Design as sexual practice: The visual culture of social apps and HIV risk in Taiwan

Abstract

This article explores the visual culture of social network applications (apps), using “safer-sex design” as an anchor to contemplate how different practices of looking at HIV co-constitute viral visibility. Drawing on science and technology studies and queer theories, this article traces viral visibility from its digital production through its marketization, and finally to its implications for gay men’s sexual communication in Taiwan. Through interviews with gay Taiwanese men and a social app developer and the visual analysis of Hornet, Grindr, and Scruff, this article describes how the precarity of viruses, knowledge of HIV prevention, and social stigmas against sexual minorities are brought together, staged, and made eligible (and ineligible) for public viewing. This article demonstrates how digital platform designs work to facilitate gay men’s sociosexual communication while ironically reinforcing stigmas against HIV/AIDS in Taiwan, and suggests a critical approach to the visual culture of social apps and queer health.