Faiqa is a year-old entrepreneur in Islamabad, and, like many young single women around the world, she uses dating apps to connect with men. Although casual dating for women is still frowned upon in socially conservative and heavily patriarchal Pakistan , attitudes are rapidly changing in the country's cities. Faiqa has been using the dating app Tinder for two years, and she said although the experience has been "liberating," many Pakistani men are not used to the idea of women taking control of their sexuality and dating lives.
Pakistani women are often expected to preserve a family's "honor. Read more : Pakistani activist Marvi Sirmed: 'I provoke toxic masculinity'. India leads South Asia's online dating market , and Pakistan is slowly catching on.
A study by the Indonesian Journal of Communication Studies found that most of Pakistan's Tinder users come from major cities including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and are usually between 18 and 40 years old. Other dating apps are also growing in popularity. MuzMatch caters exclusively to Muslims looking for a date. Bumble, despite being relatively new to the online dating market, is a favorite among many Pakistani feminists, as women initiate the first conversation. Tinder is well-known and someone you know could see you, making it uncomfortable," said Nimra, a student from Lahore.
It is hard for women to do this openly in our culture, which is why dating apps give them an opportunity they won't find elsewhere," said Nabiha Meher Shaikh, a feminist activist from Lahore. Sophia, a year old researcher from Lahore, told DW she uses Tinder to explore her "sexuality without constraints. Society will always judge you, so why bother trying to please them? However, not all female Tinder users are as open as Sophia.
Most Tinder profiles of Pakistani women do not disclose their full identity, with photographs showing only cropped faces, close-up shots of hands or feet, faces covered with hair or only painted fingernails. If we don't respond, they find us on social media and send weird messages," said year-old Alishba from Lahore. She also pointed out dating double standards, explaining that married men on Tinder often use their "broken" marriage as an excuse to date other women.
