Badoo has launched a new video series that features significant figures from the global LGBTQIA+ community candidly sharing their personal dating stories.
Each video in the ‘A Letter From…’ series will star a new person as they explain the joys and struggles they’ve come across while pursuing relationships.
Award-winning filmmaker River Gallo read an original poem for the first episode. Their piece ended with the lines “I choose to be bold, I choose to be free. I choose to date honestly” which was a direct reference to the dating app’s ‘Date Honestly’ marketing campaign.
The second half of the video, Gallo sat down and talked directly about their experiences on dating apps and gave advice for singles in a similar situation.
They told Badoo: “When I started using dating apps I kept being intersex and non-binary completely a secret. I thought that guys would judge me for my body being different and that I would be less desirable if I wore makeup in my pictures. I tried to fit being a ‘normal’ gay guy.
“And then I started feeling inauthentic and I was like, ‘I just need to start being myself’. So I started showcasing pictures of me with makeup or looks or just being gender-fluid and, to my surprise, a lot of people started messaging me after that.”
They advised that daters should be truthful about themselves while online dating because that is what a lot of people find the most attractive.
Yesterday, Badoo released the ‘Private Detector’ software that automatically blurs nude images and prevents users from seeing explicit pictures that they don’t want to. The update was promoted with a video featuring UK rapper Big Narstie.
Watch the full video here.