Craigslist Exposed: The Internet-Mediated Hookup

Abstract

This research examines how people advertise themselves on Craigslist. The authors develop a framework that highlights 13 resources that heterosexual and homosexual men and women offer in Craigslist advertisements. The results reveal that many heterosexual advertisers offer and seek similar resources on Craigslist, whereas gay men primarily use Craigslist to seek and offer sex. About one-fourth of homosexual advertisers are in committed relationships. The authors build on this finding by exploring the extent to which married men use Craigslist for “hookups.” The authors show the extent to which married men solicit responses to 6 different advertisements for sexual encounters that range from safe to high risk.

Keywords:

• Craigslist
• personal advertisements
• Internet dating
• barebacking
• resource exchange theory
• unprotected sex

Acknowledgments

We thank Elizabeth (Beth) Hirschman for her helpful comments regarding the article, as well as participants of the Association of Consumer Research 10th Conference on Gender, Marketing, and Consumer Behaviour for their comments. We also thank the reviewers for their helpful suggestions.