age & location. I’m sure in other cultures there are also personal details like this that aren’t given any significance on lavalife. I wonder if anyone has any examples? It also assumes that those profiled care about/ believe in star signs when they may not. Also what about people who are transgender? I bet there’s not a lot more choice than checking male/ female categories. Would they be forced to check an “other” category or is there even this option? For people who travel a lot, or spend time living in different cities/ countries, location might be a difficulty too.

My suggestion is that profiles should not be menu-driven. Profilers should have the option to include/exclude as much information as they like. In this way it would be more obvious to participants from the style/ language of their profile what others are interested in ie. rel’ship/ friendship/ bit of fun/ laughs. Btw, do any of you know people who have been profiled on rsvp or lavalife as a joke by friends? I do. Final thought: perhaps a word limit could restrict over zealous participants?