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Conclusion

I started my project by originally looking at the identities of the Greek Gods and how they are relevant in our modern day society; this led to focusing on Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, and deciding that the modern version of love is Tinder, and Online Dating. Whilst my project appears to have barely changed, realistically it has drastically changed, especially as I have found myself expanding my research in to the inequality of love and sex in our current society (particularly through online dating), and have viewed it from a feminist stance.

My project certainly didn’t lead to where I originally expected - both through research and artwork - but I am more than happy with how it turned out; I love my finished app in particular (which was created as a humorous work of art that takes the mickey out of Tinder, but adds in extra features that allow for girls to feel more safe and less objectified on dating apps through a rating system), and I enjoyed making both a riso, and screenprinted zine, and some screenprinted t-shirts (in which photos are yet to be taken). I feel that I thoroughly experimented with different methods of creating; making an app was entirely new to me, and although I am struggling with my current animation process, I am definitely learning as I go along and challenging myself.

In terms of research, some of what I found out was expected such as the inequality on the apps and the reason for some of the behaviour, as most people my age have experienced it firsthand and it is certainly very common. However there are a few things that I had not originally considered, such as the idea of modernity, and consumerism dictating how our society views love and sex. Ironically before I was more open to online dating; seeing both the positive and negative. However now I view it more negatively as I am being less naive to the inequality; before I could see it and knew about it, but didn’t really think about it. That being said, equality has definitely stepped up in recent times between men and women.

If I were to take this project on, I would perhaps expand my research to be more inclusive of the different types of relationships; mine unintentionally focuses more on Heterosexuality. I could perhaps move forwards with this by including a variety of dating apps and websites, rather than just Tinder. I would also look at research on how homosexual relationships are different in equality through love and sex. Perhaps this would make a huge difference to the project if more factors were included and the research expanded further.

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Here is my animation so far; my animation focuses on modernity and consumerism through love and sex.

Within this animation, a girl has just been broken up with. and so chooses to go shopping for a new boyfriend; she will be looking through rails of guys on hangers. This also is a comparison to online dating, in which it is almost like online shopping or shopping in general as you cast aside people or choose them based on how they look or their bios.

This animation will be completely hand drawn digitally.

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A brief update on t-shirts

As a quick side project, I completed four different designs for t-shirts that showcase some of the pick-up lines that I came across on Tinder earlier in the year when creating my zine. 

I chose to make these as a humorous response to the pick-up lines themselves; the lines are common on online dating but yet it is rare for people to say pick-up lines in reality; these t-shirts are a way of bringing them in to reality.

The shirts didn’t end up quite as well as I hoped, but they still bring the point across that I wanted to, so I consider them a success. For Paul’s class I will be taking better photos of the t-shirts later on.

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Karolina Koryl

I have chosen to briefly look at another artist: Karolina Koryl. Koryl is a young artist aged 22, from Warsaw, Poland.

I have decided to look at Koryl because of the similarity of her art style to my own; the crudeness of drawing; particularly in the eyes of the people that she is drawing. There is also similarity in the disregard to perfect proportions and anatomy, although hers is more obvious and extreme.

I absolutely love the crudeness of her drawings and strange content; they are completely captivating, particularly when she uses various textures and colours. This perhaps is something that I could consider putting in my animation!

“skanowanie0018 {101 drawings from lectures that i have to attend to but i don’t give shit about} AKA everything bothers me” © Karolina Koryl 2018

“so random” © Karolina Koryl 2019

“gu go grl” {101 drawings from lectures that i have to attend to but i don’t give s~~~ about} © Karolina Koryl 2018

“łzy stalina” © Karolina Koryl 2015

“stories” © Karolina Koryl 2017

https://www.instagram.com/karolinakoryl/

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The Transformation of Intimacy – Anthony Giddens (and Liquid Modernity – Zygmunt Bauman)

In relation to my project, I have decided that sociologist Anthony Giddens and his book “The Transformation of Intimacy” would be very relevant and would look further in to the ideas about modern dating that I have look at thus far.

