Swipe Left on Sexual Harassment: Understanding College Students’ Experiences with Dating App Facilitated Sexual Violence

• In Event: 40820 - Section on Sociology of Sex and Gender Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 14: Gender, Tech, and Online Spaces

Abstract

Dating applications, such as Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, are widely popular among young adults in the U.S. While for some they are effective dating tools, women as well as sexually and racially minoritized groups, often receive harassing and hostile messages on these apps. Scholars consider dating app-facilitated sexual violence (DAFSV) as consisting of unwanted sexual comments/messages, unsolicited sexual photos, and sexual harassment. Despite the serious mental and physical impacts of SH, sociology has been slow to address issues of sexual violence (SV). The current study attempts to understand why and how DAFSV occurs and how to prevent this hostile online behavior. I also ask how these interactions negatively impact the well-being of those who experience them and how the apps themselves respond. To do so, I interviewed 41 college students about their perspectives on DAFSV. Preliminary findings reveal that there are stark gender differences in experiences of DAFSV, that the apps serve as a new medium for a larger societal problem with SV, and a lack of recourse through the apps themselves. I aim to give a voice to those who have been harassed online and to create guidance on how to address online harassment.

Author

• Madison Adams, Texas A&M University-College Station