The first dating app for lesbians will soon be launched, using gender recognition technology to exclude trans women and ensure only biological women can sign up.
It’s the brainchild of feminist campaigner Jenny Watson, who says there are currently no dating apps aimed purely at women who want same-sex relationships.
The current crop of dating apps, she says, are increasingly used by men who identify as women and who say they, too, are lesbians.
L’App will use facial recognition technology to verify whether someone is a biological woman.
Ms Watson said potential users will have to go through a process when they sign up, which involves the app scanning their face via their smartphone.
It’s the brainchild of feminist campaigner Jenny Watson (pictured), who says there are currently no dating apps aimed purely at women wanting same-sex relationships.
The software, which Watson claims is 99 percent accurate, analyzes characteristics such as bone structure, the shape and position of the eyes, eyebrows and the shape or size of the nose. It will also be able to detect whether a person is presenting a live image rather than just placing a photo of a woman in front of the camera, by detecting movement, blinking and heat emissions.
Tests have shown that if someone tries to disguise themselves as a woman by putting on a wig or makeup, the technology will detect the deception.
Ms Watson, 32, a city planner, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘There are no women-only dating apps at the moment. Lesbians need an app they can use without receiving messages from trans-identifying men.”
The current crop of dating apps, she says, are increasingly used by men who identify as women and who say they, too, are lesbians. Pictured: a demonstration of trans rights
She said L’App was also developed in response to many lesbians finding they were banned from existing apps if they dared to specify that they only wanted to date birth women. Speaking about her own personal experience, she said: ‘Every time I join a lesbian dating app or any other dating app, I get banned.
“To avoid trans-identified men, I will always write a little blurb, nothing disrespectful, saying I prefer women and please respect my boundaries.
“And every time I do that, I get banned. On one app I was asked to post my most controversial opinion, so I wrote that JK Rowling was right and that’s why he was banned. It’s insane.’
Ms Watson has previously campaigned to protect lesbian spaces by organizing women-only speed dating nights. She plans to open Britain’s first lesbian bar for men and women.
She has been criticized as transphobic for excluding transgender women, which she rejects. Her launch comes as a court battle rages in Australia over whether a trans woman can be legally banned from the women’s social networking app called Giggle.