Giddens looks a lot more in to women in the present day and how they perceive themselves in terms of relationships and sexuality; “Women expect to receive, as well as provide, sexual pleasure, and many have come to see a rewarding sex life as a key requirement for a satisfactory marriage… The double standard still exists, but women are no longer tolerant of the view that while men need variety and can be expected to engage in extramarital adventures, they should not behave likewise” (Giddens, 1992, The Transformation Of Intimacy, pg. 12). This shows that women are still having to fight against the inequality of how they are perceived regarding their sexual lives, but that it has become much easier for them to stand up for themselves and that they are aware that they are doing nothing wrong by partaking in sexual acts more often etc. It also suggests that men are still the ones shaming women for being more outgoing in their sexual lives, despite the men themselves always having boasted about their own. In a study completed by Lillian Rubin, she similarly looked at what males opinions on women’s sexual lives were, and it was the exact same that they continue to judge; “She did talk to some boys who were sensitive about connections between sex and commitment, and who resisted the equation of sexual success and male prowess. Most, however, spoke admiringly of male friends who went with lots of girls, while condemning girls who did the same” (Giddens, 1992, The Transformation Of Intimacy, pg. 10). Within the same book but later on, Gidden reinforces the fact that women are very much aware that they have a lot more freedom in love and sex, and shouldn’t feel guilty in doing so. He chose to look at another sociologist named Thompson, who asked girls participating in a survey about their own sexual freedom; “Thompson found that the girls she spoke to did not have to fight to achieve sexual freedom: such freedom exists, and the problem is to make something of it in the face of male attitudes which still carry more than an echo of the past”. Once again, yet another sociologist has put the blame on men for women being judged. But is it fair to conclude that it is only men creating this unequal stereotype? Through my own experiences, some women themselves will turn against one another and shame each other through pettiness or jealousy.

“Women want sex? Yes, for the first tie women collectively, rather than as specialists in an ars erotica, are able to seek out sexual pleasure as a basic component of their lives and their relationships. Men want love? Certainly, they do, despite appearances to the contrary – perhaps more than the majority of women, although in ways that still remain to be looked into” (Giddens, 1992, The Transformation Of Intimacy, pg. 67). Here, Gidden’s recognises that no matter what gender someone is, they will want both love and sex. But this then opens the question as to why it isn’t more obvious that men are looking for love and not just sex. This  question was previously answered by Gidden’s himself earlier in the book; “Men, like women, fall in love and have done so throughout the recorded past. They have also over the last two centuries been influenced by the development of ideals of romantic love, but in a different way from women. Those men who have come too much under the sway of such notions of love have been set apart from the majority as ‘romantics’, in a particular sense of that term. They are, as it were, foppish dreamers, who have succumbed to female power” (Giddens, 1992, The Transformation Of Intimacy, pg. 59). It appears that due to stereotypes and stigmas, love is seen to very much be a feminine thing, causing men to be afraid of being related to that; they do not want to be seen as feminine. This itself turns to the issue of fragile masculinity; men not feeling masculine due to the weakness of their own beliefs. This most likely has a huge part in why modern love is the way it is, and why men behave in a particular way on dating apps; mostly looking for sex and not wanting to admit in looking for love for fear of being ridiculed.

Also in relation to my project, Giddens looks at capitalism and consumerism caused by sex and love. I am currently creating an animation about a single girl literally shopping for a new boyfriend; whilst this isn’t about companies using love and sex to sell products to the public, it still looks at the idea of consumerism and shopping; “Sexuality generates pleasure; and pleasure, or at least the promise of it, provides a leverage for marketing goods in a capitalistic society. Sexual imagery appears almost everywhere in the marketplace as a sort of gigantic selling ploy; the commodifying of sex, it might be argued, is a means of diverting the mass of the population from their true needs, whatever these are thought to be” (Giddens, 1992, The Transformation Of Intimacy, pg. 176). Should we be blaming the stereotypes caused by men and women themselves on why modern love is the way that it is, or perhaps the big corporations and companies using these things to sell more; perhaps they wanted us to blame the opposite gender the entire time rather than noticing where the problem truly originates. However this theory isn’t something that could easily be solved at all, unless all genders chose to come together and turn on these corporations themselves.

