With my preliminary analysis, I find that Grindr men use costly signaling to demonstrate their genetic fitness to potential mates. This is also done by showing body pictures with their abs on display. They want to efficiently show that they can immediately have uncommitted sex with a stranger. Grindr males are more likely to stay anonymous on their profiles than their Tinder counterparts. Anonymous and fast - not for long term matingĬompared to straight men, they are more likely to explicitly state that they are “DTF,” that is, looking for sex or a hookup. They demonstrate that they spend time in the gym and that they take good care of their body. Grindr guys display their physical fitness and use their good looks. This is done to signal positive information about themselves and their genetic fitness to others. Or they briefly mention how important the gym is to them. They tend to show shirtless pictures with abs, large biceps or pictures taken mid workout. What your profile pic says about you in the Tinder ageīut from my observations, the queer men on Grindr use different “costly signals.” Their signals are more likely to be about their physical fitness. Tinder males are likely to signal specific resources or potential for acquiring resources, while women are more likely to signal pro-social behaviours such as benevolence, charitable work or virtue. Many Tinder men portray themselves with an expensive car for example. In my research I found that straight guys on Tinder are more likely to use conspicuous consumption to attract women. Gay men use different signals than straight men to indicate their ‘resources.’ Shutterstock So displaying physical fitness is an honest signal to a healthy lifestyle and good genes. In the same way, good physique and physical fitness cannot be cheated. It is how we know the signal is honest and is not cheating.įor some of us, we may consider an expensive sports car like the Ferrari to be the “peacock’s tail.” If someone wanted to signal access to resources, a Ferrari could be one such signal as resources are needed to obtain a Ferrari.
A higher-quality tail is costly because it requires energy and resources to grow and maintain.Ī costly signal is needed to demonstrate that you are the best match. The quality of the peacock’s tail is an honest signal of the quality of its genetic makeup and fitness. The classic example used to describe this phenomenon is the peacock’s tail. You cannot “cheat” to display this signal. This signal is something that can not be copied. The costly signaling theory suggests that people engage in behaviours that appear to be costly because they want to give an honest signal to a potential mate. The peacock’s tail on Grindr is physical fitness It has been suggested the app has helped queer men who want to stay in the closet or those who are too young to go out to gay adult venues. Grindr is most often referred to as a hookup app because men can meet other men for hookups, seemingly meaningless and often anonymous sex, and move on. Grindr is the largest “networking app for gay, bi, trans and queer people” with 2.4 million worldwide active users. Profile pictures of people around you show up on the screen. While Tinder requires two potential matches to “like” each other simultaneously (“swipe right”) to start a conversation, Grindr gives access to any member to start a conversation with another member nearby. Like Tinder, Grindr is a smart phone app which uses your location to generate potential matches nearby. But Grindr is actually the first geosocial dating app to hit the market in 2009. Tinder is known as having changed the way people date. However, the form of their signal differs. Based on my initial findings, both straight and queer men use “costly signals” to attract a mate.