Safria scrolled through more dating profiles. She snuggled against the pillows on the couch, wearing her favorite robe. A deep scowl had tried to become permanent since she started an hour ago.

When she opened an account, most messages and matches came from one of three groups: straight men trying to "correct" women's sexualities, couples unicorn-hunting, or bots. Queer modern dating blogs recommended this app. Dating these days was far more challenging than she expected. Word-of-mouth didn't help her prepare for it at all.

Safria was lucky to grow up in a time without the internet. Couples often found their partners in places they shared—universities or affordable hangouts. That was how she dated her ex-husband and how many of her friends entered their relationships. Dating a younger woman as a sapphic person, as her friends warned, required sacrifices.

Sometimes, watching how young people date made Safria think about deleting her account. New York had a thriving queer community. Plenty of queer couples and singles showed up at her nightclub often. Safria's chances of getting behind the bar as a bartender again were slim. She needed to push aside paperwork first.

The reality was she often encountered men in age-gap relationships offline. Cougars weren't only for young men. Sapphics weren't exempt from the allure of mommies. Too many women in the world must dream about an older, established woman spoiling and taking care of them. She wasn't sure how many young women saw their older partner as a girlfriend. Part of her feared fetishization.

Setting her phone aside, Safria reached for her red wine glass and downed it like a shot. God, why did she think returning to the dating scene after almost thirty years was like riding a bike? Her heart went out to every young queer person trying to date while drowning in all the unhelpful noise.

After picking up her phone, the picture of the woman on the screen made her pause. She checked the profile, combing for any signs that they were a bot or a phishing account. Everything checked out.

Safria's eyes lingered on the woman's age. She was in her twenties. There would likely be many raised eyebrows at the age gap, but it might work in an unexpected manner.

Before she changed her mind, Safria matched with them. Then, she poured another glass of wine while waiting.