An article by Centre Communications Officer Cate MacLeod, co-authored with Dr. Vicky McArthur (Carleton University), was published on Monday in Feminist Media Studies.
“The construction of gender in dating apps: an interface analysis of Tinder and Bumble” examines the role of interfaces and design in the way that apps shape users’ ability to effectively communicate their identities and concludes that, while the dating apps Tinder and Bumble do offer opportunities for nuanced gender presentations that are inclusive for trans and non-binary users, the way the apps use gender identification to sort users into potential dating matches favours rigid gender categories and creates expectations for how gender will be expressed.
Cate has been Communications Officer at the CIRHR and the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies since February 2018, and prior to that was a library assistant in the IRHR library (from September 2015) and co-editor of PWR:work&labour news&research (from May 2016). This May, Cate spoke at the CIRA conference in Montreal on the “Sources and Resources for Research in Industrial Relations” roundtable.