Immigrants on Grindr: Race, Sexuality and Belonging Online

256 Pages·2019·4.361 MB·English

by  Andrew DJ Shield

Immigrants on Grindr
Race, Sexuality and Belonging Online
Andrew DJ Shield
Immigrants on Grindr
Andrew DJ Shield
Immigrants on Grindr
Race, Sexuality and Belonging Online
Andrew DJ Shield
Leiden University
Leiden, The Netherlands
ISBN 978-3-030-30393-8 ISBN 978-3-030-30394-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30394-5
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To Ib: Livet er ikke det værste man har
A
cknowledgements
I am grateful that the Danish Council for Independent Research contin-
ues to fund truly unfettered research, such as Immigrants on Grindr. This
gratitude extends also from the other participants of the “New Media,
New Intimacies” team, all of whom provided helpful suggestions about
my work over the years: Rikke Andreassen, Maria Christensen-Strynø,
Katherine Harrison, Michael Nebeling Petersen, and Tobias Raun.
I am endlessly indebted to three professors who forever changed
the ways I think: Dagmar Herzog, who taught me how to contextu-
alize and historicize words, images, and ideas; Jan Willem Duyvendak,
who engages with the curious around the world as if they are his clos-
est colleagues; and Mari Jo Buhle, who taught me to look for archives
everywhere.
At Roskilde University’s Department of Communications and Arts,
where much of this book was written, I thank those who provided
thoughtful feedback: Sine Just, Susana Tosca, Kim Schrøder, Randi
Marselis, Jakob Feldt, Garbi Schmidt, Marie Brobeck, Julie Uldam, and
Mostafa Shehata.
A number of supremely sharp and generous scholars across the globe
also took time to read and discuss parts of this book: Nicholas Boston,
Sharif Mowlabocus, Sara Louise Muhr, Florence Villesèche, Alexander
Dhoest, Lukasz Szulc, Marlou Schrover, Nancy Baym, Tarleton
Gillespie, Stefanie Duguay, Kaarina Nikunen, Debra Ferreday, Gavan
Titley, Annette Markham, Sarah Hackett and Kate O’Riordan: I am hon-
ored to have met and worked with you throughout this process. I’m also
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viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
grateful for the ongoing conversations with Ann Wilson, Jens Rydström,
Peter Edelberg, Gert Hekma, Mattias Duyves, and Fahad Saeed.
To my high-school guidance counselor, Mel Butarro, who ran our
Gay-Straight Alliance: did you know you were effectively my first teacher
of queer studies?
To my mother, sister, and grandmother—Diane Juster, Emily AJ Shield
and Judith Jaffe Juster—who amaze me with their energy, involvement and
curiosity; to other loving family throughout the world: Chris, Henry, Maya,
Nora; Britt, Aage; Jay, Dani, Rowan; cousins near and far; Madeleine,
Michelle, Henning, Andrews, Veninderne, and so many other lovelies:
thank you! And of course, to Ib, du er det beste jeg vet…
c
ontents
1 “We all have a responsibility… to save them”:
Immigrants, Gays, and Those Caught in Between 1
2 “The glittering future of a new invention”:
Historicizing Grindr Culture 27
3 “Remember that if you choose to include information
in your public profile … that information
will also become public”: Methods and Ethics
for Online, Socio-Sexual Fieldwork 71
4 “I was staying at the camp, and I met this guy
on Grindr, and he asked me to move in with him”:
Tourists, Immigrants, and Logistical Uses
of Socio-Sexual Media 111
5 “Tend to prefer sane, masculine, caucasian
(no offense to other flavours though)”:
Racial-Sexual Preferences, Entitlement,
and Everyday Racism 143
ix
x CONTENTS
6 “White is a color, Middle Eastern is not a color”:
Drop-Down Menus, Racial Identification,
and the Weight of Labels 185
7 “Vi hygger os!”: Challenging Socio-Sexual Online
Cultures (Conclusions) 227
Index 241
A A
bout the uthor
Andrew DJ Shield is Assistant Professor at Leiden University, where
he specializes in sexuality, migration, and diversity studies. He is the
author of Immigrants in the Sexual Revolution, and co-founder of the
Leiden Queer History Network. He lives and bikes in Amsterdam and
Copenhagen.
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