Covid intimacies: Resilience and viral safety among LGBT and heterosexual people using dating apps in the COVID-19 era

  • Heaphy, Brian (PI)
  • Garcia Iglesias, Jaime (CoI)
  • Burke, Hazel (Support team)
  • Turner, Christine (Support team)
  • Chandola, Tarani (CoI)
  • Nuñez Salazar, Isabel (Researcher)
  • Yodovich, Neta (Researcher)

Project Details

Description

This project will examine lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans (LGBT+) and heterosexual people's use of online dating apps to negotiate intimacy during and after COVID 19 lockdowns and social distancing.

We will explore how people used dating apps to start or maintain relationships (including sexual and romantic relationships, and friendships) and how these relationships affect personal resilience. Our data will help us understand how apps can support our emotional and personal needs, and whether they can offer a safer way to be intimate with others at times of high viral risk.

We will investigate the different ways in which LGBT and heterosexual people's intimate lives have been affected by the social restrictions linked to the pandemic. Can dating apps be a place for new kinds of intimacy, and does this in turn help users be more resilient in difficult times? And do apps encourage or discourage behaviour that increases viral risk.

Our data will combine a national online survey with in-depth online qualitative interviews.

We will be working with service providers and community representatives and welcome enquiries from collaborators.
Short titleDating app connections: Intimacies before, during and after COVID19
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/05/2230/09/24

UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This project contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality

Keywords

  • dating apps
  • gender
  • sexuality
  • digital intimacies
  • online relationships
  • personal connections
  • personal life
  • sexual health
  • intimate relationships
  • COVID-19

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