Lyft is introducing a new feature that lets women and non-binary riders choose a preference to match with drivers of the same gender.

The ride-hailing company said it was a “highly requested feature” in a blog post Tuesday, saying the new feature allows women and non-binary people to “feel that much more confident” in using Lyft and also hopefully encourage more women to sign up to be drivers to access its “flexible earning opportunities.”

The service, called “Women+ Connect,” is rolling out in the coming months. Riders can turn on the option in the Lyft app, however the company warns that it’s not a guarantee that they’ll be matched with a women or non-binary person if one of those people aren’t nearby. Both the riders and drivers will need to opt-in to the feature for it work and riders must chose a gender for it to work.

        • darq@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Not proportionally though. If the service is less safe for women and non-binary people, then fewer of those people will make full use of the service. So either way, the male drivers probably aren’t getting their custom. The safety features increase the size of the rider pool even as they might exclude some riders from some drivers. Women and non-binary drivers might take over the additional riders, but those drivers might have previously been driving men who are now left for male drivers to pick up. The overall impact to male drivers isn’t as bad as just losing those opportunities.

          • JasSmith@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Would it also be a pretty good trade for human safety if whites and Asians were allowed to choose people of the same race?

            • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              I don’t see why white people would need to pick as I’m not seeing any articles about white people being targeted but it’d probably help with some of the violence against the AAPI community.

      • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah because only men can use knives and guns, or be physically strong, or choke someone.

        I’m so sick of sexist bullshit like this. Women can be strong, too. Women can be capable of things, too. It’s insulting of you to insinuate otherwise.

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          1 year ago

          Oh fuck off with this disingenuous bullshit. I’m a man and have never had to feel intimidated taking a taxi or Uber.

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            1 year ago

            Maybe as a male passenger, you want to avoid any possibility of being accused of being intimidating.

          • JasSmith@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            As a man you are much more likely to be assaulted and murdered than women. As a man, you have much more reason to feel intimidated in a taxi. That said, very few people are assaulted in taxis.

          • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Lmao you calling me disingenuous is fucking hilarious. Fuck off with your thinly veiled sexist beliefs and bullshit virtue signaling.

            As if getting in a vehicle with any stranger isn’t always intimidating to some extent.

            In case you missed the memo, we’re striving for gender equality, not whatever the fuck you’re peddling.

            People like you are literally the problem. You are literally why sexist bullshit like this is allowed to happen. People like you are why no one takes men seriously when they are sexually assaulted, or being abused by their SO.

            Just fucking stop.

            • sharpiemarker@feddit.de
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              In case you missed the fucking memo, I am a white man. Look at my post history. Same username on other social media.

              You’re unhinged.

              It’s not sexist or discriminatory to give Lyft customers a choice of driver gender.

              That’s the free market at work, bitch.

              So people like me saying customers should have a choice of gender is why no one takes male abuse seriously? You need to have your head examined.

              If you hate women, just say you hate women.
              You could at least try to hide the incel talking points you’re parroting.

              • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                “I am a white man” you’re loud, obnoxious, misogynistic, and opinionated in matters you clearly know nothing about. You’re the worst, most stereotypical iteration of a white man.

                “It’s not sexist or discriminatory to give Lyft customers [the choice to discriminate based on sex]” I don’t think I even need to say anything about this idiocy.

                “That the free market at work, bitch” Sexist language, name-calling, and a complete lack of understanding of what the phrase “free market” means.

                “So people like me saying customers should have a choice of gender” Lmao thats not at all what you’re tring to say, even you don’t understand what point you’re trying to make.

                “If you hate women, just say you hate women. You could at least try to hide the incel talking points you’re parroting.” Projection.

                You’re unhinged.

                • sharpiemarker@feddit.de
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                  Lol so “I know you are but what am I,” “you don’t know what point you’re trying to make,” and “I don’t even think I need to say anything about this idiocy” is all you’ve got?

                  We can see your shitty strawman comments about how men have to fear false accusations. You can stop pretending you’re not an incel. Don’t bother replying to me with that weak-ass nothing-burger of a comment.

