The Politics of Dating Apps : Gender, Sexuality, and Emergent Publics in Urban China

An examination of dating app culture in China, across user demographics-straight women, straight men, queer women, and queer men. In this exploration of dating app culture in China, Lik Sam Chan argues that these popular mobile apps are not merely a platform for personal relationships but also an em...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chan, Lik Sam (auth)
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Cambridge The MIT Press 2021
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DOAB: description of the publication
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245 1 0 |a The Politics of Dating Apps : Gender, Sexuality, and Emergent Publics in Urban China 
260 |a Cambridge  |b The MIT Press  |c 2021 
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520 |a An examination of dating app culture in China, across user demographics-straight women, straight men, queer women, and queer men. In this exploration of dating app culture in China, Lik Sam Chan argues that these popular mobile apps are not merely a platform for personal relationships but also an emerging arena for gender and queer politics. Chan examines the opportunities dating apps present for women's empowerment and men's performances of masculinity, and he links experiences of queer dating app users with their vulnerable position as sexual minorities. He finds that dating apps are both portals to an exciting virtual world of relational possibilities and sites of power dynamics that reflect the heteronormativity and patriarchy of Chinese society. Drawing on in-depth interviews with urban users of such dating apps as Momo, Tantan, Blued, Aloha, Rela, and Lesdo, Chan proposes "networked sexual publics" as a unifying concept to capture the dynamics of dating app culture. Devoting a chapter to each of four publics-straight women, straight men, queer men, and queer women-Chan documents how relationships are shaped and transfigured by this emerging technology. He considers whether dating apps can be a feminist tool; explores straight men's self-presentation on the apps and their interactions with women they meet there; discusses the constant cycle of deleting and installing the same apps seen among queer men; and examines how popular lesbian dating apps may connect queer women to their communities. Finally, Chan maps possible paths for future intersectional, queer, and feminist scholarship on emerging communication technologies. 
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546 |a English 
650 7 |a Gender studies: transsexuals & hermaphroditism  |2 bicssc 
650 7 |a Advertising & society  |2 bicssc 
650 7 |a Impact of science & technology on society  |2 bicssc 
653 |a dating apps 
653 |a hookup apps 
653 |a gender politics 
653 |a gender relations 
653 |a queer 
653 |a LGBTQ 
653 |a interpretive flexibility 
653 |a affordance 
653 |a networked publics 
653 |a sexual publics 
653 |a sex apps 
653 |a social apps 
653 |a hook-up apps 
653 |a location-aware 
653 |a location-based 
653 |a networking apps 
653 |a Grindr 
653 |a Tinder 
653 |a Blued 
653 |a Momo 
653 |a Rela 
653 |a feminism 
653 |a technofeminism 
653 |a leftover women 
653 |a gender performance 
653 |a gender performativity 
653 |a hegemonic masculinity 
653 |a sexual harassment 
653 |a sexual minorities 
653 |a affects 
653 |a heteronormativity 
653 |a social construction of technology 
653 |a interpretation 
653 |a publics 
653 |a digital media 
653 |a digital cultures 
653 |a mobile cultures 
653 |a China 
653 |a Chinese 
653 |a East Asia 
653 |a Global South 
856 4 0 |a www.oapen.org  |u https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12742.001.0001  |7 0  |z Get Fullteks 
856 4 0 |a www.oapen.org  |u https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/78613  |7 0  |z DOAB: description of the publication