Digital Intimacies: Queer Men and Smartphones in Times of Crisis

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Description

Queer mens cultures of intimacy have long been sites of fierce contestation. Indeed, debates have raged for decades over issues such as monogamy, safer sex, sexual racism and gay marriage. The introduction of the smartphone in 2008 only intensified these debates whilst also raising a further set of questions which are explored in this open access book.

Through interviews with a diverse group of 43 queer men about their smartphone mediated intimacies, Digital Intimacies reveals that queer men use their smartphones, not simply to arrange intimate encounters, but more specifically to gain a sense of control over the parts of their intimate lives that make them feel most vulnerable. For instance, some use messaging apps to gain a sense of control over intimate conversations that they feel too vulnerable to have in person. Others use the block function on dating apps to feel in control of the racism and transphobia they are vulnerable to on these apps.

Digital Intimacies therefore illuminates not only hitherto underexplored aspects of queer mens cultures of intimacy but crucially also brings into view previously obscured cultural dynamics, gaining insight into the historical moments in which they occur.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by UKRI.

Reviews

Digital Intimacies offers a conceptually sophisticated and politically timely contribution to the digital media studies, queer theory, and cultural studies Compelling and necessary read. * Studies on Asia *
Rather than simply cataloguing the opportunities and challenges that mobile phones present for gay men's intimacy, Digital Intimacies provides an insightful dual framework of vulnerability and control that illuminates the intricacies of digital intimacy within the context of post-neoliberal times. * Lik Sam Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong *
This is an important and deeply affecting book. It not only illuminates the ways in which the smartphone is changing experiences and practices of intimacy among queer men, but also locates vulnerability at the centre of a new understanding of intimate life. Situated against the devastating crises of contemporary capitalism including Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Windrush scandal Digital Intimacies: Queer Men and Smartphones in Times of Crisis represents nothing less than a bold and original attempt to define the contours of a post-neoliberal conjuncture. Social research at its finest. * Rosalind Gill, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK *
This book represents an essential contribution to the study of queer men and their complex relationships with their smartphones, as well as to broader discussions about digitally-mediated desires and politics. It is meticulously researched and deftly blends theory with the foregrounding of lived experiences, offering profound insights into the intersections of technology, identity, and our global crisis ordinary. * Shaka McGlotten, Purchase College, State University of New York, USA *

Author Bio

Jamie Hakim is Lecturer in culture, media and creative industries, Kings College, London, UK. His research interests lie at the intersection of digital culture, intimacy, embodiment and care. His previous book Work That Body: Male Bodies in Digital Culture was published in 2019.

Ingrid Young is Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society at the University of Edinburgh, UK. She is a medical sociologist who is particularly interested in how experiences of and inequalities across gender, sexualities, race and technologies shape sexual health and wellbeing.

James Cummings is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of York, UK. He uses ethnographic and interview methods to explore relationships between gender, sexuality, being and living and how these play out in everyday social and material settings, as well as over life courses. James is the author of The Everyday Lives of Gay Men in Hainan: Sociality, Space and Time (2022).