feel like participating. “Even if you feel like you don’t have a loud voice, we still want you there,” she says.
by Amanda E.K.
What began 17 years ago as a sex-positive events company called Menage Life has now sprouted tentacles into the virtual landscape to offer a space for safe and exploratory connections for people looking to express their sexuality without being put in internet jail for things like sharing fetish photos or BDSM requests.
For the time being, Playlove is free to download. Their current goal with the app isn’t about making money, but to learn what people really want and to provide that. They built the app to be a classy community, and they hope that it can become the world’s leading, sexpositive platform and leading resource on sex-positive information.
: E V O L PLAY Sex-Positive
In order to achieve this goal, they provide regular polls and surveys for their app users to suggest improvements and voice what they want to get out of the app. As a new application, they see plenty of room for growth and improvement. Geis encourages not only offering your sexual feedback, but also sharing your personality. As of now, the app is only available to Colorado residents while the team works to constantly improve upon the structure that they’ve built. Users are able to customize what they can see in their feed and what they want to filter out so that people can make the connections they really want to make.
, l a c o L , w e AN Dating App
Playlove Co-founders Sante Suffoletta and Dan “Trip” Roberts have been involved in the sex-positive community for the past two decades and saw the need for a platform where people could be as open with their sexuality as they wanted without any judgment or shame. Whereas platforms like Zoom will shut you down if they detect nudity, Playlove is a hybrid app that allows you to join groups and share your naughtiest photos. With the rise in popularity of social media in the past decade, people have adapted to more public expressions of sexuality, but even dating apps like Tinder will block your account if they deem any content too sexual. Suffoletta and Roberts say they put a lot of thought into naming and designing Playlove. “There are a lot of people who are sexpositive who are looking for relationships but frustrated that they can't find the types of connections that they want. We want people to know that they can find both on our app,” Suffoletta says.
Playlove is an app for the overlap of sex-positive communities to socialize completely unrestricted. Queer, polyamorous, swinger, kink, fetish, and BDSM players alike are welcome on Playlove. It’s a place for the queer community and straight allies to support each other and coexist. For folks looking to recreate the same types of connections they would if they were going out every weekend, Suffoletta’s company, Menage Life, is currently hosting regular virtual events using a video platform that allows you to be as risque as you want. On this platform, there are multiple “rooms” that you can enter, such as a dungeon room, a DJ room, and an exhibition room. With more people staying home, these advanced, online connections provide a reprieve from the isolation. Angie “Puddles” Gies—the user experience assurance manager of Playlove—is grateful to have the platform as a place to log on and show off her dominatrix outfits that she jokes her dog must be tired of seeing by now. She appreciates the feedback and knowing that others are out there looking to connect in similar ways. She encourages users to join even if they don’t
“At the end of the day, it's all about connections and friendships— that's what any sex positive community is about and what people are looking for,” Suffoletta says. "So, if we can provide that in a virtual environment, that's what we're going to do.” Playlove is intended to be accessible for anyone who’s had a difficult time finding the partnerships and connections they want. “If you hang out in the in-between of the sexuality spectrum, there's not really a lot for you, or you have to go digging to find it. And I think that's where any community that doesn't have an app servicing them will probably find more connections through Playlove. That's our hope anyway,” Suffoletta says. Playlove is a model for the lifestyle of adaptation we’ve all had to adopt this year. “Having an adaptive app, and an adaptive community has always been important to us,” Geis says. “So really, it's our time to shine as a community and to show people that the quality of life that you really like to hold onto is still there, and we're here to give you that platform to adapt and to continue to live your life the way you want to.” “There are people who are suppressed in their sexuality all over the planet and don't know what to do,” Suffoletta adds. “There's a whole world of people who need this. And we want to make a difference for them.” Try out the app for yourself, and let the team know what you think. For more information about their virtual events, check out menagelife.com. O U T F R O N T M A G A Z I N E . C O M // 2 1
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
T
here’s a new dating app on the scene called Playlove, and it started in Colorado. Playlove isn’t like other social apps—it’s designed specifically and solely for the sex-positive community.
