Safety and Community Context: Exploring a Transfeminist Approach to Sapphic Relationship Platforms

Abstract

Relationship platforms (e.g., dating apps) are crucial tools for sapphics (trans women, cisgender women, and nonbinary people who are attracted to other sapphics). However, current platforms are not designed in a way that accounts for sapphic lived experience, especially the lived experience of sapphics who hold multiple marginalized identity characteristics. Even on platforms that do exist for sapphics, transgender women and nonbinary people are often subject to discrimination, fetishization, and stigmatization. To aid in the design of platforms that better serve the needs of multiply marginalized sapphics, we engaged a diverse group of 25 sapphics in six rounds of community discussion on key topics for relationship platform design. Based on participant discussions, we identify key challenges when designing for multiply marginalized sapphics around relationship structures, gender and sexuality classification, and safety priorities for interaction. We present two design priorities alongside community-sourced design directions which can help future designers address these challenges: identity-centric safety and community-based information formats.