Grindr: EXPERT Article

Clark, Bryan. “Dating App Grindr Exposed User HIV Statuses to at Least Two Third-Parties [Update].” The Next Web, 3 Apr. 2018.

Grindr: Breaking boundaries but not breaking the stereotype

Music is blasting, strobe lights are on, and the dance floor is hot! Back in the day, you could consider yourself lucky if you met anyone at a club or bar as a gay or bisexual man. In the LGBT community, there was no clear way for men to meet one another; however, today’s modern technology and phone apps have revolutionized dating for the general public (Beck). Grindr, a dating app meant to connect men of the LGBT community, lets men locate other Grindr users that are nearby. According to the app’s creator, Joel Simkhai, Grindr is for “guys meeting guys” and it’s meant to help gay men establish relationships, whether that be friendship, dates, or sex (Salemo).

Despite the creator’s intentions, generally most men are using Grindr for casual sex. Grindr’s culture of casual sex reinforces an inaccurate, generalized view commonly held by members outside of the LGBT community that homosexual men are more sexually promiscuous. Grindr is an extremely influential application for the gay community; therefore, Simkhai and the rest of Grindr’s team should explore ways in which their app can educate and influence those outside of the LGBT community to help eliminate a long-standing stereotype about gay, bisexual, and queer men.

What is Grindr and who’s it for?

Grindr is a phone application that uses GPS technology to locate other gay men that are nearby.

Henry, Ben. “26 Grindr Jokes That'll Make You Cringe Until You Laugh.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, 20 Oct. 2018, www.buzzfeed.com/benhenry/i-made-it-nice.

Since launching in 2009, the app has been downloaded over 10 million times, is available in 192 countries and has more than 2.6 million users that have collectively exchanged more than 70 million chat messages (information provided by Grindr.com). Over the past nine years, Grindr has quickly grown into the world’s largest social networking app for gay, bisexual, trans, and queer people. The app is used by men of all ages, as long as they are over the age of 18 – a policy enforced by the app. Grindr is also not limited to men that are “out of the closet”; men who are questioning their sexuality and/or identify as “discreet” or “closeted” can use the app as well.

How does Grindr work?

Each Grindr user has a profile with personal information, focusing on physical features like their height, weight, ethnicity, and body type. A user’s profile also displays their relationship status, current HIV status, and their “tribe”. A tribe is a filter that lets users identify themselves with a specific group within the gay community like clean-cut, twink, bear, and geek. These preferences let users specify their searches and find their preferred type of man. These features let men easily find what they are looking for, but they also contribute to the app’s overtly sexual nature since the filtering is done primarily by physical preference.  

Galassi, Josh. “Should I Include That I Am Disabled in My Dating Profile?” Queerty*, Queerty, 15 Sept. 2017, www.queerty.com/include-disabled-dating-profile-20170917.

Hook-up culture and stereotypes in the gay community

Outside and even within the LGBT community, there’s an inaccurate but established stereotype that homosexual men are rather promiscuous and heavily active in today’s “hook-up culture”. A hookup is defined as sexual behaviors that take place outside of a monogamous relationship to meet one’s sexual needs. These behaviors include oral sex and penetrative sex with a partner. Hook-up culture both encourages and normalizes sexual encounters without a long-term commitment or emotional attachment. Grindr and its users have created its own culture of hooking up. And individuals outside of the LGBT community are already apt to believe that gay men have higher levels of casual sex – especially in the wake of today’s hookup culture. The 1980s HIV/AIDS epidemic initiated a great deal of the gay sexual stereotypes that exist today.

“Meryl Streep Face - A Flaky Promiscuous Gay? Gro...” Memegenerator.net, memegenerator.net/instance/75077896/meryl-streep-face-a-flaky-promiscuous-gay-groundbreaking.

However, not every gay or bisexual man is sexually active, let alone sexually promiscuous, which disproves the largest misconception behind these stereotypes. Though, the fact that Grindr is popularly used and widely known to be a means for gay men to easily locate and obtain casual sex partners helps to perpetuate the stigma surrounding the LGBT community’s sexual behaviors. Ultimately, gay, bisexual, and queen men’s actual use for Grindr further pushes this inaccurate stereotype when the app’s societal influence could instead be used to shatter this myth.

In what ways does Grindr reinforce gay stereotypes?

Grindr has some additional features that seem to inadvertently encourage casual sex amongst its users. For example, the instant messaging feature helps in creating Grindr’s hook up culture. In their messages, users can send pictures that tend to go beyond the typical selfie and are usually sexually explicit. The slang popularized by Grindr messaging has also helped in forming the app’s culture of casual sex. Some of the lingo are words like “host”, which is asking if the individual can host the sex partner(s) at his home or “safe”, a way to see if the person wants to use a condom or another safe sex method (Engle). At the end of the day, the frequent and popular use of Grindr and its features have allowed a culture of hooking up to permeate the LGBT community and thrive. The fact that the app is mostly used exclusively for casual sexual behaviors inaccurately implies that homosexual men are more promiscuous.

So, what now?

Grindr has revolutionized physical interaction among gay men as it allows them to easily filter through and find sexual partners.  Although Grindr serves to connect gay men with one another, its actual use goes beyond a networking outlet to an app with a thriving culture of casual sex. This reality further strengthens the social belief that exists both inside and outside of the LGBT community that homosexual men are hypersexual and promiscuous. To a certain extent, Grindr does pose benefits for the gay community as it truly does connect gay, bisexual, and queer men with one another. However, the negative social impact and stigma (that again, isn’t necessarily new) that is associated with the LGBT community continue to exist due to Grindr’s use and popularity does make the app slightly problematic. Even though Simkhai can’t control all of Grindr’s consumers and their intentions for using it, he can control the impact it creates for the rest of the general public, and he should of course consider the implications that his app has for the LGBT community in doing that (Tadich). Grindr is an extremely influential app and Simkhai and the rest of the Grindr team should examine ways in which their app can educate and influence those outside of the LGBT community to help eliminate the established stereotypes about gay men that have existed for so long.

Works Cited

            “About Grindr.” App - Privacy Policy, www.grindr.com/about/.

Beck, Julie. “The Rise of Dating-App Fatigue.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 27 Oct. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/10/the-unbearable-exhaustion-of-dating-apps/505184/.

Engle, Clyde. “10 Things I Learned About Gay Hook-Up Culture From My Day On Grindr.” Elite Daily, Elite Daily, 17 Dec. 2018, www.elitedaily.com/dating/gay-hook-up-culture-grindr/1354315

Salemo, Robert. “Twenty Questions for Grindr Creator Joel Simkhai.” Xtra, 28 July 2011, www.dailyxtra.com/twenty-questions-for-grindr-creator-joel-simkhai-33729

Tadich, Paul. “The IPhone Revolutionized Gay Hookup Culture.” Motherboard, VICE, 27 June 2017, www.motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/bj84b8/iphone-anniversary-grindr-gay-hookup-culture