She Thought It Was Just a Bad Date. Then She Investigated Him. It Only Got Darker From There.
As sexual assault and rape become more prevalent on dating apps, women are turning to internet communities to keep one another safe—and hold men accountable.
Good evening, my small but lovely group of readers! I hope you all are having a restful Sunday.
This week, Slate published a piece I wrote about what women faced when they reported serial predators or romance scammers to the dating apps like Bumble or Hinge.
I encourage you to read the full piece, but the backstory is that I was approached a few months ago by a pro-choice activist named Amelia Bonow. She had outed a man named Austin who was assaulting women in the Seattle community.
Earlier this year, Amelia was contacted by a woman named Mandy Lehman. Lehman suspects she had been drugged and raped by a man she met on Bumble, Joe. When conducting her own research on Joe, she discovered that Austin and Joe were opening a “women-owned bar” together. (Wild!) So she contacted Amelia to let her know about these twisted patterns that these two guys seemed to share.
The Slate piece covers Mandy’s detective work in reporting Joe and forming an alliance with Amelia—and incorporates two other women who used a combination of background checks, TikTok, and other research methods to get to the bottom of a guy lying about his divorce, and another guy who was tricking women into believe he had cancer (not in the Slate piece, but allegedly he went as far as to shave his eyebrows and put a port in his chest).
Some other things I’m reading…
How a Billionaire’s ‘Baby Project’ Ensnared Dozens of Women — I mean, it’s no secret that some billionaires are trying to spray their sperm around. But this one is particularly creepy because of the eugenics angle.
Online star Hawk Tuah girl faces crypto coin criticism — Hawk Tuah, who went viral for saying she would “spit on that thang” when asked about sex tips. Now she engaged in what people are calling a rug pull. Seems to be a formula.
“Eat What You Kill” — A great ProPublica investigation into an oncologist who had a cult-like following in a remote Montanan town. Some of his diagnoses weren’t adding up. I was gripped by this whole story.
My divorced parents used to hate each other. Now they live in the same house. — A personal essay about an unconventional divorce following an acrimonious split and financial troubles.
I’ll be sharing on this Substack more, hopefully, as I find the time! Thanks to everyone here for your support.
Xx,
Ari