I Don't Have The Right Stuff

Late last night, I had a discussion with my friend Elana about something she saw on the train in Boston. She saw an ad for a new dating site. Big whoop there, but it was a big difference from other websites. The site "The Right Stuff" considers itself the Ivy League of Dating.

"The Right Stuff" maintains such a title by using elitist methods. For example, if you did not go to college, you are ineligible for the website. Period. You must be a graduate of a college. But, it does matter which college you went to. If you went to Party School, USA, you are ineligible. You had to of gone to a high-end college/university. Also, it is not enough to go to the college and tell them that you went to the college. Oh no. You have to provide proof that you went to the college. If you don't get emails from your alma mater, you have two options: sending a photocopy of your actual diploma or "The Right Stuff" can do a background check. That's really raw. In addition, you have to be straight to join their website since the site furthers ideas of heteronormativity. Your profile only goes to other women if you are a man and vice versa. I'm glad to think that my trailblazing college for individual rights is helping to further such patriarchal ideas.

If you decided that you want to go down this road and go through the lengthy application process, you are rewarded by being able to look through the around 5,000 profiles on the site. I've gone through the profiles. Some of them are genuinely sweet and interesting, people I would be interested in dating if they weren't as old as my mom. I don't mind older women, but I can't date my mom. I have to draw the line somewhere. But, I digress.

Other profiles were some of the most pretentious things that I've seen since some of the things that I was in college. But, to my benefit, they were howlingly funny even through the heavy layers of pretense. I'm not going to post them here because I can't bring you the full visuals that exist with some of these profiles (the sample profiles have accompanying pictures). They are best experienced in full on the website. I do recommend the gardeners, as they are actually very nice. Also, look at the pet lovers. For the love of the word, look at the pet owners. Also, if you need a good chuckle, the sample writing is terrible for people who have apparently been published multiple times. I'm not a professional, but I don't believe that some of these people actually are.

In the end, I have to say that if this is how my fellow alumni actually operate, I'm not sure I want to be affiliated with them. I'm honestly disturbed by the classism and elitism of this website.