5 min read · Nov 14, 2019
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It’s officially that time of year again: cuffing season.
I know, I hate that term too, but just bare with me here.
During the fall and into the winter, there’s a 15% uptick in online dating activity, resulting from a number of factors, including an increase in testosterone and other horomones that affect sex drive and happiness. Cuffing season isn’t just a thing we say to excuse summer flings, it’s a real phenomenon. So, if you want a relationship, now is the time to either start looking, or step up your existing profile a couple of notches.
We all know what to do in the picture department (most of us, anyway). Don’t use crazy filters, don’t wear sunglasses in every photo, show a few pictures of you doing something you love if you can, show a full body pic so that you don’t get creeps trying to verify that you’re not somehow secretly fat (the horror). There’s lots of good advice on this around the internet. You know what to do.
Most of the ‘what to write on your profile’ advice that I’ve seen, however, is… dated at best. The first Google results are mostly from sites like Zoosk and Match.com, who seem to think that it’s still 2002 and that people are carefully reading every line of every profile to find their soulmate because online dating is new and scary. Their examples tend to be multi-paragraph, rambling essays that encourage flowery language and talking about how you want someone kind and compassionate as a partner. Clearly, that approach isn’t going to work on Tinder, and, I’m pretty sure it’s not still going to work on Match either.
Here are some tips on how to write a concise bio that will help you attract the kind of partner you want. I’ve also included some writing exercises you can try to get the creative juices flowing, since most of these kinds of guides spend a lot of time telling you what to do without showing you how.
- Be as short and sweet as possible. Your potential match probably is going to read dozens of profiles in a day. How short you need to keep it depends on the platform. If it’s Tinder, 1–3 lines is all the space you have. If it’s more Hinge-style where they give you writing prompts, you have a little…
