Tinder India Releases New Film about Consent

Tinder India has created and released a new film for its users about consent and what it looks like in modern-day dating culture. The purpose of the new film Closure is to spark conversation among daters and to help them create healthy boundaries. 

According to Business Insider India, the film centers around a young woman named Ria and her estranged ex-boyfriend Ved. The film starts with the two of them meeting on a beach and flashes forward through their budding romantic relationship. Then the movie cuts to a disturbed Ria and confused Ved sitting across from each other after some time has passed, having a difficult conversation about what drove them apart. We soon learn that Ved didn’t ask for her consent on their last night together. “You didn’t say no,” he insists, where Ria says “but I also didn’t say yes. I wish for once, you had asked.”

Ved later asked if she was seeing anyone, and it flashes to her budding new relationship with a man who does the things she longed for Ved to do – he asks permission before he kisses her or holds her hand. She also exercises more power in this new relationship by voicing what she wants, something she realizes she didn’t do while she was dating Ved. She has moved onto a happier, healthier relationship. 

The movie also depicts friends of theirs who are navigating modern dating, including a gay man who suffered when his ex-boyfriend posted pictures of him without his consent, and another friend who was assaulted by a man when she had too much to drink.

These are some issues of consent that daters face and point to how important communication is. The film advocates listening to your date instead of making assumptions.

Taru Kapoor, GM, Tinder & Match Group, India said to Business Insider, “We are on a mission to build a respectful member ecosystem, on and off the app. As a platform that is built on mutual consent, we understand the imminence of an enthusiastic ‘yes’ in relationships and intend to be a strong ally in promoting the need to have an open, honest and compassionate conversation.”

Globally, Tinder has been addressing safety issues over its app with new measures like the ability to block someone, photo verification, and working in partnership with Noon to provide a “panic button” to secretly call an emergency number, for daters who feel uncomfortable when they are on a date.

The dating platform also found in its Future of Dating Report released earlier this year that the word “boundaries” was up 28 percent from last year, and the term “consent” rose 21 percent. These types of conversations are especially important for Gen Z daters, Tinder’s target audience, and by creating content to highlight these issues, the company hopes to reach them more effectively. 

The film was produced in collaboration with Jugaad Motion Pictures, and was created as part of Tinder’s new safety initiative www.letstalkconsent.com in partnership with Yuvaa and Pink Legal to spark conversation about consent.