Why and How to Queer Men Use Gridr?

814 Words3 Pages
The empirical focus of this paper is why and how queer men use Grindr. Several researchers have studied why members of the queer community turn to the Internet and applications such as Grindr to find fellow members. One draw to these tools is that since sexual minorities are often discriminated against in their daily lives, online communities can be a safe space to interact with others similar to them and to explore their sexual identities (Gudelunas 2012). They can also be used anonymously, which is an added benefit (van Eeden-Moorefield, et al. 2008). It can also be difficult for members of the queer community to find others like them, either because they do not choose to be “out,” the population is small or dispersed, or because there are few physical meeting places for them (Henrickson 2007). Because it is so accessible, affordable, acceptable, and anonymous, the Internet has become an enticing option for members of the queer community and it has revolutionized their social and sexual networks (Tikkanen and Ross 2000). Possibly due to these reasons, marketing surveys have found that compared to their straight counterparts, gay men and lesbians are more likely to not only spend more time engaged in online social networking activities, but to also use a larger number of social networking sites (Harris Interactive 2010; “Gay and lesbian adults more likely to read blogs and use social networking tools” 2009). However, it was found that the ways in which these sites were used

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