‘I do like girls, I promise’: Young bisexual women’s experiences of using Tinder

Abstract

Mobile phone dating applications (dating apps) are a pervasive means of finding intimate partners, with Tinder as the most popular interface globally. Although this app is largely marketed towards heterosexuals, members of the queer community also utilise it. Since its inception, the internet has been very useful for non-heterosexuals seeking contact with others from their community, due to the safety and anonymity it affords them. When it comes to the internet and intimacy-seeking within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer community, bisexual women have received very limited scholarly attention. Tinder, too, has not yet received a great deal of psychological examination. To address these omissions, in this paper we examine the experiences of eight bisexual women who were interviewed in-depth about their Tinder use in New Zealand. The interview data were thematically analysed and three themes identified: Tinder as not (queer) woman friendly; the (un)safety of Tinder; and virtual (un)reality. We discuss these themes and conclude that within this domain of technologically mediated intimacies, an intersection of heteronormative, biphobic, and gendered power relations profoundly shape bisexual women’s experiences of using Tinder.