Description
This project explores how young LGBTQ+ adults in Italy and Australia experience safety, trust, and vulnerability in dating apps and digital intimate spaces. It examines how they assess whether dating platforms feel safe, inclusive, and affirming, and how these perceptions shape their ways of connecting, flirting, sharing personal information, and arranging offline encounters.
The project also focuses on the strategies LGBTQ+ young adults use to feel safer online, including selective self-presentation, careful profile management, blocking and reporting, checking mutual connections, moving conversations across platforms, sharing location with friends, and setting boundaries around disclosure, images, and meetings. By comparing Italy and Australia, the project highlights both shared practices and context-specific challenges in LGBTQ+ digital dating cultures.