                  • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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                    You don’t even know what “strawman” means. You’re clearly just a shitty troll. You clearly don’t believe any of your own bullshit. Get the fuck out of here and let the people who are genuinely trying to have a discussion speak. Don’t bother replying, I’m not engaging with trolls.

                    Also just noticed you’re from feddit.de. nice job getting defederated because your community kept posting nazi shit and cp.

        • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Sure they can be. Anyone can be a strong asshole. But history has shown men are most commonly the aggressor and disproportionately towards women than other men. Stop being a cry baby and correct men you see who are fucked up.

          • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
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            Sure they can be. Anyone can be a strong asshole. But history has shown men blacks are most commonly the aggressor and disproportionately towards women than other men. Stop being a cry baby and correct men you see who are fucked up.

            • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Excellent point, well made.

              The people downvoting you are too stupid to realize they’re agreeing with you.

              In case you’re one of those people, their point is that these exact same arguments you’re all making against men have been made against different groups all throughout history and used to justify some genuinely abhorrent behavior. In hindsight, we realize how horrible this behavior was. Most of us try to learn from history, some people just go right back to screeching hate as soon as they can.

      • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        Higher risk for woman of being abused does not mean that for man of being abused is 0.

        I don’t understand why if something bad is more propably to happed to woman we make special exception in the rules just to exclude man of this protection.

        • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          Since most men are abused by other men, letting men choose to be matched with more male drivers would actually increase their risk of getting abused.

            • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
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              Can you at least tell me for what country you want to see a source, so I don’t have to look through and present to you the crime statistics of several countries?

                  • AeroLemming@lemm.ee
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                    I think it is more probable than not that you are right, but easily conceivable that you are wrong. What if, **for example, ** it was shown that men were more likely to victimize someone on impulse with 0 planning, while women would plan it out and therefore use the gender preference system?

                  • WhyDoesntThisThingWork@lemmy.world
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                    Why is that providing statistics that show something like black people commit more crime is considered rascist, but if you want to do it for men it’s A-Ok? Also how come if we see something like black people committing more crime we want to know how society caused it, but if it’s men we just want to say men are shitbags. This really seems like it boils down to you and others justifying hatred.

                    If a system is bad for women we blame the the system, if a system is bad for men we blame the men.

        • Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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          Generally there is an underlying concept of “being more evenly matched”. On average women do face more risk of being physically outmatched by men. If another woman became aggressive then their chances of coming out of the altercation would be more “fair” when matching like with like. If you’ve ever been in a good natured but honest wrestling match with the opposite sex you can usually see the power difference and the results can be pretty sobering to a female participant. These dynamics apply to social situations. If you are afraid of the outsized potential of harm someone has towards you then you are more or less forced to behave in an oppressed fashion if they choose to be a jerk because sticking up for yourself comes with the potential of a threat you are not equipped to come out on top of.

          The chance of a woman being abused by another woman is also not zero but the level of threat is more on par with what they are physically and psychologically equipped to combat.

          • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de
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            You explained that woman are in higher risk. But you did not explain why because woman are in higher risk we should only protect them and not everyone, even if protecting everyone would be less costly.

            Creating UI to select driver’s sex is easier than verifing your sex and then if you’re woman showing an option. This is active work hours to disallow man from a protection.

            • Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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              Facilitating allowing the sex or gender selection of a service person at a company is generally illegal because it is a discriminatory work practice. There is however some flexibility to be made that keeps the company safe from greater liability when it is in the interest of safety for women because safety issues on a systemic scale are provable in a court of law.

              If anything you should probably be arguing for more services - maybe a safe driver selection based on years of safe driving and spotless customer record which would potentially benefit those with social anxiety or previous trauma. More than one service can exist at the same time after all.

              When you argue for a service to be removed from a vulnerable group because of personal spite usually the reaction isn’t favorable. You’d be better off directing that energy somewhere positive than spending on sour grapes.

            • CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              How many times have you been assaulted or abused by a woman? Because almost every single woman I know can count the multiple times they’ve been abused or sexually assaulted by a man. Just because everyone is capable doesn’t mean everyone is equally likely to commit these crimes.

              • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de
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                1 year ago
                1. Group A is far more likely to be abused.
                2. We develop a tool to prevent abuse.
                3. We deny the tool to group B that sometimes needs it, because group A needs it more.

                I’m not denying 1., stop assuming I do with cheap arguments like “How many times have you been abused?”. Yes, woman are more likely to be sexual victims.

                But my question is why doing 3.? For Lyft it costs basically the same if not less when allowing the feature generally to everyone.

                • CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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                  I just don’t see the necessity of it considering the overwhelming majority of drivers are already male. This feature is trying to even out the odds of women getting picked up by other women which just isn’t very likely right now.

                  To seriously answer your question though, this is a marketing tactic to get more business from women who they can see use the app less than men. They’re a business at the end of the day and it’s a way they’re predicting, whether correct or not, to increase sales.

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      (numbers pulled out of my ass, but…)

      99% of men don’t need it so won’t use it. 99% of the remainder will use it to find a target to harass. Whoever is left might miss out on a great feature, but they’re barely a rounding error.

      Personally, I’d love a feature that let me pick a driver that would just shut up.

      • Evie @lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Maybe a gay man feels more comfortable with men driving… it’s not that crazy…

      • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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        Getting shot, stabbed, robbed, beaten, choked, ganged up on, sexually assaulted. Weird, the exact same list that women have to fear.

        Oh except men also have to worry about being falsely accused of sexual misconduct, having their names put on the sex offender registry and the entire rest of their lives ruined because no one will believe them.

        • calzone_gigante@lemmy.eco.br
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          Choosing the gender of the driver won’t give men any more safety, but it will make a lot of difference for women.

        • CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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          Getting shot, stabbed, robbed, beaten, choked, ganged up on, sexually assaulted. Weird, the exact same list that women have to fear.

          Lmao this is just categorically false, and there’s so much fucking data to prove it. I’ve never once felt threatened that a woman would do any of these things to me, but I definitely have feltoke other men would.

          Oh except men also have to worry about being falsely accused of sexual misconduct, having their names put on the sex offender registry and the entire rest of their lives ruined because no one will believe them.

          While is sadly true, it’s so much less common than sexual misconduct happening to women. It’s so rare in fact that this has never been a fear of mine because I treat every person I meet with respect and I know for a fact that I’m not a creep. Same goes for all of my male friends. If you have a fear that this may happen to you, I think you need to reassess how you interact with women. I would be willing to bet that things you do to women you see as innocent flirting or something when in reality it makes those women extremely uncomfortable.

          • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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            “Lmao this is just categorically false” I’m sorry, are you saying women are incapable of wielding a knife? Or pulling a trigger on a gun?

            “I’ve never once felt threatened that a woman would do any of these things” Oh well if you personally have never experienced such a thing, it must not ever happen to anyone.

            /S

            You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. Just fuck off.

            • CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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              “I’ve never once felt threatened that a woman would do any of these things” Oh well if you personally have never experienced such a thing, it must not ever happen to anyone.

              Have you looked up how little this happens to men compared to women? Unprovoked, it’s almost non-existent. Again, if you’re being threatening to women then I’m not surprised this happens to you.

              • Lizardking27@lemmy.world
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                Your attempts at attacking my character only demonstrate how incapable you are of making a genuine point.

          • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
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            Ummm excuse me I have never felt threatened by a man, so why are women complaining?

            Also, are you going to use 13/90 as an excuse to be racist too?

            • CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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              Ummm excuse me I have never felt threatened by a man, so why are women complaining?

              Wait are seriously asking that?

              Also, are you going to use 13/90 as an excuse to be racist too?

              “Too” as in sexist? Why is it sexist to point out the reality that women are disproportionately violently assaulted by men than men are by women? And what does that have to do with race?