The first successful straight and lesbian dating apps emerged in the 2010s, including Tinder and HER. Widely known but woefully underexamined, these apps based their designs on, or even against, the first successful dating/hookup app: Grindr. In other words, developers imitated, refused, or even outright copied design, functionality, and structure to sell apps to straight people, lesbians, and other gay men (as the identity grouping went a decade ago, per big tech). Most importantly for my interest in lesbian, bi, queer, trans*, and sapphic (LBQT*S+) people’s experiences of dating and hookup apps, this evolution of dating apps from Grindr requires us to understand that all dating apps are based on—even by being designed alongside or against—the social and cultural hookup/dating norms of an app designed for, by, and about cis gay men, e.g. cruising.

In other words, this means that all dating apps are created from and/or against the …

The first successful straight and lesbian dating apps emerged in the 2010s, including Tinder and HER. Widely known but woefully underexamined, these apps based their designs on, or even against, the first successful dating/hookup app: Grindr. In other words, developers imitated, refused, or even outright copied design, functionality, and structure …

Want to share about your experiences with dating and/or hookup apps as a lesbian, bisexual, queer, trans*, or sapphic person?

TAKE THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE!

If you are over 18 years of age, you can take this online survey to share more about how these apps have or haven’t worked for you and how you want them to work.

The survey will take 20-35 minutes depending on how much you share.

This research is overseen by Dr. Jack Jen Gieseking and approved by the Mount Holyoke College IRB.…

Want to share about your experiences with dating and/or hookup apps as a lesbian, bisexual, queer, trans*, or sapphic person? TAKE THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE! If you are over 18 years of age, you can take this online survey to share more about how these apps have or haven’t …

There are now thousands of studies on how people use, experience, and are even changed by their use of dating and hookup apps (hereafter: dating apps). I read hundreds of these articles, reports, and white papers that focus on or mention lesbian, bisexual, queer, trans*, and sapphic (LBQT*S) experiences in …

In late 1999, I signed myself up for my first dating site, the now long defunct PlanetOut. I landed in New York City thinking I’d never meet anyone that I wanted to talk to at a bar or a club—primarily because I’d spent the last four years in a women’s …