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Online Dating Practice as a Perfect Example of Interwoven Worlds? Analysis of Communication in Digital and Physical Encounters

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The Geographies of Digital Sexuality

Abstract

This study critically reflects on recent conceptualisations of online dating apps for men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) as a telling example of the hybridisation of virtual and physical spaces. Online dating apps such as Grindr, Tinder, and PlanetRomeo, and websites such as Bullchat, show how physical and digital environments overlap. The authors of this chapter, however, show that while both digital and physical encounters are part of the online dating practice, they each occupy a distinct position in the communication between the men who use these apps for sexual and/or more social meet-ups. Are online dating apps a perfect example of hybridisation of spaces, or a perfect opportunity to study this hybridisation?

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Correspondence to Emiel Maliepaard .

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Maliepaard, E., van Lisdonk, J. (2019). Online Dating Practice as a Perfect Example of Interwoven Worlds? Analysis of Communication in Digital and Physical Encounters. In: Nash, C.J., Gorman-Murray, A. (eds) The Geographies of Digital Sexuality. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6876-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6876-9_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6875-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6876-9

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