Finding a marriage match can come with a long list of expectations. Height, education, salary, profession, appearance – matchmaking platforms have heard most of it. But one recent demand left the CEO of a Gurgaon-based dating and matchmaking platform wondering where the line gets drawn.Jasveer Singh, co-founder and CEO of Knot Dating, shared the experience on X after one of the platform’s premium members rejected several potential matches for one very specific reason: they had tattoos.Singh said that people using matchmaking services often come with clear preferences about the kind of partner they want. Some are fairly standard, while others can get very specific. But this particular request was one he hadn’t come across before.According to Singh, the member had already been shown several profiles. When a match advisor contacted him to get feedback, the man reportedly made his preference clear: he didn’t want to marry a woman who had a tattoo.That left Singh with a rather practical question – how exactly do you build a matchmaking filter for something like that?“I was just thinking, how do you even filter out the tattoo part? You cannot create another filter and start asking everyone, ‘Do you have a tattoo or not?’” Singh wrote in his post.He added that while he’d come across all sorts of preferences from people looking for partners, the tattoo requirement was a first for him.
The internet had plenty to say
The post quickly turned into a conversation about whether tattoos are simply another personal preference or whether matchmaking apps could eventually end up with a filter for almost every detail imaginable.Some users felt that if tattoos are a genuine deal-breaker for someone, there’s nothing wrong with stating it upfront. One suggested that “no tattoos” could simply be added as an option on matchmaking forms, allowing people with similar preferences to find each other.Others took the idea even further, suggesting that platforms could introduce custom questions covering everything from hair colour to cosmetic procedures and other personal preferences.But not everyone thought adding more filters was the answer. One user pointed out that there could be no end to such additions, arguing that some of these matters are better discussed between two people rather than turned into boxes to tick on a dating profile.The post also prompted people to share their own experiences. One user said his brother had decided against marrying a woman because she had a tattoo, while another joked that being heavily tattooed had probably already taken her out of the traditional matrimonial market.There was also criticism of the idea itself, with one user suggesting that such a filter might have been treated differently if the demand had come from a female customer.And that’s perhaps what made Singh’s post resonate beyond the tattoo question. As matchmaking moves increasingly online, people are able to spell out exactly what they want in a partner. The tricky part is figuring out which preferences genuinely help two people find each other – and which ones simply make the search for a partner more complicated.
