Mobile intimacies? Uncertainty, ambivalence and fluidity in the intimate practices of dating app users in Germany and the UK

Abstract

Research on dating app practices has drawn on a dichotomous conception of love and sex, with users viewed as seeking either casual sex or a committed relationship. Drawing on qualitative interview data with dating app users in Germany and the UK, our analysis suggests the that the love/sex dichotomy fails to fully account for participants’ experiences. We argue that rather than imposing a normative framework, we should recognise the potentiality of movement and openness in app-based dating practices. We also challenge the critique of dating apps as entirely transactional, and instead argue that the emergence of what we identify as ‘mobile’ intimate practices demonstrate the diverse forms that intimacies can take within different relationships.