Gendered Affordances of Digital Technology in Mitigating the Perceived Risk of Dating App Matches Perpetrating Sexual Assault or “Making Stories” of Assault

IF 5.5 1区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Social Media + Society Pub Date : 2024-08-12 DOI:10.1177/20563051241269296

Heather Hensman Kettrey, Monika Nwajei, Summer Quinn, Madison Leslie, Elizabeth Paradise, Devyn Wishon

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Dating apps are a popular tool for finding sexual and romantic partners. Yet, these apps can pose risks that arise from gendered affordances of technology that users deploy to harass and victimize their matches, particularly matches who are women or sexual and gender minorities. Just as gendered affordances may facilitate risks, dating app users may also deploy technology in ways that mitigate risk. In this study, we examined risks that men and women perceive dating app matches to pose, as well as ways in which they use technology to mitigate these risks. Through an analysis of focus groups conducted with a sample of college student dating app users, we found the perceived risks that matches pose were markedly different for men and women, particularly among those seeking mixed-gender pairings. Women who matched with men were concerned about being sexually assaulted, whereas men who matched with women were concerned about being falsely accused of assault. Thus, women used gendered affordances to enhance their safety, and men used affordances to enhance their “believability.” We suggest our findings point to the positional and interactional nature of gendered affordances, encompassing ways in which gender inequality may be both maintained and subverted with digital technology.

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数字技术在降低约会软件匹配对象实施性侵犯或 "编造 "侵犯故事的感知风险方面的性别优势

约会应用程序是寻找性伴侣和浪漫伴侣的流行工具。然而，这些应用程序也可能带来风险，这些风险来自于用户利用技术的性别化承受能力来骚扰和伤害他们的匹配对象，尤其是女性或在性和性别上属于少数群体的匹配对象。正如性别化的承受能力可能会助长风险一样，交友软件用户也可能以减轻风险的方式使用技术。在这项研究中，我们考察了男性和女性认为约会应用程序的匹配对象会带来的风险，以及他们使用技术来降低这些风险的方式。通过对大学生交友应用程序用户样本进行焦点小组分析，我们发现男女用户对匹配所带来的风险的感知明显不同，尤其是在寻求男女混合配对的用户中。与男性配对的女性担心受到性侵犯，而与女性配对的男性则担心被诬告侵犯。因此，女性利用性别负担能力来提高自己的安全感，而男性则利用负担能力来提高自己的 "可信度"。我们认为，我们的研究结果表明了性别负担能力的位置性和互动性，包含了性别不平等可能通过数字技术得以维持和颠覆的方式。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Social Media + Society COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

9.20

自引率

3.80%

发文量

111

审稿时长

12 weeks

期刊介绍： Social Media + Society is an open access, peer-reviewed scholarly journal that focuses on the socio-cultural, political, psychological, historical, economic, legal and policy dimensions of social media in societies past, contemporary and future. We publish interdisciplinary work that draws from the social sciences, humanities and computational social sciences, reaches out to the arts and natural sciences, and we endorse mixed methods and methodologies. The journal is open to a diversity of theoretic paradigms and methodologies. The editorial vision of Social Media + Society draws inspiration from research on social media to outline a field of study poised to reflexively grow as social technologies evolve. We foster the open access of sharing of research on the social properties of media, as they manifest themselves through the uses people make of networked platforms past and present, digital and non. The journal presents a collaborative, open, and shared space, dedicated exclusively to the study of social media and their implications for societies. It facilitates state-of-the-art research on cutting-edge trends and allows scholars to focus and track trends specific to this field of study.