Hi everyone!
Please read through these four articles, they’re not too long! After that please make a comment on here saying two things that you found interesting, questions, or comments! Please have your posts done by Sunday at 6 PM or no later than class on Monday! We will be discussing your comments and a short video clip in class! Have a great weekend!
- Teen Vogue Article
- NBC News Article
- EDRI article
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/opinion/queer-dating-apps.html
-Tiff, Claudia, and Molly
Hi Tiff, Claudia, and Molly,
I like all of the readings you assigned because they were super interesting ideas I never thought of before. Like one of the articles said, most things in our society is designed for white, straight, cisgender, non disabled people, so on dating apps I assume the gender you choose you are, only the opposite gender is suggested for you. I like that there are certain companies who took this into consideration to change this, for example OkCupid has a “I don’t want to see or be seen by straight people” option. I look forward to learning more about what other companies/people have done for this on Monday.
Hi Tiff, Molly and Claudia!
I was so excited to see this topic presented. I really enjoyed teen vogues piece on this! I love that they included many different dating sites and apps. It makes them appear more inclusive which is really nice to see mainstream magazines including more than just heterosexual information. I liked a lot how bumble allows women to only message first and when two women match they both can message whenever. In the article from NBC I was shocked to read tinder shows lesbian women men, that is very odd to me and I wonder about the algorithm behind that.
Hey Tiff, Claudia, and Molly,
I really liked these readings that you had us read for class. I found them very interesting and made me think of several different things as I was reading these. In the first article when it said that most things are designed for white, straight, cisgender, and non-disabled people that made me think of a video I saw before. I saw this video of this blind girl having her friends set up a dating profile for her. Her friend wanted to put in the “about me” part that she was blind, and she didn’t want to do that because of the fact if she put that out there it could be a dangerous thing for her. It’s dangerous because a lot of disabled people are taken advantage of because of their disabilities, and sometimes even sexually assaulted. That also made me think of how these dating apps are for people in the LGBTQIA+ community. I can’t even think of what being on dating apps might be like. The thing that is most frightening about dating apps is not knowing who is actually behind the screen. You don’t know their intentions or anything really about them. I think dating apps are trying to make an effort to be more inclusive, but there is definitely more work to make them better, and safer.
HOLA!
This is the right link to the NY Times Article
The link provided above was a mistake
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/opinion/queer-dating-apps.html
Hey Tiff, Claudia, and Molly,
I really liked reading through these articles. Everyone who has ever been a member of a dating app can attest to how un-inclusive and down right irritating they are. These articles really opened my eyes to how difficult these apps can be for queer women and non-binary people. One thing I found interesting was the article from NBC News, that said that often times men slip into the equation when women who are lesbians are swiping on Tinder. This is so frustrating because Tinder gives you the option to select who you want to search for! Another thing I found interesting was the Teen Vouge article, because I never realized how many dating apps there are for the LGBTQIA+ community. These should be advertised / broadcasted more!
Adrienne
Hi Tiff, Claudia, and Molly,
I really enjoyed reading the posts you assigned for us to read. I found them all very interesting and they made me think of things that I never thought of before. For instance, one of the articles said that the dating apps don’t make it very inclusive for people of color, individuals with disabilities, people in the LGBTQ community and trasngender people. Although, some apps have changed over the years such as OKCupid it still lacks in gender identity options. In the first article, I found it interesting how the Bumble app took a more feminist approach and designed it so women are in a position of power rather than the socieital view where men are expected to message women first. It demonstrates that this app has features that others typically don’t obtain and maybe they should adapt even if they are looking to network or something other than connect with someone on a romantic level. Another thing I found interesting was stated in the second article from NBC News. Tinder gives you the option to select who you are searching for and often men pop in when women who are lesbians are swiping on Tinder. This made me think of my best friend who is a lesbian and often uses Tinder and she has told me many times that even though she has selected that she is seeking a women that men often pop up on the app. I think this very interesting and widespread. In the end, it shows that it is an inclusion issue. I think that dating apps are trying to make an effort to make an effort on making it more inclusive, but there is still so much left to be done to include everyone. I look forward to learning more in class!
