The dating app OkCupid has partnered with Planned Parenthood to bring together users who support the nation's largest abortion provider.
In a move announced Wednesday, OkCupid is putting a special badge reading #IStandWithPP onto users' profiles if they agree that the government should not defund Planned Parenthood. OkCupid said more than 80 percent of its users have answered that Planned Parenthood should continue to receive government funds, and now the company wants to join them in that cause.
"At OkCupid, we feel strongly about championing the causes that are meaningful to our members," the company said on its official blog. "So the decision to team up with Planned Parenthood Federation of America was an easy one."
"A shared cause is sexy — and can be just the thing that makes someone give your profile a second glance," OkCupid added.
OkCupid Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Hobley said that the company made its decision by examining users' data and concluding that Planned Parenthood was a leading issue for them.
"OkCupid's partnership with Planned Parenthood is really exciting because it enables us to help people connect on the issues that matter to them. In this current climate, this matters more than ever when it comes to finding 'your person,'" Hobley said. "We know that Planned Parenthood is driving conversations, support, and education that millions care about. When we looked at the data, we saw that our community on OkCupid was talking about Planned Parenthood, so we decided to make it easy to find the folks who cared about the same thing."
OkCupid depends on its algorithm effectively and quickly matching compatible users through a series of questions. Users' tendency to support Planned Parenthood gave the company an opportunity to help them find each other more easily.
"Responses to our iconic questions, like the one on Planned Parenthood, have always worked to inform our high-tech algorithm so it can connect OkCupid members with people they'll really click with," OkCupid said. "But throughout this partnership, the Planned Parenthood Badge will make it even easier for supporters to start a conversation: not only will the badge highlight their support, but our algorithm will also recognize the badge and use it to promote like-minded daters to one another."
It is unclear how strongly OkCupid users wish to align their values with one another, however. Users can check "casual sex" as an interest, and OkCupid's blog featured a post in July promoting sex on the first date as a way not to take dating too seriously.
"Treating casual sex as just that — casual — may make it easier to accept the fact that not everyone you're into is going to be into you, and that's okay," the post advises potential lovers.
This echoes Planned Parenthood's own philosophy on dating. Its website contains little about the meaning of relationships, instead focusing on sex and how to engage in it more comfortably and easily.
"Talking about sex doesn't have to be a big deal," Planned Parenthood says on its "for teens" page.