Presented by the Social Innovation Research Institute, Swinburne.

Across decades, dating apps have been the locus for moral panics, positioning them as a scapegoat for the ongoing stigmatization of casual sex and women’s sexual agency. Instead, real concerns should be raised about the actual risks and harms that users face, such as harassment, sexual aggression, discrimination, privacy breaches, and more.

While app companies have developed increasingly complex policies and features under the umbrella of “safety,” this talk questions what forms of protection and justice are enacted through these measures and who is still left in danger despite (or resulting from) them. I will share findings from my own research as well as a comparative analysis of 30 dating app policies, guidelines, and safety measures to discuss how these materials reflect approaches that: designate safety as an individual responsibility; attempt to enforce it through peer policing and law enforcement; and promise safety in exchange for greater amounts of user data and acceptance of surveillance tools. Altogether, these findings show that dating app companies are treating harms that stem from collective, structural problems – such as misogyny and racism – as individual issues to be solved by punishment or technological innovation.

This research is part of a larger project funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, led by Diana Parry at the University of Waterloo, with collaboration from Christopher Dietzel, Eric Filice, Amy Matharu, and Corey Johnson.

Speaker information

Stefanie Duguay is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Canada. She is a Concordia University Research Chair and Director of the Digital Intimacy, Gender and Sexuality (DIGS) Lab where her research focuses on the intersection of digital technologies and media with representations and practices pertaining to intimate life, relationships, gender, and sexuality. This has involved studies of LGBTQ+ people’s social media participation, dating apps, platform appropriation and governance, discourses of automation and algorithmic neutrality, and the role of platforms and mobile media in queer social landscapes.

This webinar is supported by the Social Innovation Research Institute's Platform Society + Digital Economy program, and the ARC Future Fellowship 'Digital and Data Capabilities for Sexual and Reproductive Health. For more information please contact Professor Kath Albury kalbury@.swin.edu.au