Safety, Risk and Wellbeing on Dating Apps: Final Report

By Kath Albury, Paul Byron, Anthony McCosker, Tinonee Pym, Jarrod Walshe, Kane Race, Doreen Salon, Tim Wark, Jessica Botfield, Daniel Reeders, Christopher Dietzel

The rise of dating apps generates a number of issues regarding cultures of health and wellbeing, including risks of sexual assault and STI transmission. News reports of sexual privacy breaches (in the form of image-based abuse, or large scale data leaks), along with harassment, sexual assault and murder have heightened tensions around the use of dating apps. Despite this, little evidence exists regarding the role apps currently play in users’ everyday negotiations of consent, condom use, contraception, personal safety, and other aspects of sexual health and wellbeing.

This project responds to the need to provide more detailed firsthand accounts to better understand the way health, wellbeing and safety are experienced through dating apps.

Melbourne: Swinburne University of Technology, 2019. 46p.