Part of a code system describing the writer or the person sought: marital status (S single, D divorced, M married), race or ethnicity (W white, B black), sometimes orientation (G gay, Bi bisexual), and gender (M or F).
| Type | Modern abbreviation |
|---|---|
| Stands for | Single white female |
| Documented by | the 1980s, Smithsonian, Advertising for Love |
Codes like SWF, DWM and GWM filled print personals from at least the 1980s, when papers charged by the word. The Smithsonian's history of personal ads quotes a 1980s Village Voice ad written in them, and notes that by 1984 Seattle Weekly had banned abbreviations altogether. The phrase reached popular culture through John Lutz's 1990 novel SWF Seeks Same and the 1992 film Single White Female.
The codes have mostly faded with print. Modern apps ask for the same information in structured fields, and many drop categories like race entirely.
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