-Jackie
Hi Claudia, Molly, and Tiff,
Thank you for another exciting and important set of readings! I especially loved the New York Times article (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/opinion/queer-dating-apps.html) and hope your classmates were able to read it, despite the link glitch.
These readings remind us that people who identify as LGBTQIA+ are inherently vulnerable in society: they live with greater daily risks and threats of violence like hate crimes, intolerance, discrimination, prejudice, and bias. The internet has provided a number of ways for people who might otherwise feel marginalized and isolated to connect with others (with varying degrees of privacy), an important affordance we can’t overlook. At the same time, digital platforms expose already-vulnerable users to new risks and dangers: surveillance, harassment, and outing, among them.
I think it’s important to keep these dangers at the forefront of our conversations (rather than, say, allowing conversations to stray towards dating apps designed for straight, cis-people as being a mere “inconvenience”). As Ari Waldman compellingly argues, privacy for queer people is a “uniquely important,” issue that can have life and death implications.
Throughout the readings, I was especially drawn to the seemingly small design decisions made by different platforms that have the potential to make a huge impact on people’s lives: options to disguise an app’s icon, increased password security, the option not to be seen by straight people, options to indicate support for organizations like Planned Parenthood, options to disclose disabilities, etc. When we are designing digital things (whether it’s a website or app), our choices — including what options we give to users — matter.
What I love so much about Waldman’s article is his insistence that this an issue of platform design and the laws regarding digital applications, NOT a problem of individual app users. Blaming individual app users is a form of pathologization: taking a social and structural problem and displacing it on to individuals. Rather than blaming users for how they choose to express their sexuality, applications should be designed to support the flourishing of a wide range of pleasurable practices. In terms of design, two key ways to do this are 1) ensuring the privacy of users and 2) being completely transparent about how user data is being treated.
Lots more to discuss tomorrow — looking forward to it!
Hi Tiff, Claudia, and Molly,
Thank you for choosing an important topic to discuss and sharing great articles for us to read before tomorrow’s class! I really enjoyed reading the article by Mary Emily O’Hara published by NBC News. I think the Tinder experiment was a fantastic way to portray the flaws in dating apps that can negatively impact the people using them.
In this example, Tinder is exposed for allowing men to be popping up on feeds whose accounts are set to see women-identified profiles only. The author writes “I’m hardly alone — queer women and non-binary folks have spent years puzzling over the men that somehow slip through our Tinder settings”. This issue shows how hard it is for queer women and non-binary folks to use a dating site that is user-friendly to them. However, in the creation of these dating apps, minority groups such as queer women do not influence the characteristics of these apps. It is definitely an important issue – every person no matter what they identify as should have an equal opportunity to find a person to connect with.
One question that I find myself wondering is in what ways can these apps be more inclusive and more safe for queer women and non-binary people? The end of the article states “perhaps the lesson is this: Until queers are at the helm of the companies that craft the tech tools we use every day, those tools won’t be able to fully serve our needs”.
Hi Tiff, Claudia, and Molly
I enjoyed reading more about this topic very much and I must admit as a cisgender I’ve never realized how problematic tinder can be for members of the LGBTIA community. In my opinion, tinder is the “google” of dating apps. As society progresses further into the future, the dating process also evolves and right now social media dating apps are at the forefront of this. I think this comes with both benefits and consequences in eliminating social dating scenarios and limiting it to the realm of the internet. It is very upsetting to see how tinder and other dating apps try to reinforce social norms of heteronormativity in the algorithms they institute, as well as how easy it is for them to get away with it.
Hey Claudia, Molly, and Tiff!