A separate writing “Liquid Modernity” by Zygmunt Bauman, also looks at shopping and modernity, and originally looks at Gidden’s writing too. Although not quite the same, Bauman is focusing on identities; “Supermarket of identities” (Bauman, 2000, Liquid Modernity, pg. 83). More similarly however, Bauman also talks about cutting off certain bonds for your own identity; breaking up with someone so that you can go your own path in life, thus forming your identity. With women being more independent these days, they are much more likely to not stay in just one relationship during their lifetime, but rather to have one relationship after another until potentially settling down, for the benefit of their jobs and identity.

Bauman also appears to agree with Giddens about the consumerism of love and sex and capitalism; “You gain independence through surrender” (Bauman, 2000, Liquid Modernity, pg. 84), thus saying that the only way you can form your own identity (including the identity of your sexuality etc) is through buying the products that these companies are selling, just like everyone else. But whilst he backs up Giddens, once again this may not be proven until people decide to no longer consume anything love or sex related and turn against corporations.

Giddens, A, 1992, The Transformation Of Intimacy – Sexuality, Love & Eroticism in Modern Society, Polity Press, Cambridge

Bauman, Z, 2000, Liquid Modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge

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A quick look in to Freud and his theories on Love

Regarding theories that concern love, Freud has created and put together some of the most famous ideas. I have decided to briefly read about his theories and the criticism of them to see if they are relative to my own project on love in our modern society.

Freud mainly focuses on sexuality and its link to love, rather than romanticism; “Freud is drawing upon the idea that sexual love is both a phenomenon of the senses and an attitude implying affection or kindliness” (Singer, 1987, The Nature of Love 3 – The Modern World, pg. 101). In connection to my own project, could this possibly explain why most people on dating apps are only looking for sex? In terms of modern love, if sexual acts on their own were to make people feel loved, then a dating app enables this to easily be accessed.

But is Freud correct to assume that love is only sexual, and that romantic love is not connected or doesn’t exist? Has he reduced love to sexuality? The author whom is speculating on Freud briefly questions whether romantic love exists, particularly in our modern day. Irving Singer suggests that whether it exists or not, the majority of people certainly believe and wish that it does; “The enormous number of romance novels consumed by American women would seem to indicate that the faith lives on”. Freud himself even goes back on his own beliefs without realising; he says that “happiness in sexual love is a rare occurrence”, yet many are happy in their relationships etc. If you cannot be happy with just sexual love, then they must in love romantically as it would be near impossible to mistake their happiness.

It does make me wonder if it is possible that Freud’s various theories have contributed to the sexualisation of a woman’s body. Freud’s theories were once highly regarded and could have change a gentleman’s thoughts on women and thus altered how they treated them; this however isn’t something that can be confirmed.

Whilst some of Freud’s theories could perhaps be relevant, there are quite a few that are outdated. One of his beliefs was that it was wrong if there were “people who practice perversions such as homosexuality” (Singer, 1987, The Nature of Love 3 – The Modern World, pg. 105). Thankfully, with few exceptions, in modern times homosexuality is not only accepted, but celebrated too. But with one of his opinions being so biased and unfavoured (one which I certainly disagree with), can his other theories and opinions even be considered in my study of modern love?

Singer, I, 1987, The Nature of Love 3 - The Modern World, MIT Press, Chicago

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Exotic Cancer

Exotic Cancer is a female stripper from Australia who makes art in her spare time; she has chosen not to revel her true identity online because of her job.

I have chosen to look at Exotic Cancer’s work as the content of it is relevant to my own project. As a stripper, she is creating work inspired by and based on her own experiences. The work is rather vulgar and crude, and presents women in a more empowered light in comparison to the men. Similar to the observations that I have made from online dating, Exotic Cancer has also observed men being desperate for sexual contact and being demanding and rude in the process.

