A survey conducted by an online dating platform, Gleeden, states that about 73% of working professionals (women), look for relationships online or through dating applications.
New Delhi: Love, like our connection and relationship with our partner, evolves through time. In a relationship when sexual needs are frequently satisfied, intimacy plays a critical role. It is undeniable that love does not always need sexual pleasure, but the desire for physical satisfaction helps in the recovery from social anxiety and stress, which is necessary for sustaining a healthy social life, intimacy, and avoiding pointless cohabitation. Women in Indian households today are looking for meaningful physical connections. They are estranged in their own zone due to the absence of intimacy in their existing relationships.
A survey conducted by an online dating platform, Gleeden, states that about 73% of working professionals (women), such as engineers, consultants, computer engineers, artists, administrative executives, entrepreneurs, teachers, accountants, bank executives look for relationships online or through dating applications. While speaking to The Sunday Guardian, the Communication Manager of Gleeden, Ms Sybil Shiddel, said, “Most working professionals choose dating apps as their obligations and long working hours don’t allow them to seek good quality of life for themselves or even engage in many friendly exchanges. Also, for most working people it is often a challenge to date a colleague given the strict nature of workplace policies that exist within many organizations. Dating apps offer a wider environment where to connect with different people.” Adding to this, the survey also suggests that about 24% of homemakers and 3% of female students look for relationships online. Such results speak of the significance of physical intimacy in the realms of relationships.
While seeking the reason for such a wide usage of online dating platforms, the survey states that about 33% of Indian women start looking for online dates after a painful breakup or complicated relationships. Most of the women prefer applications that have strict privacy policies with discrete offers.
Many studies have identified a close connection between intimacy and a happy relationship. According to one study, intimacy adds to relationship satisfaction. Another study has discovered that intimacy can even counteract the negative impacts of relationship communication issues. As seen in many long term relationships, the intimacy starts growing apart. One gets tired of workloads and family pressure. Relationship resentments or emotional wellbeing can affect over time.
Every relationship shares some values and visions parallelly. Moreover, without these two components, the relationship cannot survive. Discussing further on such terms, Ms Shiddel continued, continued, “According to an IPSOS research we commissioned in 2020, 55% of Indian women are driven by sexual desire in their research for a partner as much as men. Despite the usual belief that women seek mostly romance, versus men, who are mostly driven by physical attraction, IPSOS data showed us that this is a stereotype that is destined to cease. Favoured by the ever-growing influence of Western culture, with the gender-equality debate washing upon India thanks to the Internet and social media, Indian women are starting to re-think their position within the society and reclaiming their rights to feel happy, fulfilled, and true to themselves. This passes also through their sexual affirmation: pursuing pleasure for the sake of it, not forcefully because it must lead to marriage and starting a family.”
Moreover, as per the survey, around 54% of women feel comfortable taking the lead during intercourse. Approximately, 79% of women and 62% of men believe that intimacy is paramount for getting into a relationship. Moreover, 77% of women prefer to build an intellectual connection before diving into intimacy or making an lead to physical connection.
The usage of online dating platforms increased during the pandemic. The daily conversations between two strangers increased, most users from tier 2 or Tier 3 also started using online dating platforms. To this, Ms Shiddel also added, “We saw longer chats happening on the app as most users had more time to interact online, an increase of 40% in daily chats. There has been an 11% increase in female user signup even since the pandemic hit and in pre-pandemic, we were getting 60% users from metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc. However, we are now seeing 70% of new users from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. We are seeing signups from very small cities and towns.”
A study published in Nature demonstrated how pandemic-related fear and stress directly affect a person’s psychological reservoir, such as their ability to empathise with others. The pandemic has changed the perception of intimacy, specifically when people have lost their family members and loved ones. Regardless of how much or how little we meet people, no relationship looks the same anymore: friends, family, and lovers.