Let's Talk About Sex (Apps), CSCW

Abstract

Location-based social network apps for dating have grown significantly over the past few years. Although they have many possible uses, casual and sexual encounters remain an important part of their draw. For CSCW, these apps are interesting to study: they offer a context to explore issues of identity and selfpresentation, geography and locality, privacy and security, as well as motivation and usage habits. In this one-day workshop, we invite researchers, students, and practitioners from a diverse range of backgrounds, including CSCW, computer science, sociology, and public health, to discuss these issues and more, as well as to explore the difficulties and challenges inherent in this research. In addition to exploring the issues around apps for sex and dating, participants will also help to bring some of these sensitive, yet important topics into the mainstream of CSCW research.

Troubling Vulnerability

“…As Hardy and Lindtner point out, there is a need for a situated understanding of LGBT identities that looks at the 'articulations of queer desires' [27, p23]. When done successfully, HCI researchers balance articulating the real risks faced by LGBT people with highlighting the tactics they develop to negotiate and reshape their own technology use (see [8,24,27]).…”

Constructing a Desiring User

“…5 In previous work, Ann Light proposed a study of Queer HCI 6 that investigates resistance to computing through the process of queering wherein queering is defined as "problematizing apparently structural and foundational relationships with critical intent" [29]. At the same time, and as we covered in the related literature section, a growing body of work in HCI and CSCW has stressed the importance of centering in on the identities and experiences of queer users [7,9,14,21]. Would this latter work speak to Light's call for a "queering of HCI?"…”

“…We explore, in particular, how rural gay men position themselves in relation to the values and ideals of sexuality "scripted" into these applications by the companies' founders and designers. With this, we aim to bring into conversation a small but expanding body of research on queer users and technology in CSCW and HCI [6,7,14,24] with analytical frames on subjectivity and sexuality drawn from science and technology studies (STS), feminist HCI, and sexuality studies. Following in the footsteps of Mary Gray and her ethnographic research with LGBT youth and their use of new media in rural Kentucky [17], we draw from ethnographic research with gay men in a rural part of the American Midwest and pair it with discourse analysis of news articles, promotional materials, and ad campaigns of Grindr and SCRUFF.…”

Sex Talk

“…The anonymity technology offers has been explored by [19] in investigating how explicit talk about 'making love' was expressed in various ways through a dedicated anonymous posting website, whilst [2] has investigated the (often) sexual content on anonymous Facebook 'Confession Boards' [5]. Research examining location based social networks such as Grindr and Tinder argue how self-presentation and anonymity become complicated in these online spaces [7], with [6] arguing that the prominence of these apps should now lead us to consider sex as a significant motivator in of itself for interaction with technology. An examination of these existing systems indicates how technology can create new or distinct ways for people to have interactions around sex, yet despite this HCI has made little way in terms of scoping a design space or response to these identified opportunities.…”