A BIZZARE game that has gone viral on TikTok lets people see how many camels their partner is worth, but North-East researchers say it could be problematic for youngsters and lacks cultural context. 

The aptly named Camel Calculator asks whether you are calculating your boyfriend or girlfriend's worth before gathering physical attributes and giving you the result. 

Both men and women are asked for their hair and eye colour, hair length, height and age.

Women are then asked their breast size, which based on graphics, and to pick their body type from a list including 'sporty', 'normal', 'chubby' and 'fat'.

Men are asked the length of their facial hair and body type but could choose from four silhouettes rather than labels. 

Trending on the social media platform under #camelcalculator, people soon found changing their height, body type and hair colour got them more camels. 

Gateshead woman Naomi Carpenter, 27, came across the game when her younger sister shared it in their family group chat. She is, allegedly, worth 60 camels.

She said: "I don't care how many camels I'm worth. It's just camels on an app. It does make you wonder though."

But a member of Fempower.tech, a North-East group exploring technology and feminism, says this is exactly the type of technoogy she wants to be working against. 

Angelika Strohmayer, also a lecturer at Northumbria University, said: "It perpetuates this notion of ideal body types, binary gender norms and is xenophobic, with the link between what you look like and what you are worth.

"Even if this is a joke, it is rooted in a serious context about how we view women. It is concerning if this is reaching young girls or others that are influential."

Camel Calculator was created by then-23-year-old Thomas Klaiber. The German man, now 30, insists it is just for fun. 

He said: "To determine the scores I simply asked some male and female friends what they consider as a beauty standard, so these society standard body types get the highest score.

"The idea is not new, there was another site available decades ago. When I wanted to show this to some friends and found out the original site was gone, I created one myself.

"Always keep in mind that this site is just for fun. Some people take tests like this too serious and nobody has to represent any beauty standard to be beautiful. Also never judge people only by their looks.

"I never thought it would even reach beyond my friends."

But Fempower.tech member Reem Talhouk, who is also based at Northumbria University but from the Middle East, was left "speechless" and calls for cultural context to be added as some marriages are still driven by economics. 

She said: "It is something we joke about in the Middle East. Satire is how we deal with consistent patriarchal structures in our community like transactional early marriages.

"I have had so many camel jokes told to me, but I'm from Lebanon, there are absolutely no camels there. Aside from equating value, the problem here is camel imagery. 

"There are remnants of our old traditions and cultures. Historically, doweries would be in the form of camels. 

"I have worked with refugees who have experienced economical marriages, like being offloaded to another place. 

"It is not as simple as saying a game like this is wrong but it is about opening the dialogue and supporting conversation."

Ms Talhouk says games like Camel Calculator can be used for education around early marriage amongst marginal groups. 

She added: "It can be seen as harmless but what can this feed into? It perpetuates stereotypes and this is the problem with reappropriated cultures.

"The game just needs more context - one line on the site to say this is a real problem with a link to some NGOs that are working against it. It needs to open dialogue and be more reflective."