{"id":146,"date":"2019-05-21T10:58:52","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T10:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.lshtm.ac.uk\/depth\/?p=146"},"modified":"2019-05-21T11:19:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T11:19:14","slug":"lets-talk-about-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lshtm.ac.uk\/depth\/2019\/05\/21\/lets-talk-about-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s talk about sex"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do researchers go about interviewing people about sex and sexualities? To what extent do we \u2013 or should we \u2013 share our own experiences? And what kind of \u2018spaces\u2019 do these highly personal conversations fit into?<\/em><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

DEPTH researcher Dr Sam Miles<\/a> was invited by the academic journal Area to write a blog for their outreach website\u00a0Geography Directions<\/a>, based on his recent article ‘\u201cI’ve never told anyone this before\u201d: Co\u2010constructing intimacy in sex and sexualities research’<\/a>. In the blog, Sam explores\u00a0the ethics of fieldwork in sex and sexualities research. Have a read…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The (in)famous male-male dating and hook-up app Grindr recently celebrated its 10th<\/sup>\u00a0birthday. To mark the anniversary, a whole range of articles have cropped up variously celebrating and lamenting Grindr\u2019s influence across the world (by which I mean literally across the world \u2013 it counts nearly 4 million active users across 234 different countries (Grindr, 2019)). What makes this generation of mobile phone matchmakers different from the online platforms that went before them, for example Gaydar, match.com, Yahoo chatrooms? Apps such as Grindr are GPS-enabled, which enables users to \u2018rank\u2019 other users of the app by proximity, ensuring that potential matches can be discovered and introduced in real-time across physical space.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on Grindr\u2019s first decade,\u00a0The\u00a0BBC<\/em><\/a>\u00a0identifies a \u2018rocky relationship\u2019, whilst\u00a0VICE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0magazine explores Grindr\u2019s relationship with identity fraud and drug-based \u2018chemsex\u2019; meanwhile,\u00a0Gay Times<\/a><\/em>\u00a0reports that 56% of Grindr users believe they can find true love on the app. Whatever your opinion on it \u2013 and there are many \u2013 there is no doubt that this mobile phone matchmaker, along with its competitors Hornet, Scruff & Jack\u2019d, has had a profound impact on gay and bisexual communities. These apps have also opened up new avenues for men seeking sex with men (MSM) who for whatever reason \u2013 familial, cultural, or religious \u2013 do not identify as gay or bisexual.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Grindr Stock image<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The bigger question raised by these recent articles seems to be: how do dating and hook-up apps impact on same-sex and queer relationships today? This question cannot be answered by quantitative usage data alone. After all, we know that high usage does not necessarily mean high popularity. We need to explore peoples\u2019 real life experiences in order to more fully understand the impact of dating and hook-up apps on same-sex and queer relationships.<\/p>\n

I decided that the best way to get a detailed understanding of how these apps influence sexual and social behaviours would be to interview users about their experiences online, offline, and in the \u2018hybrid\u2019 space bridging the two, where virtual introductions result in real-life encounters. My doctoral research revealed some important findings: (1) that dating and hook-up apps play a\u00a0significant role in how men now meet other men<\/a>, especially within wider debates about the \u2018death of the gay bar\u2019, and (2) that the relationship between mobile phone dating app users and the people they meet can be awkward, with social cues yet to catch up to the sophistication of the\u00a0technologies in use<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sensitive nature of the research topic meant that there was an array of ethical and practical challenges for me to grapple with during my doctoral fieldwork. In my recent\u00a0Area<\/em>\u00a0paper, I reflect on some of these challenges and explore how researchers and participants can work together to create a meaningful space that not only enables data collection, but facilitates honest and valuable conversation.\u00a0I consider what the researcher\u2019s responsibility should be for a participant\u2019s safety in this discursive space. I also reflect on how \u2018involved\u2019 I should be as a researcher. I\u2019m a person, not a robot, and several decades of feminist research has already explored the strengths and issues bound up in bringing \u2018yourself\u2019 into the research field (for example, see\u00a0Bain & Nash<\/a>\u00a0(2006) and\u00a0Smith<\/a> (2016)). But the opposite extreme of the objective, positivist robot researcher is the inappropriately involved one, a role which would be both institutionally unethical and personally unacceptable. I therefore identified my own boundaries as well as the participants\u2019s boundaries. The result was a co-constructed discursive space that we worked together to construct, perhaps surprisingly, in totally public venues and in one-off, hour-long interviews rather than more private or longer-term meetings. These were not \u2018intimate\u2019 spaces in a traditional sense, but nevertheless the space-within-a-space that we constructed invited app users to speak about highly personal experiences, some for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

