Joke telling and physical presence are recognized and interpreted very differently by females than by males. You can tell a joke to a woman and it will disarm her. You can tell a borderline risqué joke, one with a mild double-entendre, and it will be an indication of safe intelligence on your part, someone they can possibly confide in -- during the relationship-building process -- because you have made yourself vulnerable. But there are rules in how this knowledge can be applied.

The first rule is that males cannot make jokes with females at all until a relationship has been established and the rules of the relationship define what types of jokes are allowed. It is a sad and very real fact that until the early to mid 1960s, men largely considered women as their prey, and forty years isn't going to change the Western non-conscious mind.

Females, however, can share jokes with females much more easily. One joke form that can be sustained through all phases of a relationship is the joke that is directed at an unknown, neutral third party. This is often demonstrated in movies and TV shows to indicate the level of friendship; females A and B are sitting in a restaurant and one of them makes a comment about another female, C, who is either not present or is in the frame and at a distance (obviously not involved in their communication). The rest of the interaction between A and B lets the viewer/visitor know how safe these two women are with each other and, by extension, how safe the viewer/visitor is with them.

However, females A and B can share a joke about a present or non-present male and the dynamic changes from safety to trust very rapidly. This metaphor is expanded to female-oriented social sites by the use of "male-rating" games and "dressing" games. The latter involves deciding what type of clothing best suits a given body type and leads us to our next female networking site concept.

Women see differently-shaped women and start comparing themselves to determine if they're safe. Note that this is very different from the male physical identification conceptualization. Men need to see differently shaped males in order to feel safe and that they will "fit in" in general. Obviously, this rule changes as mentioned earlier when going after more targeted demographics.

Women need to see women closer to their own self-concept in order to feel safe. This is an aspect of what is known as "mirroring." Women will more quickly involve themselves in sites and online social activities if a homogeneous group is depicted and that homogeneous group matches the viewer/visitor's demographic. This is another study that goes back before the internet age and maps very easily across market spheres: women prefer models with self-similar body and ethnic types most like their own dress style.

This is a powerfully well done example of how to make women feel more comfortable with women in the initial stages of site acceptance and network building, while still allowing some diversity:

The different facial features, hairstyles and colors are minimized by the black background and dress, angling of the heads, use of lipstick and lighting to create a fairly consistent skin tone. Kudos to the team that put this image together. As a selling point, it will capture both male and female eyes quickly and easily. Males will linger with desire, females with acceptance and familiarity.

Here's another example:

Again, there is just enough difference in the shades of the jeans, hair colors and styles, facial features and tonus, all minimized by distance from the two "mirror" women in the center and general similarity of physical form.

This is an excellent example of females finding homogeneous safety in a heterogeneous group.