My editor asked me to write a piece on what seems to be a perennial question: why isn’t there Grindr (a dating app for gay men with a reputation for facilitating quick hook-ups) for straight people? In other words, why, after decades of feminism and sexual revolution, at a time when new HIV infection rates aren’t rising in the United States and contraception and abortion are legally available – at least for now – are there not more venues for straight people to have no-strings-attached sex? Why don’t more straight couples want it? I can’t resist following her out, so I am standing on the corner playing on Tinder when Henry calls my name from across Second Avenue.īy playing, I do mean playing: I have been happily married for a year and a half, and am not looking for dates, just subjects to chat with. I am 95% sure that the willowy blonde hiding under her poncho while waiting to pay for her vegetables is Taylor Schilling, the star of Orange is the New Black. Who knows who’s in here? The checkout line snakes around the stacked 24-packs of organic beer almost to the door. I’m intrigued: it had never occurred to me that a grocery store would make a prime pick up spot at 6pm on a Friday. But I don’t have a membership and another friend is insisting that we have to check out the Whole Foods on East Houston in Manhattan. M y friend – call him Henry – thinks that we should start at the Equinox gym.