I found your topic of LGBTQIA+ Marginalization so important to society today and especially interesting to me because my group’s topic is about racism found in dating apps. It didn’t occur to me that members of the LGBTQIA+ community would be the most active users, studies show, of online dating apps/platforms. After reading these articles, I was made away of the dangers of sharing explicit content and not knowing the privacy boundaries for dating apps. In Waldman’s article, he states that the users aren’t to blame, but “its the law, or lack thereof, that contributes to app designs that put our privacy at risk.” It is part of the culture and the pressure that comes with being part of the community. If certain expectations aren’t lived up too, you basically cant participate in the full experience of the dating apps. Also with dating apps, there are limitations for what members of this marginalized community can and how they can identify themselves. Then, there are also plenty of dating apps that are very specific, made for a smaller group of people. It is crucial to inform people about the role of technology has in the impact on the LGBTQIA+ community since it reinforces societal biases revolving discrimination. Algorithms are not making much of a difference when filtering out inappropriate content such as homophobic accounts, or use of offensive terms. Technology isn’t neutral and more users must find out the best way to navigate dating apps safely.
Hi Tiff, Claudia, and Molly,
While reading these articles I was shocked at how many people fetishize people apart of the LGBTQ+ community. I was surprised because in one of your articles it said that in 29 states employers can fire their workers if they identify as either gay or transgender. But then, there are cis-gendered men using mobile dating apps such as Tinder who set their settings to be able to match with women who identify as lesbian. There are also opposite-sex couples who are looking for women on tinder to be included in their relationships/sexual relationships. Also, one article talks about the straight men who hang around lesbian bars which I also found to be interesting. The LGBTQ+ community is discriminated against enough by society however many people who identify as gay, transgender, bisexual, etc. are sexualized on these dating apps. They are also mainly sexualized by straight white men. There are underlying issues within these apps that need to accommodate more to LGBTQ+ communities. I find it weird that women identify as lesbians have more matches or more profiles on men on their tinder than of women. Their sexual orientation is not something to be sexualized by men who exerting their toxic masculinity over these women on these mobile/online dating apps.
Hi all,
I really liked the topic you picked and the readings you provided. I like how this topic made me realize the divide for the LGBTQ+ community in the dating app world. I never really noticed how there could be an issue, but after reading on your topic it is clear to see how there is. I am interested to see how you talk about this more in class and your approach/ “solution” on how to better this situation because, I too, wonder how it can be done.
Hi guys, I enjoyed your readings they helped me understand the problems faced by LGBTQ+ One issue that I didn’t know that I just recently learned is people in this community can identify as more then one sexuality I thought that it was either your Lesbian or your Pansexual but you can technically be both. This was interesting to me because I enjoy when people in this community can find a correct way to identify themselves. My Dad owns Restaurants in the city and he could see people in the LGBTQ+ community coming into his bars and being mistreated or feeling awkward, so he decided to open a LGBTQ+ bar in the city. It is places like these where people in this community can really be themselves in public and it is seen as a safe space for them to come and feel comfortable around their community.
-Ryan
Hey guys! I thought the articles you picked were incredibly helpful and gave me a better understanding to what exactly happens on these dating websites. Education on the LGBTQIA+ community is SO important in today’s society and these articles are really affective in doing so. I knew that an individual’s privacy on these dating apps (and the internet in general) are constantly violated, but the amount of abuse that is targeted towards the LGBTQIA+ community is disgusting and unacceptable. I really appreciated the Teen Vogue article because it lists so many dating websites that I’ve never heard of! The article added a detailed description of what the dating website entails and how its algorithms make the site more safe than other widely known dating websites. By Teen Vogue posting an article to introduce these unheard of dating websites, it shows how they are taking action to show it’s readers that there are alternatives that can benefit them and make them feel safer within the digital dating world.
I also believe that the information showed within the articles should be talked about more, especially in schools. As many of us know, younger children that are part of the LGBTQIA+ community also use these dating websites. This puts them in a dangerous space where they might be unsafe, but they wouldn’t know this if they aren’t educated on the topic. I strongly believe that this information should be circulated around schools in order to educate these younger groups so, they know what spaces on the internet are safe or not. This can protect them from being targeted on dating websites and have a lower chance of being violated by others due to their identity.