For some couples, a relationship can be tested by rivals in love. In China, thousands of couples pay for "imaginary" rivals in love in cyberspace to test their partner's loyalty. The testing service can now be bought on China's omnipotent e-commerce platform taobao.
© Image | Google
How Does the Test Work?
A so-called "love tester" at a relationship consulting shop on taobao will use social media tools, such as WeChat or QQ, to test the loyalty of other women's boyfriends. Using enticing words and attractive (and fake) selfies to seduce men, these testers aim to help customers find out whether their partners are honest.
© Image | Google
The service reflects the anxiety of infidelity among Chinese couples. According to Chinese sexologist Pan Suiming's research in 2015,
Around 34 percent of the male respondents aged 18 to 61 acknowledged they have had love affairs,
For women, the number is about 14 percent.
However, it is notable that the proportion of women who have love affairs has grown rapidly in recent years. Experts said that urbanization and birth control have given women more freedom to pursue romance and lust.
These Info. Need to Be Given
Once the order is paid online, customers need to give the following information to the tester:
Their partners' full name,
Job,
Mobile phone number,
Social media accounts,
Hobbies and interests,
Motivation to buy the service,
Etc.
Next, the tester will design a series of tricks to start the trap.
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Although some stores and customer services promise they don't reveal any personal information of customers and won't meet any participant offline, they write a disclaimer:
"If the test results in any bad consequences, the store doesn't take any responsibility for it."
Some results turn out to be good because the men never accept the friend request on social media. Some couples break up when the test finishes because the tester has successfully seduced disloyal men who agree to come for an appointment or deny that they have girlfriends. Tester will send the whole chat history to customers, showing whether the man is loyal or not.
Most of the comments rating the service show customer satisfaction, whether the end of the story is happy or not. For example, a customer wrote, "Thank you tester for being so patient and helping me to see that he is a bastard!" Meanwhile, some women found reassurance.
"I am so glad that my boyfriend has resisted temptation, but don't do this test on the people you truly love. He would get very sad if he knew [I hired people to test him]. I hope he will never find it out."
Open Relationships in China?
In recent years, dating apps have become a normal method of modern courtship in China, just like in the West. Many people believe this results in more extramarital affairs. According to a Tencent's survey in 2016, half of the 50,000 respondents have used dating apps, and coincidently, half of them have had love affairs.
However, cheating on partners is difficult to define, according to sexologist Pan Suiming, who was dubious that flirting on the internet should be considered cheating in the same way that a physical affair is.
"Although morality, law and ideology can punish the cheater, who can punish and ban the invisible 'mistress' on the internet?" .
© Image | Google
Although dating apps have posed challenges to the traditional exclusive intimate relationship, people should not assume that young people are generally becoming more permissive toward sex and open relationships. A conservative mentality toward love affairs has deep roots in China.
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Source: Globaltimes
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