What particularly inspires me about her images are the choice of colour palettes that are commonly used throughout; the pastel shades and dominant pink would usually be seen as sweet and feminine, yet when paired with the content it becomes powerful and fierce. I myself should look at changing my colour palette to perhaps do a similar thing as at the moment I am mostly using dark blue and red which doesn’t pop out too much.

https://www.instagram.com/exotic.cancer/

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Egon Schiele

I have chosen to look at the artist Egon Schiele in relation to my project. Schiele was considered a radical artist, whom mostly focused on intimate portraits in a relaxed but expressive style, similar to the artwork that I have created throughout this project in my zine and app. Schiele’s style seems to be drawn quickly and intensely, with unusual perspective. He doesn’t worry too much about anatomy, but purely about portraying the idea and the individuals in his images. The speed at which he draws shows his exploration of a sexual urgency, which very much links to my work; boys sexual urgencies and desires that come across through online dating and the comments made by them. Similarly the same can be said of some girls online too.

Self Portrait With Arm Twisted Above Head, 1910

Schiele’s life was short, difficult and problematic. When he was 14, his father died of syphilis, and went insane in the process.  This was what was thought to have triggered Schiele’s “precocious and obsessive fascination for sexuality” (Comini, Nudes – Egon Schiele, passage ‘Schiele’s Nudes: Prurience or Pathos?’). Other events in his life include being accused of being a paedophile, of abducting a young girl, going to prison, military service in Prague, and later dying at the age of twenty-eight from Spanish flu, just three days after his wife and unborn child also died from Spanish flu.

It is still questioned to this day whether Egon Schiele was a paedophile. Schiele would regularly take country breaks from Vienna. On one of his first breaks in Krumau, Schiele went around asking children to pose for him. In the city this would’ve gone unnoticed, but in the small village of Krumau it was quickly picked up on. “One child agreed to pose, and then brought along others. Drawings were left lying around the children talked and the parents gossiped, and rumours spread like wildfire” (Gaillemin, 2006, Egon Schiele – The Egoist, pg. 63). Later, one particular young girl name Liesl Woitsch posed naked in Schiele’s garden for him and he was caught by a neighbour, who demanded that the owner of the house put a stop to it all. Schiele moved back to Vienna after this.

Girl With Black Hair, 1910

Other instances of potential paedophilia include when Schiele himself was younger. After his father’s death it was said that “Before his full-length mirror, he rapaciously explored himself and others – including his younger sister, and later his sexual partners” (Comini, Nudes – Egon Schiele, passage ‘Schiele’s Nudes: Prurience or Pathos?’). In multiple books that I have read about Schiele, he has frequently been linked to Freud and Freud’s theories of intimacy and families. In a separate book, it is thought that “As a consequence of his adverse childhood experiences, Schiele’s was a lifelong journey in which he searched for his lost parents in himself and for his lost self in his art” (Knafo, 1993, Egon Schiele A Self in Creation – A Psychoanalytic Study of the Artist’s Self-Portraits, pg. 165). It is thought that Schiele perhaps did think of his family in a sexual way, traceable to his obsession with the origin of his father’s illness that caused his death. Schiele was likely to be unaware of Freud’s theories, it appears that his view of family’s relationships are similar to that of Freud’s; “’Have adults forgotten how corrupted, that is, incited and aroused by the sex impulse they themselves were as children? I have not forgotten, for I suffered terribly under it’ wrote Schiele” (Comini, Nudes – Egon Schiele, passage ‘Schiele’s Nudes: Prurience or Pathos?’). In relation to my own project, I have purely only been looking at modern love between partners/ couples that originated as strangers towards each other; would it be worth exploring modern love within families too? Perhaps the online dating community has in turn affected families in unforeseen ways.

