​Since their arrival, dating apps have swiftly become ubiquitous in the contemporary intimate landscape. They offer immediate access to a plethora of individuals nearby, promising to satiate desires for friendship, dates, sex, relationships and more. After initial ‘moral panics’ about this technology subsided, researchers have busily mapped the contradictory experiences of users.

Although dating apps offer welcomed opportunities for connection, intimacy and sexual exploration, they also mediate evolving modes of harassment, abuse, and intimate harm, as well as serious dangers of rape, violence and even death. In this Olio, we'll ask: how do the pleasures and dangers of dating apps unfold for users across the demographic spectrum? And, how can we begin to mitigate the harms mediated by dating apps?

To do this, we'll map some of the ways the pleasures and dangers of dating apps have been understood (drawing on firsthand research with young bisexual and heterosexual women in New Zealand, as well as other work). The talk argues that intimate harm mediated by dating apps are happening at two levels. One level is along broader intersectional axes of gender, race, class and so on. The other is unique to dating apps and technologically mediated intimacies. Lastly, drawing on the posthuman critical theory, moral psychology and applied ethics, We’ll offer theoretical and practical ways forward in this landscape of technological mediated intimacy.

*This Olio will take place in a Williamsburg apartment. L Train to Graham Ave. Exact location will be sent upon rsvp*