Un Grindr plus gentil ?

Grindr, the popular social networking app aimed at men who are sexually interested in other men, launched its Kindr campaign in 2018, which was designed to foster a more inclusive and respectful environment for its users. This campaign followed years of criticism regarding the racism, transphobia, f...

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Main Author: Sharif Mowlabocus
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Genre, Sexualité et Société 2023-06-01
Series:Genre, Sexualité et Société
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/gss/8245
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author Sharif Mowlabocus
author_facet Sharif Mowlabocus
author_sort Sharif Mowlabocus
collection DOAJ
description Grindr, the popular social networking app aimed at men who are sexually interested in other men, launched its Kindr campaign in 2018, which was designed to foster a more inclusive and respectful environment for its users. This campaign followed years of criticism regarding the racism, transphobia, femmephobia, body shaming, and HIV-related stigmatism that littered profiles and permeated interactions on the platform. While the Kindr initiative was met with applause from some quarters of the gay press, it also drew criticism from those who felt that their “preferences” and desires were being policed and proscribed via new practices of censorship. Through a close reading of Kindr and an analysis of Grindr’s design features, I explore the central tension the platform sets up between its new discourse of “kindness” and the affordances of its software. Reflecting on these contradictions between discourse and code, and between discourse and action, I suggest that Grindr promotes an ethos of “polite incivility”, an ethos that provides a method for “managing” discrimination and difference, and which forgoes sexual citizenship in favor of sexual consumption.
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spelling doaj-art-819a8f0b6af24477921f08c575d4e6772025-01-09T13:06:44ZfraGenre, Sexualité et SociétéGenre, Sexualité et Société2104-37362023-06-012910.4000/gss.8245Un Grindr plus gentil ?Sharif MowlabocusGrindr, the popular social networking app aimed at men who are sexually interested in other men, launched its Kindr campaign in 2018, which was designed to foster a more inclusive and respectful environment for its users. This campaign followed years of criticism regarding the racism, transphobia, femmephobia, body shaming, and HIV-related stigmatism that littered profiles and permeated interactions on the platform. While the Kindr initiative was met with applause from some quarters of the gay press, it also drew criticism from those who felt that their “preferences” and desires were being policed and proscribed via new practices of censorship. Through a close reading of Kindr and an analysis of Grindr’s design features, I explore the central tension the platform sets up between its new discourse of “kindness” and the affordances of its software. Reflecting on these contradictions between discourse and code, and between discourse and action, I suggest that Grindr promotes an ethos of “polite incivility”, an ethos that provides a method for “managing” discrimination and difference, and which forgoes sexual citizenship in favor of sexual consumption.https://journals.openedition.org/gss/8245desirehook-up appssexual racismmoderationdesign
spellingShingle Sharif Mowlabocus
Un Grindr plus gentil ?
Genre, Sexualité et Société
desire
hook-up apps
sexual racism
moderation
design
title Un Grindr plus gentil ?
title_full Un Grindr plus gentil ?
title_fullStr Un Grindr plus gentil ?
title_full_unstemmed Un Grindr plus gentil ?
title_short Un Grindr plus gentil ?
title_sort un grindr plus gentil
topic desire
hook-up apps
sexual racism
moderation
design
url https://journals.openedition.org/gss/8245
work_keys_str_mv AT sharifmowlabocus ungrindrplusgentil