Gay Casual Hookups on the Mobile Application Grindr

Varia
The Deterritorialization of Meeting Places and the Privatization of Sexual Practices
By Carole Anne Rivière, Christian Licoppe, Julien Morel
English

Grindr is a male location-aware homosexual mobile social network for Smartphones. Drawing on a qualitative study, this article considers how the uses of the mobile application foster meeting opportunities and define new modes of interaction in gay hookup culture (cruising). We specifically investigate how technological tools re-arrange the times and spaces of casual hookup within the model of anonymous sexuality in public and semi-public spaces. Transposing the traditional codes of hooking up, we analyse how the uses of the mobile application are transforming such practices in the sense of a privatization which gives a central role to the home.

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