This week I read the article “The Tinder Games: Collective mobile dating app use and gender conforming behavior” by Sobieraj and Humphrey. After reading this article I can definitely see and relate to the gamification of dating with this app. I personally have not made a tinder to share with others like they showed examples of in this article but I thought that aspect was very interesting. I can see the men's side of using this app to conquer women and seeing how many “dates” or hookups they can get. This app very much does add in the stereotypical gender conforming behavior, men have to message first and women are gatekeepers. I never really thought about this before class this week and reading this article. It makes me very intrigued and being a person who has experience with Tinder, it kind of makes me not want to use the app along with some other personal opinions. I feel like currently in my age bracket, if you are not using Tinder it can be very hard to meet people or more specifically men. Not very many guys will just approach a girl in person so Tinder is very much used as a buffer to make things easier with dating.
Within the article the writers said “Our findings suggest the fun of mobile dating is not just interacting with potential matches through the apps, but the use of the apps among one’s friends. These “dating games” are entertaining, but importantly mitigate potential social or physical risks of mobile dating”(p57). Like I said above, using apps like Tinder very much makes a buffer when it comes to dating and people approaching you. This relates to mitigating potential social and physical risks of mobile dating. I do find it interesting when it says that the app is used among one’s friends. I have heard and seen people use one account for multiple people to see who can find matches and to use it like a dating show/ game but I have not personally done that.
In conclusion the writers say, “Our study suggests that men and women incorporate mobile dating apps into their lives with game-like practices among gender-specific collectives in order to potentially mitigate continued stigma and social risks about using mobile dating apps, while benefiting from the sharing the experiences of the evolving social ritual of dating”(p71). I definitely agree with their findings and the conclusion they came to. Gender norms are heavily embedded within dating apps, there is a lot of stigma and social risks with mobile dating apps and with the game-like features this makes the apps potentially more fun but also can be very dangerous at the same time. Overall, I thought this article was very insightful. It made me think even more about gender norms and how they play a role in aspects of life I never really gave a second thought about. I think going forward I will think about gender norms more and how they impact my life.
by: Julie Essex
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