Current Projects

1. When politics meet love: Political orientation and dating life

In selecting a romantic partner, we often take into consideration our potential partner’s values. From March 2019, Hong Kong society has been divided into the so-called yellow ribbons and blue ribbons. Yellow stands for anti-establishment/Chinese government/Hong Kong police force while blue stands for pro-establishment/Chinese government/Hong Kong police force. How does this political divide affect dating app use and dating preferences? In the first phase of research, through in-depth interviews with self-identified yellow dating app users, I examine their app behaviors in relations to their political attitudes. The results of the interviews have been published in Personal Relationships. A follow-up survey was conducted in 2022 Q3, examining how moral concern, utopianism, and communication competence are related to politics-based dating.

2. Social media and dating app use among gay and bisexual men in East Asia

Many studies on MSM’s use of social media and dating apps are based in the Global North, and rarely are cross-cultural comparisons conducted. This project collected survey data from gay and bisexual men in three Asian regions: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. Although these regions are on the same continent, societal attitudes toward and legal recognition of same-sex relationships vary. This project is interested in how various social and cultural specificities influence gay and bisexual men’s use of social media and dating apps. Three specific research questions are posed in this study: (1) How are dating apps used differently in these regions? (2) How does the sexting practice vary across the three regions? (3) How are dating apps shaping gay and bisexual men’s views of their bodies?