“The Safety Net of Being a Male”: Gendered Safety Strategies on Dating Applications.

• In Event: Race, Gender, and Class Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 6) Gender, Sexuality, and Masculinities

Abstract

Dating has long been an anxiety-inducing and sometimes frustrating process. In the digital era, safety concerns have emerged as another challenge to finding a romantic partner. Dating app-facilitated sexual violence (DAFSV) consists of unwanted sexual comments/messages, unsolicited sexual photos, and sexual harassment (Echevarria, Peterson, and Woerner 2023). DAFSV can also encompass sexual violence that occurs in person between people who met on a dating app (Echevarria et al. 2023). This research aims to assess how college-aged dating app users navigate safety risks, particularly threats of sexual violence. Specifically, I ask how safe do people feel using dating apps? What strategies do they employ to safeguard themselves against risks? And how is safety gendered on dating apps? This study fills a gap in sociological and gender scholarship by investigating how college students contend with sexual violence within the era of digital dating. Findings are analyzed utilizing feminist theories on sexual harassment, which stipulate that sexual violence exists at the intersection of gender and racial power structures (MacKinnon 1979; Crenshaw 1991, 1992; Schultz 2018). Dating is already an onerous process; safety concerns should not be an added burden. To answer these questions, I interviewed 56 college students who have used or are currently using dating applications. Overall, students felt safe while using the apps due to in-app features and the online nature. Despite this, what is clear is that women interviewees spend more energy and time thinking about and mitigating dating app dangers like sexual harassment and assault. Based on the interviews, women were hyperaware of potential safety threats on the apps, especially those of a sexual nature, so much so that they employ several strategies, including location sharing, vetting, carrying self-defense tools, swiping practices, and profile setup. In contrast, men implied that their gender alone is sufficient protection.

Author

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