The Boyfriend

Throughout the novel, the fictional dating app Cynch appears as a recurring motif related to the theme of Navigating Misogyny and Safety Risks in the Dating World. Although Sydney describes Cynch as “the most popular dating app the city,” the novel emphasizes the app as a tool used by predatory characters to monitor and stalk victims. Sydney twice complains about the number of “bad dates” (3, 97) that she’s had through the app and approaches her meetups cautiously, refusing alcohol so as not “to impair [her] judgment in any way” (6). Her date with Kevin in the novel’s opening chapters demonstrates the need for such caution. 

Freida McFadden suggests that dating apps facilitate duplicity and access to its users regardless of consent. After the attempted assault on their first date, Sydney blocks Kevin on the app, believing that “he has no way of contacting [her] again” (12). She also plans to “report him to the admins since they have all his personal information” and can keep him from harming other women (18). However, Kevin is able to immediately make another profile and search for Sydney directly. Sydney is horrified by this lack of protections, and she begins to fear that “half the guys on Cynch are just Kevin in disguise” (65).