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Family & Relationships Dating

Sticky, Sexy, Sad

Swipe Culture and the Darker Side of Dating Apps

by (author) Treena Orchard

foreword by Wednesday Martin

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Apr 2024
Category
Dating, Gender Studies, Cultural, Personal Memoirs
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781487549305
    Publish Date
    Apr 2024
    List Price
    $29.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781487551148
    Publish Date
    Mar 2024
    List Price
    $29.95

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Description

Lifelong luddite Treena Orchard was a newly sober woman coming off a much-needed break from relationships, reluctantly taking the digital plunge by downloading a dating app. Instead of the fun, easy experiences advertised on swiping platforms, she discovered endless upkeep, ghosting, fleeting moments of sexual connection, and a steady flow of misogyny.

 

In Sticky, Sexy, Sad, Orchard uses her skills as both an anthropologist who studies sexuality and a sex-positive feminist to explore what it feels like to want love while also resisting the addictive pull of platforms designed to make us swipe-dependent. She asks important questions for those searching for love in the modern era: What are the social and human impacts of using dating apps? How can we maintain our integrity and warm-blooded desire for intimacy while swiping? Can we resist some of the problematic aspects of swipe culture? Is love on dating apps even possible?

 

Revealing how dating apps are powerful social and sexual technologies that are radically transforming sexuality, relationships, and how we think about ourselves, this remarkable book cracks the code of modern romance. Told with humor and vulnerability, Sticky, Sexy, Sad is a riveting and inspiring guide to staying true to ourselves amid the digitization of love in the twenty-first century.

About the authors

Treena Orchard is an anthropologist and associate professor in the School of Health Studies at Western University. She researches and engages in activist debates about sexuality, gender, and health among diverse cultural and digital communities. Deeply committed to public scholarship, she regularly writes for and is featured in leading online publications, including Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, and The Conversation.

Treena Orchard's profile page

Wednesday Martin is a cultural critic and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Primates of Park Avenue and Untrue.

Wednesday Martin's profile page