How to date online

Dating apps and chat boxes

There are many dating apps and websites for men seeking other men for sex or relationships:

The most well-known are Grindr, Tinder, Romeo, Hornet and Scruff

• Squirt targets men who want to cruise
• Recon is a website and app for people interested in kinky sex and fetish
• Bullchat in a website where you create a new profile every time you open the site. This makes it a very anonymous site. This can be nice, but it also has disadvantages. You often have no idea who you are really chatting with. This sometimes attracts people who don't have good intentions. So be extra careful here about sharing your personal information such as nude photos, your home address, or where you work.

Good intentions

Dating over the Internet is often fun and exciting. Unfortunately, not everyone always has good intentions. For example, people may pretend to be someone else. For example, they create a profile as if they are someone else. People with fake or false profiles are also called fakers or catfishers. They, for example, use a picture of someone else. If you don't have to provide much personal information when creating a profile, there is a greater chance that there are also fakers on this app or website.

People with fake profiles pretend to want to meet up with you for example. But then they don't show up. Or they try to get nude photos from you. They only want to jerk off for example and not really meet. Or they want to steal other personal information from you. Pay attention if someone:

• Has professional profile pictures, but doesn't want to send other pictures
• Immediately wants nude photos
• Very quickly asks for your personal information, such as your email address or phone number
• Offers to be your sugar daddy. Often he promises you a lot of money, but before you get it you have to transfer money to him first, supposedly to prove that you are 'real'. Don't do this. You have either lost your money, or the 'sugar daddy' has sent you a payment link, with which he can hack your data and drain your bank account.

Sending nude photos

It is important to consider for yourself when you want to send a nude photo of yourself. Always ask in advance if the other person wants to receive them. Not everyone is waiting for this.

If you send a nude photo (or video), keep in mind that some people may save it without your knowledge or approval. Therefore, it may be helpful not to include recognizable body parts, such as your face, tattoos or other identifiable areas, in the photo. You can also choose to blur these recognizable body parts so that they are no longer recognizable.
This way you prevent other people from recognizing you in photos where you are vulnerable.

If you use Grindr, put your nude photos in an album. The other person cannot take screenshots of album photos, and you can revoke access to your album later.

Do few people know that you (also) have sex with other men? Or do you work at a public function? Then you may want to be extra careful about sending recognizable (nude) images. You may find that someone is trying to blackmail you.

Read more tips to protect your identity here