Friday, February 1, 2013

Is Romance Dead? Banging With Friends Instead?


We should be able to say ‘bang’ and ‘fuck’ on our site because that’s how we talk in real life.
Creators of Bang with Friends


A controversial new sex app called “Bang With Friends” claims to facilitate sexual encounters with users and their Facebook friends without the embarrassment of rejection.

“Anonymously find friends who are down for the night,” the company website said. “Your friends will never know you're interested unless they are too!”

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The Bang With Friends app, aimed at 20-somethings, was created by three college-aged men from California, who are withholding their identities, according to US media reports. A Whois search for the BangWithFriends.com domain name comes up with their registration information blocked, revealing the creators are web savvy and have taken the extra step to keep their identities hidden. While they don’t want their names attached to the BangWithFriends.com legacy in the making just yet, they did open up about their first project as a team. 

“[Sex] should be something you’re expressive about, that you’re comfortable with, and if there’s a beautiful woman or a handsome man that you’re interested in, you shouldn’t hold back,” said one of the app’s creators. “We’re just giving you closer access to knowing the truth.”

The group thought of the idea as a way to improve standard online dating sites like eHarmony or Match.com. “One night, we were shooting the shit about how online dating is broken,” said one creator. “What a lot of people want is just to skip all the shit and get to the sex.” The conversation evolved to Facebook, a social media platform used mainly by 18-34 years old, many of whom are in college and use social media to connect with pals. “It would be great, as guys, if you could find out which girls are actually into you and not dance around anything,” he said.

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The app, launched a week ago, only alerts users of a potential hookup if both parties express interest by selecting what is called the “Down to Bang” button.

The creators of the app said it has already gained more than 30,000 users, registering five new users every minute according to a report on the online tech site Mashable.

But critics of “Bang With Friends” putting the physical first is the reason for the demise of the majority of marriages and relationships in the United States.

“Back in the day people would court, they would go out with different people without exploring the sexual relationship because it allowed you to get to know what you may or may not have in common,” said Kristen Crockett, a Washington based relationship coach. And while some who use the app may be more interested in sex than building a relationship, Crockett cautions users with the potential drawbacks of getting physical with a Facebook friend.

“Once you start sleeping with someone, your red flags, your fears, all of those things get pushed into the back of your mind,” she said, adding often times people ignore signals and signs because of how the person makes them feel physically.

“We’ll be honest with you, we made this in two hours… with a lot of Red Bull and vodka … and it took off on its own,” one of the creators said. “What we’re working on right now is building sexual preferences. I personally am completely towards gay rights. We want to give everyone this awesome access to finding people who want to bang.”

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But lack of customized sexual preferences is just one of the problems the team initially encountered. An earlier version of the app didn’t take into account the presence of family members among a user’s Facebook friends, displaying anyone from grandfathers to siblings as potential “bang” buddies. This has since been fixed, and while you can’t be matched with your uncle, the BWF team doesn’t want to limit user’s pairings too much—for example, your relationship status will likely not be taken into consideration. “We’re not too [sic] objective to hooking up with that cute secretary across the office if she has a boyfriend already,” said one creator.

So how does it work? Well, users sign in with Facebook, and the app shows you a list of friends and their photos and users have to click on the “Down to Bang” button next to the friend. If your friend is ready for Down to bang, then it will change to Awaiting Bang. The app assures users that it will notify both parties via email about their mutual interest. The rest is up to the users, like deciding to proceed, fixing time, meeting arrangements, etc. 

Application website: http://www.bangwithfriends.com/

So, what you think? The idea is definitely great, and it has all chances to get multiple fans on Facebook. More people join, they bigger impact will be seen, since more chances of match with your virtual friends. The new trend is good, and it is bad at the same time. If you think there were no precedents in the past, you are wrong. In early Soviet Russia, revolutionary activists considered love as unneeded outlived quality, and sexual desire to be satisfied as easy as getting snack from the store. This approach has not lived long, since it proved to be socially unproductive. Communists did not take all this BS on the people feelings, love, and emotional relationship in consideration.

So, no more courting, flowers, and guesswork. You find a match, you make simple arrangements, because both of you want that, and you… bang. For some, that will be a huge relief because not many people have emotional abilities, time, and desire to build relationship. For other, it will take the best portion of the relationship out of the context, bringing sex down to the level of the daily exercises, good for mental and physical health and well-being.

In any case, you always have power of free will choice: choice to sign for this application, choice to accept the bang invitation, choice to covert virtual affair to the real-life affair.


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