‘Every Straight Dude on Bumble’ confronts toxic masculinity on dating apps

Every Straight Dude on Bumble
Zine, Shivaun Hoad, shivaunhoad.ca, 14 pgs, contact to buy or trade

The online dating experience is a known garbage fire. We’ve all been there (except if you’ve been happily monogamous since like 2007 or something, in which case, congrats on avoiding the shitstorm). It sucks. It sucks real bad. Hoad’s wonderful little zine focuses on the specific hell that is straight dudes on Bumble.

Bumble is a bit different from other dating apps, because the women initiate first contact with the men, supposedly mitigating some of the grossness that is boys on the internet. It doesn’t really work, but it helps a bit — sometime.

Hoad’s subtitle describes the zine’s focus as straight dudes age 27-37 in Toronto during the summer of 2018. Inside, it lists different lines that are typically found in such dudes’ online dating profiles. Things like, “he’s tall, if that matters to you” and “he’s family — AND career-oriented,” which gets used repeatedly all over these apps. Hoad accompanies these lines with wonderful little drawings and witty retorts.

The zine itself is black ink printed on a classic Bumble yellow paper stock, a nice touch to tie into the bumblebee theme of the app. It’s always worth appreciating the wonders that a simply using coloured paper can do to a zine.

Basically, this is a fantastic zine that confronts the gruelling realities of online dating with hilarious notes about the all too common experience. It paints the perfect picture of the average Toronto man, and how they consistently fail to make themselves appealing.