Unsafe dating

Originally posted on http://sexandtherecession.co.uk

Since the recession hit we’ve all had to curb our spending and something that seems to have become a thing of the past is dating, most probably due to the amount of money it costs to actually attend said dates. Due to this as I mentioned in my last blog, hook ups on mobile phone apps seem to have become increasingly popular.

But with the internet and mobile phone apps increasing in popularity due to their accessibility, it leaves us with the question; has the recession and in turn it’s savior, the internet, made dating unsafe?

It appears that dating companies have latched on to the fact that people can’t afford to go out as much these days, which narrows their chances of finding dates and then sex. So now we are constantly bombarded on a daily basis by advertisements offering us free subscriptions and free trials in order for us to sign up to the latest internet dating fads such as Match.com and plentyoffish.

These websites fill the gap and offer us dating at our fingertips, which could lead to a relationship and plenty of sex, or even just a one-night stand. But in this climate, with sex lives feeling the pinch, who’s complaining?

Well it appears that many people are complaining due to spate of news features over the last few years on the perils of internet dating, which have seen people killed in the worst case scenario.

But is this simply the case now, that because of the recession and our apparent lack in contact with other people due to it, are we becoming more careless?

Just think about it we don’t know these people we’ve met, our friends most likely haven’t so they can’t warn us about them and do they really look like their picture? We believe these people because we have no other choice as without these portals to dating and sex we probably wouldn’t get any due to the constraints on our wallets at the moment.

It appears that in the gay world online dating is a place to find dates or sex and it can be a very dangerous place, especially with some of the people you come across on them.

In my next piece I will be taking a closer look at Gaydar, the popular online dating website for gay men, to see just what this website entails and just how safe it is.

Are we grinding differently?

Originally posted on www.sexandtherecession.co.uk

Since the recession hit back in late 2008 everyone in the country has been tightening those purse strings and holding on to their money tighter than ever.

This however hasn’t come without its setbacks. With people now limiting their expenditure on luxuries such as new clothes, shoes and dining out they have almost become a thing of the past for many people, even everyone’s Saturday nights out have become a victim of the recession and in turn so have their sex lives.

With casual sex no longer being a taboo, in facts it’s far from it with most friendship groups discussing it in the hope they sound oh so Sex and the City, a Saturday night out is where thousands of people around the country get their rocks off with the nearest person on the dance floor. However with these nights out being cut back on considerably, many people who once enjoyed a carefree casual sex life have seen it dwindle dramatically.

Gay men in particular have often been considered as having extremely care free and casual sex lives and in the wake of the recession, with the fear of cut backs on nights out arising, a new creation for the smartphone generation emerged … Grindr.

Grindr is a geosocial-networking app that gay and bisexual men can use to find other gay and bisexual men in a close proximity, in other words they can use it to find the closest quickie. That’s right,Grindr has helped cut out the middle man, in this case the middle man being the club and the alcohol, and has allowed gay men the world over to access sex at the click of a button.

So Grindr has seemingly emerged to save the sex lives of gay men everywhere, after all there are now over two million people using it in 192 across the globe. So even though the recession has hit and people are suffering and cutting back on luxuries, thanks to a free app for most smartphones, the iPod and iPad gay men can still enjoy the free pleasure that is sex.

Many people I know have used this app and continue to use it everyday and their reasons for doing it? It’s quick, easy and best of all free, showing us that the recession has not only hit our bank balances and sex lives, it has also changed the way we approach sex and dating.

There isn’t a version for straight people yet, but with the popularity of Grindr and the way it’s expanding around the world, along with the never ending recession and cut backs and not forgetting our newly developed approaches to dating, it won't be long before everyone is grinding in a completely different way.