On first dates, nothing could be cooler than finding common ground and being on the same page. What if, for some, it was just another flirting technique?
After "zumping", "benching", "cockfishing", a new love trend has just emerged: the "wokefishing". Journalist Serena Smith coined this term, a contraction of "fishing" – to fish, to harpoon – and "woke" – alert, informed, often used to describe a militant and combative state of mind for the protection of minorities. and against racism.
For the magazine Vice, she describes the tendency of some people to pretend to have modern and progressive ideas about pleasing someone on dating apps, but not to buy into them. “A wokefish can first present himself as an intersectional feminist, (…), anti-racist who drinks ethically sourced oat milk. But in reality, he doesn't care. Or, as it is. often the case, he actively advocates the opposite in his personal life"Says Serena Smith. Wokefishing is a bit like catfishing, which is to pretend to be someone else, but specifically with political convictions.
Of course, during the first romantic dates, it is normal to amplify or attenuate certain facets of your personality. You won't be blamed for hiding your secret, obsessive love for Jude Law or your obsession with always being late. On the other hand, pretending to believe in certain values when you don't is more bizarre and unhealthy behavior.
If it is sometimes difficult to detect the true from the false in the beautiful speeches of the beginnings, this lie cannot last in the long term. And when reality comes to light, the shock is sometimes severe for those deceived. But above all, as Serena Smith points out: "If you are a wokefish, it might be really worth asking yourself: why do I have opinions that I am too ashamed to express publicly?"
Political ideas, a selection criterion for singles
More and more singles are looking for a partner who shares similar values to theirs. According to an Ifop poll conducted in 2017, 47% of French people had a majority of sexual partners on the same political side as them. Three-quarters of people in a relationship said they were on the same political side as their spouse. Still according to the survey, this political convergence already existed for 85% of the people polled before they got together.
Millennials seem more sensitive to this political connivance. According to a New York Post article, OkCupid, a dating site for singles, analyzed data from 8 million users and estimated that interest in people with similar political views increased by 165%, while having good sex has dropped by 30%.
Are political ideas more important than sex? Obviously, yes.