Dating apps are a popular tool for finding sexual and romantic partners. Yet, these apps can pose risks that arise from gendered affordances of technology that users deploy to harass and victimize their matches, particularly matches who are women or sexual and gender minorities. Just as gendered affordances may facilitate risks, dating app users may also deploy technology in ways that mitigate risk. In this study, we examined risks that men and women perceive dating app matches to pose, as well as ways in which they use technology to mitigate these risks. Through an analysis of focus groups conducted with a sample of college student dating app users, we found the perceived risks that matches pose were markedly different for men and women, particularly among those seeking mixed-gender pairings. Women who matched with men were concerned about being sexually assaulted, whereas men who matched with women were concerned about being falsely accused of assault. Thus, women used gendered affordances to enhance their safety, and men used affordances to enhance their “believability.” We suggest our findings point to the positional and interactional nature of gendered affordances, encompassing ways in which gender inequality may be both maintained and subverted with digital technology.

中文翻译：

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数字技术的性别可供性可降低约会应用程序匹配实施性侵犯或“编造袭击故事”的感知风险


约会应用程序是寻找性伴侣和浪漫伴侣的流行工具。然而，这些应用程序可能会带来风险，这些风险是由于用户部署的技术的性别可供性来骚扰和伤害他们的匹配对象，特别是女性或性少数群体的匹配对象。正如性别可供性可能会增加风险一样，约会应用程序用户也可能以降低风险的方式部署技术。在这项研究中，我们研究了男性和女性认为约会应用匹配所带来的风险，以及他们使用技术来减轻这些风险的方式。通过对大学生约会应用程序用户样本进行的焦点小组分析，我们发现男性和女性对匹配带来的感知风险明显不同，尤其是那些寻求混合性别配对的人。与男性匹配的女性担心遭到性侵犯，而与女性匹配的男性则担心被错误地指控性侵犯。因此，女性利用性别可供性来增强她们的安全性，而男性则利用性别可供性来增强她们的“可信度”。我们认为，我们的研究结果指出了性别可供性的位置和互动性质，包括通过数字技术维持和颠覆性别不平等的方式。