Match.com has changed a policy which made bisexual members pay for two accounts in order to search for both men and women.
Bisexual users can now get a second account for free, after contacting Match’s customer service team.
The website changed its policy in light of an article published by Pink News titled “Match.com asks bisexuals to pay DOUBLE to search for both men and women”.
This quoted a bisexual user who was sent an email by Match, saying they would have to pay for two subscriptions to search for both sexes.
They admitted this was “not an ideal solution”, and have since changed their policy.
In a statement Match said:
“As with a number of dating sites within the UK, it is not possible to set up a profile to review both male and female profiles at the same time.
“We can confirm that we will set up your reader with two profiles so that they can review both male and female profiles on the site.
“The second profile will be provided at no additional cost to the member.
“In addition, we will be making it easier for bisexual members to use the service.
“All they need to do is contact our customer services team directly to be set up with two profiles as part of the existing subscription”.
However, as one Pink News commenter said, the problem remains that you can’t be listed as bisexual on either profile – you have to be gay on one, and straight on the other.
Jezebel’s Callie Beusman said that their fix wasn’t suitable, and part of a wider problem about not properly recognising bisexuality:
“There’s nothing particularly easy about dealing with the customer service team of a mammoth international company – not to mention, it’s completely minimizing to frame someone’s sexual orientation as an exception or an afterthought.”