Kink Dating App Feeld Overrun by ‘Vanilla’ Men, Users Complain

The Decline of Kink on Feeld

Feeld, the self-pro­claimed “dat­ing app for open-mind­ed indi­vid­u­als,” has long been laud­ed for its sex­u­al open­ness, hon­esty, and communication. 

How­ev­er, some kinky users are now com­plain­ing that the app has become too main­stream, with an influx of het­ero­sex­u­al “vanil­la” men seek­ing casu­al, basic sex.

The Rise of the “Vanilla” Men

Since its launch in 2014, Feeld has seen a sig­nif­i­cant surge in pop­u­lar­i­ty, with a 190% increase in month­ly active users and a 550% surge in paid mem­ber­ships over the past three years. 

While this growth may seem pos­i­tive, it has also led to con­cerns among expe­ri­enced kinksters.

Safety and Consent Issues

“It’s not about gate­keep­ing or sham­ing peo­ple for being vanil­la,” said Sab­ri­na, a 27-year-old Feeld user. “It can be a safe­ty issue if peo­ple don’t under­stand the impor­tance of safe words and aftercare. 

Most of the time it comes back to men not respect­ing women and equat­ing kink with casu­al sex or engag­ing in risky acts like chok­ing and impact play with­out under­stand­ing how to do it safely.”

The Watered-Down Kink Experience

Users like Ellie, 26, have expressed their dis­may at the lack of sex­u­al­ly adven­tur­ous and kink-edu­cat­ed men on the app. 

“For some rea­son, casu­al sex is now con­sid­ered kinky [by some men on Feeld] because they’re find­ing it via this app, but it’s real­ly not,” she told Dazed.

The Challenges Ahead

Feeld’s CEO, Ana Kiro­va, acknowl­edges the need to ensure that peo­ple are on the app “for the right rea­sons and they behave in a cer­tain way.” 

As the plat­form con­tin­ues to grow, it will need to strike a bal­ance between accom­mo­dat­ing diverse sex­u­al pref­er­ences and main­tain­ing the safe­ty and integri­ty of the kink community.