It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, not Christmas. or Hanukkah. or Kwanzaa. Even the 11th anniversary of Beyoncé’s amazing self-titled album.
no It’s cuffing season.
At least that’s what Antares thinks. he called explain me — Vox’s Call-In Podcast — to ask if cuffing season is real.
“So in my understanding, cuffing season is the real season that happens around October-ish and lasts until the weather gets nice again,” she says. “At that time of year, people want to find someone to date — casually or otherwise.”
Antares calls an ex-boyfriend-turned-platonic-friend who has recently been struggling on a dating app. “I wanted to tell him that cuffing season is just around the corner and he might have better luck. But is it true?”
The term “Cuffing Season” probably originated in New York in the 2000s. The earliest reference online is from Moses Murchison. Murchison is now an artist and researcher, but in 2008, he was a student at Brooklyn College, hosting a weekly radio show called “Cuz We Said So Radio.” On November 17, 2008, the topic of discussion was to cuff or not to cuff.
“‘Cuffing season’ is not a term I made up. It was New York jargon,” Murchison says. And Murchison believes it’s real. “I don’t know many people who don’t roll around in the winter. We are designed to be together, be it romantic or platonic.”
I have to admit, Antares’ question evoked my inner Carrie Bradshaw. I couldn’t help but wonder… is cuffing season real? When the temperature drops, do our romantic prospects heat up?
To find out, I spoke with several people, including Alison Gemmill, a professor, demographer, and perinatal epidemiologist at the Hopkins Population Center. Gemmill says that we don’t necessarily know that there are certain times of the year that people are more likely to congregate.
“In terms of actual sexual activity, there’s not good data,” she says “A pretty strong hypothesis is that there are holidays that give people ample opportunity to engage in sexual activity.”
Part of the reason we don’t know is that there isn’t much research. “Sexuality research is only underfunded in the United States,” Gemmill said.
For now, we can rely on something that has worked for centuries: counting backwards on our fingers. “In the United States, we actually see a very strong peak in births around August or September,” Gemmill said. “It’s very clear, and it happens from the idea that it’s happening around November and December.”
But without traditional data collection, it’s hard to know if it’s causation or correlation. Also, not all dating results in sex, and not all sex results in pregnancy or birth. “So I think it’s really important to get evidence from dating apps,” she says. “We need to go to these unconventional data sources as researchers to learn about basic human behavior, which is partnership.”
Michael Kaye is the head of branding for OkCupid, a dating app that asks users a series of questions about their lifestyle and preferences. When potential matches enter the dater’s feed, they are presented with a percentage score based on how compatible the two swipers are. “We have thousands of questions in our app,” he says. “They’re obviously related to dating, relationships and sex, but also something that’s top of mind for Gen Z and millennials to date. So if there’s something you’re talking about with your friend or your family member or your colleague, we’re adding questions about that to the app, because maybe you’re talking about it on a date as well.” Daters’ answers can give insight into what they’re looking for and when.
In this week’s episode explain to me Find out what we know – and don’t know – about the best time of year. Below is an excerpt from my conversation with Kaye, edited for length and clarity.
you can listen explain me on Apple Podcasts, Spotifyor Wherever you find podcasts. If you would like to submit a question, send an email to askvox@vox.com or call 1-800-618-8545.
What are the peaks and valleys of dating throughout the year?
If we start at the beginning of the year, we have a holiday in the dating space called Dating Sunday. I thought people were kidding me when they told me. This is our Super Bowl.
Is dating a super bowl?
It’s the biggest day for online dating, and it falls on the first Sunday of January. So this is where we tend to see a skyrocket in app activity and engagement over OkCupid and Hinge and Tinder and Match.com.
We then see another burst of activity during Valentine’s Day. So if we look back to Valentine’s Day 2024, there was a 109 percent increase in the number of daters on OkCupid who said that finding their forever person right now is more important to them than being able to date for a while.
Last year, between October and December there was a 26 percent increase in people saying, “I’m looking for my forever person right now. I’m not looking for anything casual. If you are great. It’s just not for me.”
How those cuffing season metrics compare hot girl summer metrics?
There are still barriers to activity and engagement, but the intent with which they approach this dating app experience is different.
We look at two areas to help learn a bit more about user behavior. One is what they are looking for, be it long term dating, short term dating or friendship. I would say that most users don’t actually change it very often. So we also look at how daters are answering our objective-based question: “What’s more important to you right now: love vs. sex?” “What are you looking for now?” “How long do you want your next relationship to last?” We pay a lot of attention to those questions and how people are responding to them.
Last year it was 14 percent decrease Among people looking for sex from June to October; This means that there is an increase in the number of people looking for something more casual.
How do you measure this peak of dating?
First, we will start with the download. Dating Sunday times that really spikes. But even then we see likes and messages and conversations spike during this time.
Sunday is generally a really great day for online dating throughout the year. Dating Sundays are significantly higher than other Sundays, but if we look week by week, Sunday afternoons are usually the busiest time for dating apps.
Do people match more during cuffing season?
We actually asked our daters this week if they believe cuffing season is real. What we’re finding now is that 63 percent of people believe cuffing season is real, and they’re looking for love right now. And more than half said they go on more dates in the fall and winter than in the spring and summer.