I also make the case for the using public places for staging sensitive conversations. The assumption that private matters cannot be discussed in public requires a rethink. Public spaces like libraries or cafes enfold within them more private spaces \u2013 not just actual booths or nooks, although these can contribute \u2013 but I\u2019m thinking here about more conceptual spaces. These are built simply via one-to-one, in-person conversation in a space where a hubbub of background talking, or the hiss of coffee machines brewing, provides a backdrop to conversation that can be very productive.<\/p>\n

Finally, when it comes to dating and hook-up apps in particular, I suggest that people are particularly keen to share their views because the social norms of dating app use are so complex and still so poorly understood. For lots of people online dating remains taboo. In this context, the chance to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences when it came to the digitally-introduced, physically-involved relationships these platforms offer may have been liberating.<\/p>\n

Love dating apps or hate them (or both), what I hope the article communicates is that we need to talk more with users about the ways in which technologies impact on our personal lives, in order to think about the social codes developing from their use that will inform a whole range of wider contexts.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Let us know by commenting below…<\/em><\/p>\n

References<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Bain, A., & Nash, C. (2006) Undressing the researcher: Feminism, embodiment and sexuality at a queer bathhouse event.\u00a0Area<\/em>, 38, 99\u2013106.\u00a0https:\/\/rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/j.1475-4762.2006.00663.x<\/a><\/p>\n

Damshenas, S. (2019) 56% of Grindr users believe they can find love on the app, study finds.\u00a0Gay Times<\/em>. Retrieved from:\u00a0https:\/\/www.gaytimes.co.uk\/community\/119691\/56-of-grindr-users-believe-they-can-find-love-on-the-app-study-finds\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Fox, L. (2019) 10 years of Grindr: A rocky relationship.\u00a0BBC News.<\/em>\u00a0Retrieved from:\u00a0https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/technology-47668951<\/a><\/p>\n

Grindr. (2019) Grindr.com. Retrieved from:\u00a0https:\/\/www.grindr.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Miles, S. (2017) Sex in the digital city: location-based dating apps and queer urban life.\u00a0Gender, Place & Culture<\/em>, 24, 1595-1610:\u00a0https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/0966369X.2017.1340874?tab=permissions&scroll=top<\/a><\/p>\n

Miles, S. (2018) Still getting it on online: Thirty years of queer male spaces brokered through digital technologies. Geography Compass. e12407. ISSN 1749-8198 DOI:\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/gec3.12407<\/a><\/p>\n

Miles, S. (2019) \u201cI\u2019ve never told anyone this before\u201d: Co\u2010constructing intimacy in sex and sexualities research.\u00a0AREA.<\/em>\u00a0https:\/\/rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/area.12550<\/a><\/p>\n

Smith, S. (2016) Intimacy and angst in the field.\u00a0Gender, Place & Culture<\/em>, 23, 134\u2013146.<\/p>\n

Staples, L. (2019) Grindr Users Talk Highs and Lows After Ten Years of the App.\u00a0VICE Magazine.\u00a0<\/em>Retrieved from:\u00a0https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/59x83d\/grindr-users-talks-highs-and-lows-after-ten-years-of-the-app-1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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