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Travel, Tinder and Gender in Digitally Mediated Tourism Encounters

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The Geographies of Digital Sexuality

Abstract

The heightened inclination of tourists to engage in risk-taking behaviour and promiscuity is frequently documented in the tourism literature. There is still much to be learned, however, about how the app-facilitated, sexual encounters that characterise (hetero)sexual lives in a mobile, digital world are becoming a part of tourists’ expected and desired tourism experiences. This chapter draws upon qualitative data from tourists who use the location-aware dating application (app) Tinder, alongside a critical examination of Tinder’s User Interface (UI) and User Experience Design (UXD), to unravel the complexities of the ‘Tinder Tourist’ and the gamified ‘hook-up’ app that both drives and satiates their quest for sexual experiences abroad. Tinder Tourism is a phenomenon which can reveal much about travel and problematic power relations in digitally mediated times.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Karen Barad (2003) defines Intra-action as, “a profound conceptual shift” where a typical “separation between ‘subject’ and ‘object’” are reconceptualised to ensure “relata do not preexist relations; rather, relata within-phenomena emerge through specific intra-actions” (p. 815).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia

    Donna James, Jenna Condie & Garth Lean

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  1. Donna James
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  2. Jenna Condie
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  3. Garth Lean
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Correspondence to Donna James .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada

    Catherine J. Nash

  2. Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia

    Andrew Gorman-Murray

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James, D., Condie, J., Lean, G. (2019). Travel, Tinder and Gender in Digitally Mediated Tourism 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_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6876-9_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6876-9

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