Flirting technologies and erotic circles. Usages of Grindr among gay men from the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina

MARENTES, MAXIMILIANO

Sydney

Conferencia; UTS (University of Technology Sydney) FASS (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) Diversities & Social Inclusion Research Group July seminar; 2023

Diversities & Social Inclusion Research Group - FASS (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) UTS (University of Technology Sydney)

This paper aims to analyze how Grindr, an online dating and hooking-up app used by gay men, runs within a wider erotic circle framed by its relationships with other flirting technologies, both virtual and in-person. The work derives from qualitative research conducted from October 2017 to November 2018 that sought to reconstruct the love stories of 30 gay men living in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Considering Grindr as a flirting technology that belongs to a broader erotic circle enables us to observe four characteristics based on how these men use the app. First, how it is thought of in opposition to in-person spaces. Second, revealing its hegemonic character when examining how it becomes the generic for all virtual apps. Third, how this hegemony is cracked when the difference with other technologies turns up. Fourth, how previous distinctions are underestimated when focusing on the jumps among those technologies. The paper concludes with the need to reconsider these technologies as producers of erotism and restore the circular aspect of erotic exchanges.Link: https://kaltura.uts.edu.au/media/Maximiliano+MarentesA+Flirting+technologies+and+erotic+circlesA+usages+of+Grindr+among+gay+men+from+Buenos+Aires/1_252blq09