The Gay Gayze: Expressions of Inequality on Grindr

ABSTRACT

Social media programs such as Grindr, a geolocation-based phone dating app allowing gay men to connect with others in their proximity, have redefined how gay men interact. My purpose here is to demonstrate how new technologies, ironically, have reinforced existing cultural practices, and I show how body typing, ageism, racism, and HIV stigma are reproduced within gay men’s self-performance on the app. In doing so, this study adds to the broader sociological understanding of how the presentation of self is performed in digitally produced environments, especially as it relates to intimate encounters with others. Finally, I consider how the structure of the app, and the general makeup of online worlds, make such phenomena more easily reproducible.

KEYWORDS:

• Grindr
• social media
• gay men
• gender performance
• racism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ The looking for list is comprised of six different items: chat, dates, friends, networking, relationship, and right now.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher T. Conner

Christopher T. Conner is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology in the department of Anthropology and Sociology at Knox College. He is a qualitative ethnographic researcher whose areas of interest include inequalities and intersectionality, computer mediated communications, deviance, subcultures, criminology, LGBTQIA studies, and sociological theory. Chris is also the co-editor of the forthcoming volume Forgotten Founders and other Social Theorists to be published by Lexington Books.