The gender gap in dating among 4channers
Published April 15, 2024Updated April 26, 2024
Men and women on 4chan differ substantially in their views on vaccines, incest, and pub quizzes. The results come from 2.3 million answers by our 9763 users, who each answered part of our 2005-question personality quiz. The quiz is designed to match users with prospective romantic partners.
In this article, we'll go over the most and least divisive questions to see where men and women see eye-to-eye and where they don't.
Who's in the cohort?
At the time of writing, almost all Duolicious users also use 4chan, which probably affects the results significantly and in ways which might not be immediately obvious. For example, although 4chan is reputed to be radically conservative, female Duolicious users are still significantly less conservative than males. About 90% of female users believe countries should provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, compared to about 40% of men. Even age demographics of male and female users differ significantly, with the average man being 26 years old, and the average woman being 23.
The differences in men and women could be because of the selection bias that comes from the vast majority of our users being 4chan users. But the differences could also be present in online daters more generally. It's impossible to accurately extrapolate the findings from a niche dating app to more general populations.
Which questions are men and women most divided on?
Here's some of the questions where men and women on Duolicious were most divided. The percentages are the people who answered "yes". Men are the blue squares, and women are the pink circles.
Is it important for your partner to have a similar stance on vaccinations and public health issues?
Would you prefer a surprise hug over a surprise gift?
Should we work on making sure men and women are equal at work and in politics?
Should abortion be legal in all circumstances?
Have you ever taken something from a store without paying for it, even if it was just a small item?
Are microaggressions a real thing?
Does a partner's income matter much (e.g. if you're going to share rent, bills, etc)?
Is the "dad bod" attractive?
Is the word "mansplaining" sexist?
Should we have open borders?
Should we allow people to engage in consensual incestuous relationships as long as there's no chance of them having kids? (e.g. If one person has a contraceptive implant or is infertile.)
Is it okay to use your phone to secretly Google answers during a pub quiz?
Which questions do men and women agree on?
Now that we've gone through the questions that polarize guys and girls, let's balance things out by exploring the controversial questions where we're on the same page.
Are you jaded about love?
Is it ever justifiable to use torture to extract information from suspected terrorists or criminals?
Is having sex once a week enough?
Does everything happen for a reason?
When you stand up after using the bathroom, do you ever look back at your poop to secretly admire it?
Do you believe in "when in Rome, do as the Romans do," even if it goes against your personal beliefs?
Would you eat a bug if it was considered a delicacy in another culture?
Is getting drunk or high at least once a week too often for you?
Have you ever visited a sex shop?
Would you like your partner to have the same ethnicity as you?
Let's go back to basics
Those were the match questions. What about the basics on people's profiles?
Women are more likely to be looking for friends on Duolicious than men.
Women are less likely to be open to a long-distance relationship on Duolicious than men.
Women are more likely to report being Christian or Atheist, but less likely to be agnostic.
Conclusion
Taken as a whole, the results corroborate emerging evidence that the political gender divide is widening over time, with men becoming increasingly conservative and women becoming increasingly liberal.
Why female Duolicious users tend to be so much more liberal than their male counterparts, despite being from a stereotypically conservative part of the internet, is a mystery to us. But our best guess is that you probably need to be quite high in openness to experience to venture into 4chan as a woman. People high in openness to experience tend to espouse progressive political views.
The widening political gap between men and women also happens to be the perfect excuse to tell you how great and useful a dating app like Duolicious is, to help you meet a like-minded partner. But that'd feel too much like we're trying to sell you something, so we'd never do that.
