Abstract
AbstractResearch across the social sciences testifies to an ongoing relationship between queerness and digital technology. This article tracks how different online spaces for queer menhave changed as the internet has developed over the past 30 years. It argues that queer spaces have become increasingly dominated by, and predicated on, internet technology. I review early interpretations of cyberspace as a liberatory space freed from heteronormativity and later more critical assessments of its potential, positioning arguments for and against the internet's status as a protective space. I then evaluate the huge popularity of mobile phone‐based dating and hook‐up apps such as Grindr and Tinder. These platforms have developed from static desktop offerings including Gaydar and PlanetRomeo, but emphasise a distinctly hybridised socio‐technical experience in partner seeking. Finally, I consider the impact of locative media on more traditional queer concepts of cruising and community, concluding that contemporary apps refigure both structures in distinctive ways reflecting larger changes in sexuality and space studies.
Highlights
This article argues that in the 30 years since the World Wide Web was developed, internet technology has influenced and shaped queer spaces more than any other single factor
Riffing on the title of John Edward Campbell's influential 2004 study Getting It On Online: Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality, and Embodied Identity, this article tracks the history of queer male online spaces over the past 30 years through their relationships with different digital technologies
From the birth of the World Wide Web to contemporary mobile phone‐enabled dating apps, I review a sometimes united, sometimes disparate queer male culture deeply influenced by its changing enrolment in a range of different socio‐technical assemblages
Summary
This article argues that in the 30 years since the World Wide Web was developed, internet technology has influenced and shaped queer spaces more than any other single factor. I conclude that these locative digital media occupy a distinctive position in the history of queer technologies and signal a shift in how gay male online spaces are both conceptualised and experienced.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
