The Politics of Dating Apps

An examination of dating app culture in China, across user demographics--straight women, straight men, queer women, and queer men.

In this exploration of dating app culture in China, Lik Sam Chan argues that these popular mobile apps are not merely a platform for personal relationships but also an emerging arena for gender and queer politics. Chan examines the opportunities dating apps present for women's empowerment and men's performances of masculinity, and he links experiences of queer dating app users with their vulnerable position as sexual minorities. He finds that dating apps are both portals to an exciting virtual world of relational possibilities and sites of power dynamics that reflect the heteronormativity and patriarchy of Chinese society.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
NOTES ON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION xi
1 INTRODUCTION: DATING APPS HAVE POLITICS, TOO 1
2 ARE DATING APPS A FEMINIST TOOL? A TECHNOFEMINIST ANALYSIS 29
3 CUTE IS THE NEW MANLY: PERFORMANCE OF CHINESE MASCULINITIES 53
4 CYCLES OF UNINSTALLING AND REINSTALLING: CONTRADICTORY AFFECTS IN GAY APP USE 75
5 BUILDING A CIRCLE FOR QUEER WOMEN: AFFORDANCE OF COMMUNAL CONNECTIVITY 97
6 CONCLUSION: EMERGENCE OF NETWORKED SEXUAL PUBLICS 119
APPENDIX: METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTION 131
NOTES 147
REFERENCES 155
INDEX 181“Chan’s innovative research connects everyday digital media uses to China’s larger issues of gender, sexual, and queer politics. Taking neither a utopian nor a pessimistic stance, he unpacks the multiplicity of dating apps’ political and social effects on both marginalized groups and those in power. More importantly, this study precipitates further questions about dating apps’ potential to challenge heteronormativity, and to create space for marginalized individuals, in a society with shrinking room for feminist and queer politics.”—Current History“The Politics of Dating Apps offers an expansive study of Chinese dating culture. Chan’s research spans demographic boundaries, offering fresh insights into the infrastructures of intimacy at work in the PRC today.”
—Sharif Mowlabocus, Associate Professer, Fordham University; author of Gaydar Culture
 
 
“Chan’s empirically rich and theoretically nuanced exploration of dating apps in China illuminates how they have changed the landscape of romantic relationships for men and women of all sexual orientations.”
—Larry Gross, Professor of Communication, USC Annenberg School; editor of International Journal of Communication
 
“In-depth, comprehensive, and inspiring, this book explains how rapid technological changes have transformed the ways the Chinese negotiate gender identity and sexual desires online using dating apps.”
—Susanne Choi, coauthor of Masculine Compromise: Migration, Family and Gender in ChinaLik Sam Chan is Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.