Vol 6, Number 1, 2008
pp: 14-33 index
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Dating & Intimacy in the 21st Century: The Use of Online Dating Sites in Australia

Authors: Millsom Henry-Waring and Jo Barraket

Abstract

This article examines the growing phenomenon of online dating and intimacy in the 21st century. The exponential rise of communications technologies, which is both reflective and constitutive of an increasingly networked and globalized society, has the potential to significantly influence the nature of intimacy in everyday life. Yet, to date, there has been a minimal response by sociologists to seek, describe and understand this influence. In this article, we present some of the key findings of our research on online dating in Australia, in order to foster a debate about the sociological impacts on intimacy in the postmodern world. Based on a web audit of more than 60 online dating sites and in-depth interviews with 23 users of online dating services, we argue that recent global trends are influencing the uptake of online technologies for the purposes of forming intimate relations. Further, some of the mediating effects of these technologies – in particular, the hypercommunication – may have specific implications for the nature of intimacy in the global era.

Keywords: Dating; intimacy; technology
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About the Authors

Millsom Henry-Waring is a lecturer in Sociology in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include: identity, difference & Otherness, especially notions of visibility, Blackness and whiteness; questions of belonging, specifically the resettlement of migrants and refugees in the Australian context; intimacy in the 21st century and the social implications of new technologies.

Dr Jo Barraket is a senior lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include: the socio-political effects of online technologies; community economic development and the social economy; and the role of the third sector in an era of network governance.

 

International Journal of Emerging Techologies and Society © 2008 Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology spacer