The Family, 1918

In response to everyone’s accusations and reactions of Schiele’s works depicting children and women, he wrote in his diary “‘I do not deny that I have made drawings and watercolours of an erotic nature. But they are always works of art. Are there no artists who have done erotic pictures?’. He felt that the works only became ‘filthy’ if this is how they were regarded by the viewer” (Tate, 2018, Life in Motion: Egon Schiele and Francesca Woodman, pg. 27).

There were, and still are, a variety of opinions about Schiele, both whilst he was alive and after he died. These range from shock in regard to the artwork that he was producing, and overwhelming respect for managing to portray the intimate subjects in a way that clearly captured everything, such as the emotions.

I looked at ‘The Reactions to Schiele’s work in America’ in one of the books that I studied. Within it, one of the reactions is “the sense of outrage sparked by the artist’s erotic motivation and by his relentless pursuit of those psychic aspects that are approached through an overt inquiry into sexual processes. The Freudian notions that underlie Schiele’s visualisations have long hence become a commonplace” (Messer, Kallir, 1930, Egon Schiele, pg.65). As briefly stated earlier, not everyone was impressed by the work that Schiele produced, and still are not to this day. Previously it could be guessed that people did not appreciate the art, as our society back then was very different with sexual acts being much    more private, especially when involving women. Women were not thought to participate in sexual acts for pleasure, particularly not with men that were not their husbands. However, these days it is a lot more open, so why are some people still opposed to his art? Perhaps it is purely down to preference of the subject itself or the crude style that it is drawn in. Yet within the same passage of the book, it is stated that some viewers are “bringing with them an infectious enthusiasm and warm response toward the work on view”.

Whether viewers approve of Egon Schiele’s artwork or not, his artwork will strike with the emotions of anyone viewing them. Similarly to Schiele we live in a society that is constantly changing and adjusting; Schiele’s work shows the beginning of gender roles changing. He is making it aware that women sexually explore themselves (and others), rather than being prudes as assumed. He also forces us to question a families’ love and relationships and how they are viewed.

The Embrace, 1917

Two Figures, 1917

Girlfriend, Pink-Blue, 1913

Comini, A, date unknown, Nudes – Egon Schiele, Rizzoli, Italy

Gaillemin, J 2006, Egon Schiele The Egoist, Thames & Hudson, London

Knafo, D 1993, Egon Schiele A Self In Creation – A Psychoanalytic Study of the Artist’s Self-Portraits, Fairleigh Dickson, USA

Tate, 2018, Life in Motion: Egon Schiele and Francesca Woodman, Tate Publishing, Liverpool

Messer, T, Kallir, O, 1930, Egon Schiele, Institute of Contemporary Art 1st Edition, Vienna

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App update

I have finished my own version of a dating app; it is more like an interactive piece of artwork than an app, but the process was much the same. The link to see the interactive dating app is below!

I am so pleased with how the final outcome is! Not every button in the app is interactive because the process would take months (because of making all of the artwork for everything and linking everything up), but the majority is interactive.

I have included certain features in my app that aren’t available in regular dating apps such as Tinder; ratings, reviews, the option to send photos or propose etc. I included these to make more of the interactivity of the app, and as I believe that apps should actually have these features themselves! I am sure that in the future, dating apps will develop to eventually have these sorts of options.

Now that I have finished this app, I will be looking at creating an animation based on part of my previous readings ‘Love Online’ and ‘The Single Woman & And the Fairytale Prince’ by Jean-Claude Kaufmann. Within these I looked at the idea of online dating becoming its own form of consumerism, as if you were online shopping. My animation will be a young woman ‘shopping’ through racks of men and women to find a new partner.

Please see my app below:

https://xd.adobe.com/view/75d7d80c-8350-4154-487c-31b6b6d133da-03e6/?fullscreen&hints=off

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Love Online, and The Single Woman & The Fairytale Prince – Jean-Claude Kaufmann

I have read two separate books by Jean-Claude Kaufmann; I have chosen to talk about both of these in one blog post as they both related closely.

