Role: Research Lead, Grad school dissertation
Background
Despite the rise of mobile dating applications, queer women still struggle to find an application catered exclusively toward helping them meet other women. However, dating applications are still the most common place that queer women meet each other. This interesting behavior led to three major research questions:
What is the significance of "hetero-focused" mobile dating applications to queer women?
How do the features of "hetero-focused" mobile dating applications affect the behavior of queer women?
What are the needs of queer women with mobile dating application design?
I focused on the mobile dating application, Tinder, as the major case study for this question due to its reputation as the "Grindr for straight people," inception as a mobile-based dating app and its pervasiveness of use amongst young people at the time of study (2017).
Approach
Survey: The purpose of the survey was to recruit a diverse set of participants that fit within the participant criteria.
Participant criteria:
Ages 18-35
Self-identified women, seeking other self-identified women
9 Oxford-based, 9 London-based due to importance of diversity in geolocation-based app
Interviews and Interface Analysis
45-60 minute interviews with 18 queer-identifying women
Live usability session of their behavior on the application and analysis of the application's features
Data Analysis
Conventional qualitative coding using Nvivo software
Findings
Queer women perceive the women-seeking-women section within Tinder as their own separate space within the application. This space is akin to a gay club and is the premier place to meet other women to date.
Due to the application's design, queer women's space within the application is constantly at risk of intrusion, deception and assault by non-queer women on the "hetero-focused" platform. To combat these risks, queer women have devised a series of codes and symbols to authenticate other members of the community and find each other amongst intruders.
Queer women need stronger safeguards designed within online spaces to protect against encroaching threats.
Queer women need flexible and secure verification systems as well as safe channels to express their sexuality within mobile dating apps.
Queer women need to feel heard and reassured that these threats are being taken seriously by app developers.
Impact
Sparked conversations with major mobile dating applications marketed toward women.
Presentations and Papers
New Media and Society Peer-Reviewed Publication, 2019
Association of Internet Researchers, 2018
Theorizing the Web, 2018 (Slides)
Annual Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, 2017