Vol 6, Number 1, 2008
pp: 2 - 13  indexspacer
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Imagining Gay Life in the Internet Age or Why I Don’t Internet Date

Author: Robert Reynolds

Abstract

Gay life on the Internet has rapidly expanded over the past decade, leaving some to lament the demise of established forms of gay social life. The Internet as a forum for dating and arranging casual sex has been a particular growth practice in Australian gay life. In this essay, the author reflects on his own experiences of Internet dating in the late 1990s in Sydney, and ponders why he is reluctant to re-enter the world of gay Internet dating. The author draws on social theories of liquid modernity to discuss his ambivalence with Internet dating and online assignations, whilst acknowledging the productive possibilities of virtuality.

Keywords: Gay life; Internet dating; romance; sex; ambivalence; liquid modernity
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About the Author

Robert Reynolds is a historian and ARC Australian Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales. He is the author of From Camp to Queer (2002) and What Happened to Gay Life (2007) as well as edited collections on sexuality, psychoanalysis and history, and psychotherapy. He is in private practice as a psychotherapist in Surry Hills, Sydney.

Contact:r.reynolds@unsw.edu.au

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