By Stephanie Eng, News Staff
With more than one million users, Lulu has been dubbed the “Yelp for men” and, as Cosmopolitan magazine calls it, “Sex and the City meets Facebook.” According to the app’s company website, Lulu was created in February 2013 “to unleash the value of girl talk and to empower girls to make smarter decisions on topics ranging from relationships to beauty and health.”
A female-only mobile application for women to read about and write reviews of the men in their lives, Lulu is available on the Apple App Store, Google Play and the Lulu website. To sign up for the application, users must have a Facebook account. Women can then browse for guys they know, and if they so choose, leave a review. The first question presented by the app is: “How do you know him? Remember, you’re 100 percent anonymous.” Girls can choose from “Ex-Boyfriend,” “Crush,” “Together,” “Hooked Up,” “Friend” and “Relative.” Depending on that selection, they will answer a handful of multiple-choice questions designed to evaluate each guy based on metrics such as humor, manners, ambition, commitment level and appearance.
At the end of the survey, there is a section where reviewers can select best and worst qualities in a guy, all of which are preset and in hashtag form. The hashtags include of #Movember, #Boy’sGotGame, #SkinLikeButta, #OnlyWearsFratTanks and #DrinksTheHaterade. Luluvise, the company that owns Lulu, encouraged sorority girls at campuses around the US to use the app to win a chance at an internship with the company.
Based on these answers, the guy will be scored out of 10. A guy’s score is calculated by averaging all the reviews he has received.
Guys aren’t completely excluded. They can see how they’re doing by downloading the app themselves and looking under the “My Stats” section. They can also get advice from girls through anonymous “Sex Ed polls.” Men can also participate by editing their profiles to include better photos, turn-ons and turn-offs and relationship status. Just like girls can select descriptive hashtags, guys can choose positive ones such as #DudeCanCook or #4.0GPA to add to their profiles.
Lulu, which requires users age 17 or older, promises to maintain the anonymity of the girls who use it. The app operates on a friends-only basis, which means guys can only be seen and reviewed by their female Facebook friends. The multiple-choice nature of the reviews prevents girls from writing their own harsh comments and instead require them to select pre-written messages presented by the app. Women can also provide input on the accuracy of other reviews using the agree and disagree buttons near each one. Men who don’t want to be seen on the app can remove their profiles through the Lulu website.
But some are worried that the app prioritizes superficial traits in men such as appearance.
“The hashtags and rating system provide very little insight into who these guys are, and I would feel extremely disrespected if I were in their place,” Chelsea Elder, a sophomore linguistics and psychology major, said. “Girls complain about catcalls because it makes them feel objectified, but this is literally doing the same thing to guys.”
Daniel Streppa, a sophomore finance major, oppositely argued that Lulu’s emphasis on looks could be a way for women to take back some power.
“Men have been objectifying women for centuries, so there’s an odd sense of justice about it and it’s entertaining as a cultural phenomenon,” he said. “But I’d probably feel personally offended if I were to be rated negatively.”
But opinions vary on whether or not the app is a feat for feminism. According to Olivia Gonsalves, a senior anthropology major, the app encourages women to empower themselves the wrong way.
“There are far more positive outlets for women to support each other than by admonishing men,” she said
