boys, grab your fishing lines and ford F1-50’s. ladies, grab some full-coverage foundation and a top with a flattering neckline… it’s time to update your Hinge profile!

in this episode, we discuss the trials and tribulations of searching for love in the digital age. join a chronic dating app enjoyer (grace) and a passionate anti-dating app advocate (me) as we investigate the social consequences of free-market Tinder capitalism, the heterosexual hellscape of sexual economic theory, and the cruel optimism of Hinge AKA “the dating app designed to be deleted.”

bibliography

Berlant, Lauren. “Introduction: Affect in the Present.” Cruel Optimism. Duke University Press, 2011.

Ghodsee, Kristen R. “Capitalism Between The Sheets: On Sex (Part 1).” Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence. Bold Type Books, 2018.

Willis Aronowitz, Nona. “An Old Male Revolt in a New Disguise.” Bad Sex: Truth, Pleasure, and an Unfinished Revolution. Plume, 2022.

Wood, Rachel. “Chapter Two - Consumer Sex: Technologies of the Self.” Consumer Sexualities: Women and Sex Shopping. Routledge, 2018.