A lot of dating sites have developed apps for smartphones and tablets that are aimed at helping their members get in touch, but few apps have proved as popular or contentious as Grindr. Grindr has captured the hearts of gay men around the world, and has a reported user base of some 150000 men in Sydney alone.
So it’s perhaps no surprise that sooner or later someone was going to start writing about it, and “The Grindr Guide” by Damien Dunstan, concentrates on those fun-loving Sydney guys. It’s fascinating watching – both sexy and quirky, but also in how it looks at serious issues like racism, sexual health and self-esteem here in Australia.
The web series confronts the perceived stigma of Grindr’s reputation as a hook-up app head on, and as Dunstan reports, they found people using the app for all sorts of reasons that weren’t immediately apparent. Just as with our site here, they found people using the app to just make friends, or as the start point for a more traditional dating experience.
On further investigation, we’ve also found people using Grindr as a means of making business connections too – and then of course there’s also the significant proportion of people who do use it purely for no strings casual sex.
It all goes to show how people can and do find any number of uses for apps and services that are far and away more complex and varied than you might expect when setting them up. If there’s one thing that providing a service online has shown us, it’s that you’re all far more varied and interesting than even our imaginations might have hoped for – and that we’re proving a hit to help people get in touch that might never even have considered each other if they walked past each other in the street.
The Grindr Guide is a fascinating and entertaining series whether you’re gay, straight or something in the middle and can be found on YouTube. Go have a look, and be entertained.