Grdr was a safe space for gay men. Its HIV stat leak betrayed | Brian Moylan | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY DATG APP GRDR SAYS SHARED HIV STAT OF ERS
• GRDR WAS A SAFE SPACE FOR GAY MEN. ITS HIV STAT LEAK BETRAYED
• HOW GRDR, A POPULAR GAY DATG APP, POS EXPLOATN RISK TO MORS

GAY DATG APP GRDR SAYS SHARED HIV STAT OF ERS

Employe at the gay hookup app Grdr announced Thursday that they had lnched a unn. I also realize that some (aka not gay male) people might not be faiar wh Grdr, so maybe this article will expla a b. I hope this helps some gays out, and if you're not gay, strap yourselv for the IS NOT TINDERIf you picture Tr's terface like a filtratn system, image Grdr like wadg through a swamp wh no sho on.

Or they uld jt be a sexy algorhm that isn't gog to satisfy your lonels is my iend Brent talkg to a gay robot GET USED TO REJECTIONIf I see someone I want to hook up wh, I'll ually msage them first. Grdr was lnched a ago as a way for gay men to meet, and not jt for dner and a movie.

Whether ’s teenagers beg groomed by other men or dividuals g the app to feed to their unhealthy pg mechanisms, the culture on Grdr, as well as gay hookup culture general, needs ser change. Even Troye Sivan opened up on his unfortable experience on Grdr to The New Yorker, “One of s tracks [on Sivan’s send album], ‘Seventeen, ’ is based on an experience mon to young gay men but rarely talked about.

GRDR WAS A SAFE SPACE FOR GAY MEN. ITS HIV STAT LEAK BETRAYED

Acrdg to Jack Turban, a gay psychiatrist, “Grdr, tentnally or not, also leverag a psychologil ncept lled variable rat rercement, which rewards for clickg e at unpredictable tervals. As a rult, men start to see each other as objects stead of human begs, which also rults the prejudic and racism wh the gay datg muny.

In fact, the unhealthy e of gay datg apps may keep gay men om fdg lastg long-term relatnships. The gay datg app Grdr says shared s ers' HIV stat wh two pani, a practice vowed to halt amid ncerns about data privacy. Gay men have always need safe spac, somewhere they uld ngregate whout fear of stigma and judgment or, even more sentially, persecutn and vlence.

Over the past several s, those spac were more often than not gay bars and clubs, where gay men flocked to be themselv a way that wasn’t always possible “pole society”. The fact that there were also sr of men at those tablishments lookg for sual enunters wasn’t jt a bon, was often the entire better or worse, the digal age the safe space where many gay men are fdg that muny (and sexual) nnectn is on Grdr, one of a host of mobile “datg” apps that sorts ers based on their proximy to one another.

HOW GRDR, A POPULAR GAY DATG APP, POS EXPLOATN RISK TO MORS

After all, people are already tradg pictur of ls visible parts of their anatomy; disclosg HIV stat requir ls fs and perspective than a good shot of the meat and like s precursors Manhunt and Gaydar, Grdr has a field each profile where ers n let people know if they are HIV-posive or negative. Wh the advent of PrEP and “treatment as preventn”, gay men are the midst of a new sexual revolutn where havg disrdant stat (or a posive guy hookg up wh a negative guy) isn’t walkg the tightrope like once was, always fearg that the ndom might break. Bee of that and the hard work of gay and HIV activists, the stigma about datg and havg sex wh posive dus is certaly lseng, pecially among gay men.

Acrdg to a YouGov study last year, 39% of people would be unfortable datg someone who is HIV posive, but only 14% of gay men and lbians would of the advanc make Grdr’s data sharg even more worrisome. The reason many men feel fortable postg their stat unrneath a picture of themselv (sometim wh their face, sometim jt om thighs to neck wearg a Speedo) is bee Grdr is nsired to be for gay men only.