Challenges and opportunities for sex on social media during COVID-19

Join the Centre for Intimate and Sexual Citizenship and Dr Emily van der Nagel for an insightful seminar on the challenges and opportunities for sex on social media during COVID-19.

Dr Emily van der Nagel is a Lecturer in Social Media in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She researches social media identities, cultures, platforms, and intimacies. Her first book, Sex and Social Media, co-authored with Associate Professor Katrin Tiidenberg, was published by Emerald in 2020. 

In 2020, the contexts in which we find, talk about, and engage in sex have changed. Flirting, nude pics, hookups, and dating have all taken on different dynamics as the world shifted to slow the spread of COVID-19. In Melbourne, Australia, the city has been in some form of lockdown since March. So how have people negotiated their intimate lives over social media?

This webinar builds on the arguments against the deplatforming of sex that Katrin Tiidenberg and Emily van der Nagel set out in their book, Sex and Social Media. What’s changed for social media sex in the face of the global pandemic? Emily will present some initial survey and interview results that demonstrate that there are new opportunities for sex, alongside challenges – both emerging and deeply entrenched.

This seminar is part of an open seminar series, hosted by CISC.  To discover more please visit the Centre for Intimate and Sexual Citizenship and follow the Centre on Twitter.