Experience and production of oneself on grindr profiles

Abstract

We discuss the idea of "production of oneself" through content present in Grindr-mobile application for finding sexual partners among men. Grindr was the first tool to combine the search for sex via Internet with the mechanism of satellite geolocation, leading to significant changes in the experience of sexuality and public space for men who have sex with men. We developed a cartography in the application, having as initial focus the profile descriptions found in different regions of the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The recurrence of masculinity ideals, devaluation of attributes understood as feminine, references to the logic of the application and negotiation of confidentiality was perceived in the formulation of profiles. We discuss Grindr as a space for discursive reorganizations, which are inserted within the app through the ways in which subjects produce meaning about "who they are" and "what they look for" by using the tool.