This article provides an overview of the research on online dating and meeting practices among MSM, identifying recurring themes and gaps. To address this topic, the article later reports on a mixed-methods study on the use of dating and meeting sites and applications between different generations of Belgian MSM. This study aims to explore the heuristic value of a generational perspective to better capture the diversity and evolution of online dating among MSM. The survey asked questions such as how many sexual partners they have had since graduating from high school, how many sexual partners per year, and how many times a week they have sex.
According to Bogle, many men believed that women were often dedicated or had an underlying motive to seek a situation similar to a sexual relationship. Like the millennials, Generation Z participants talked about a learning process consisting of testing different applications and exploring their possibilities. He continued to use these sites and apps at the time of the interview, even though he was in a relationship, as did many of the other participants, who had also found their partner through these same sites and apps. Despite focusing on positive outcomes, Miller also observed negative feelings related to the use of these apps, such as vulnerability, anxiety, boredom, sexual unworthiness, loneliness and frustration.
Generation X participants often expressed mixed feelings about dating and hookup sites and apps, quite a few commenting on the lack of personal contact and the one-sided focus on sex. Unlike previous generations, Generation Z participants grew up with mobile access to social networks and applications, so the use of dating and dating apps came naturally to them. In addition, studies have shown that higher alcohol consumption is associated with greater sexual activity over the course of a relationship. The latter is often defined in terms of hegemonic masculinity in dating and hookup apps that are the site of regulations and exclusion based on body type, age, race, etc.
Freitas believes that the lessons taught by the culture of sexual relationships have set students back, who often have little dating experience and, as a result, few skills in asking a romantic partner out. This article explores how different generations view and approach casual sex within a hookup context. It offers a more “mobile” view of online dating with the goal of doing justice to changes in later MSM cohorts as well as in people's lifespan. It also takes into account changes in social scripts, new patterns of development and the intercultural and biological centrality of the couple's bond.
Adolescents' occasional attitudes toward sex reflect their confusion about what normal behavior is. The themes of books, movies and television programs demonstrate a permissive sexuality among consumers. Instead of courting at home under the watchful eye of their parents, young adults left home and were able to explore their sexuality more freely. Overall, this article does not intend to objectify generations as fixed entities with clear borders but rather explores how different generations view and approach casual sex within a hookup context.
Leave Reply