Digital Intimacies

I was delighted to be joined by Jamie Hakim and Ingrid Young to talk about their project ‘Digital Intimacies: how gay and bisexual men use their smartphones to negotiate their cultures of intimacy’. We chat about intimacy and why it’s not just what happens in private between two people but actually the connections we depend on for living - be that public or private. The loss of the possibilities for public intimacy was felt keenly by gay and bisexual men, where, as with for a lot of queer folk, counter public spaces were some of the few places they could 'be'. Interviews with participants reveal how smartphones could open up new avenues of intimacy during a pandemic, just as others are closed down. The opportunities for pause and reflection and new relationships, as well as the possibilities for negotiating safer covid safer sex practices. All of this as a counter to the ‘common sense’ and reductive stereotypes about gay and bi men, technology, and sex. This was a super interesting chat and there’s so much in here for everyone to think about and reflect on. Perhaps it might give you some pause for thought about the intimacies that are available to you? How we have managed and continue to manage our relationships via our phones and zooms. What opportunities there might be for forging relationships of comradeship and coalition. Anyway, have a listen and thanks so much to Jamie and Ingrid for coming on and chatting about their excellent project. For the full show check out patreon.com/culturesexrelationships There’s a great presentation from Jamie here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwO5SenCok Also follow the project at https://twitter.com/digintimaciesUK