Gay communities are not all the same around the world. It kind of is part of the problem, grindr applies an insensitive one size fits all model. US gay culture prevalent in grindr pushes promiscuity, distorted body images and sex centered stereotypes. It used to be that the app was simply a proximity chat with basic profiles. This was a safe haven for gay men in homophobic cultures that needed a way to identify, contact and interact with other gay men without fear of violence or discrimination. Yes, it was about sex, but it was about sex as a reactionary channel for frustrated desires for human contact and emotional connection.
Today it is so enshittified and has added so many anti features that it has shifted to be the opposite. It has turned into a harassment machine, that frustrates and enrages users in an attempt to make them pay money for premium features, that used to be free, or get rid of the new ones that nobody uses. Which signals users to be and act even worse to each other in order to circumvent the exploiting anti features.
Then it also pushes things like penis size obsession, high risk multipartner encounters and unprotected sex, with a high dose of body shaming on the side. All that while showing an ad every 3 seconds (I’m not exaggerating). Without mentioning that it has always been a privacy nightmare, a vector for minor’s abuse, sex work and drug trafficking. With the app owners never doing anything of value to actually protect the users. Grindr has gotten kids and adults raped and murdered before. But it promotes PRep (in countries where the drug is banned because homophobia), so, yay!
I would recommend that you should reflect on how you use the app. The gay community has given me far to much confidence.
Gay communities are not all the same around the world. It kind of is part of the problem, grindr applies an insensitive one size fits all model. US gay culture prevalent in grindr pushes promiscuity, distorted body images and sex centered stereotypes. It used to be that the app was simply a proximity chat with basic profiles. This was a safe haven for gay men in homophobic cultures that needed a way to identify, contact and interact with other gay men without fear of violence or discrimination. Yes, it was about sex, but it was about sex as a reactionary channel for frustrated desires for human contact and emotional connection.
Today it is so enshittified and has added so many anti features that it has shifted to be the opposite. It has turned into a harassment machine, that frustrates and enrages users in an attempt to make them pay money for premium features, that used to be free, or get rid of the new ones that nobody uses. Which signals users to be and act even worse to each other in order to circumvent the exploiting anti features.
Then it also pushes things like penis size obsession, high risk multipartner encounters and unprotected sex, with a high dose of body shaming on the side. All that while showing an ad every 3 seconds (I’m not exaggerating). Without mentioning that it has always been a privacy nightmare, a vector for minor’s abuse, sex work and drug trafficking. With the app owners never doing anything of value to actually protect the users. Grindr has gotten kids and adults raped and murdered before. But it promotes PRep (in countries where the drug is banned because homophobia), so, yay!