‘The Single Woman & The Fairytale Prince’ was the book first released by Kaufmann in 1998, and ‘Love Online’ was later published in 2010 as an updated sequel to ‘The Single Woman’. Originally, I was focusing purely on the more up-to-date ‘Love Online’, however it frequently referenced his previous book and so I chose to read both.

Kaufmann mainly talks about the comparisons of the past against the present, to find the main reasons as to why love has evolved in to what it is in the modern day. There is a section in ‘Love Online’ called ‘Who pays the bill’ that says “Chivalry suggests that the man should pay [for dinner]. But after several decades of feminism, that might look like an affront to the woman’s independence” (Kaufmann, 2010, Love Online, pg. 40).  If you were to look in to what the modern version would be, whilst it still is sometimes expected for the man to pay, it is much more common to split the bill 50/50. The feminist movement has had a big part to play in the evolution of love and relationships; women rely less on men.

Through the feminist movement, it can be seen that far more women are choosing to be single rather than being in a relationship. Some women are preferring to sleep around whilst others just like the company of themselves. Jean-Claude Kaufmann has a theory about the stages that a single woman will experience in her life; the supportive stage that occurs whilst she is younger, in which her friends will encourage her to be independent and single,  then the expectation stage that occurs around the age of 30, when all of her friends will start to expect her to settle down with someone and will make her feel guilty for not doing so; “And suddenly the finger is being pointed. It is as though the sky had fallen in and values had been inverted. Being single then comes to seem weird, and something to be slightly ashamed of. At this point, they begin to torture themselves: what have I one with my life, and what decisions should I take now?” (Kaufmann, 1998, The Single Woman & The Fairytale Prince, pg. 41). Finally comes the relaxed stage, in which a finger is no longer pointed and as the social pressures ease a woman can relax in to being single; except in order to have this relaxed environment they must choose to give up being centre stage and learn to be more reserved. I believe that this theory is definitely outdated 21 years later; Kaufmann has not mentioned it in ‘Love Online’ so perhaps he too decided that the stages became outdated. Women can certainly be centre stage, single, and middle-aged these days without too much accusation; it has become a lot more normalised.

However despite women being more openly single, Kaufmann did debate whether there has always been a large portion of people choosing to be single that perhaps was never recorded; “Celibacy had not been unusual but, because single people were scattered across the countryside and hidden within their families, they succeeded in disappearing into ‘the grey background’ (Farge and Klapisch Zuber 1984)” (Kaufmann, 1998, The Single Woman & The Fairytale Prince, pg. 11).

Looking at the fact that women are now free to act as men (live as a single person and sleep with whomever they like and however many people they like), Kaufmann has described our modern world to be “not as virtual as it is sometimes said to be, but it is ‘liquid’ because it has been freed from the constraints that bind us to territories, groups, and established conventions” (Kaufmann, 2010, Love Online, pg. 87). Our world is constantly changing, including what is considered to be a social norm. By the end of our lives, society could be completely different once more, and relationships seen in a new light regarding both genders. This also links to “Liquid Modernity” by Bauman, 2000, and the consumerist life that is spoken about.

The theory from Kaufmann that interests me most is that relationships and love in the modern day have started to become viewed with consumerist intentions. He talks about this idea in both books regarding online dating; “Welcome to the consumerist illusion, which suggests that we can choose a man (or woman) in the same way that we choose a yoghurt in the supermarket” (Kaufmann, 1998, The Single Woman & The Fairytale Prince, pg. 117). Looking at the way tinder is set out – swiping someone left to show that you’re uninterested and right if you are interested – it acts like an online shopping system, or ever like the shelves in a supermarket. Similarly, with a supermarket making returns is easily done; with online dating you can resort to blocking or ignoring the person without feeling too guilty because of how detached you can feel from the other person; interaction online in comparison to in reality feels very detached and almost like none of it is actually happening until you choose to bring it into real life. This looks at the idea of ‘ghosting’, which I previously looked at in the documentary ‘Hot Girls wanted’. The realistic equivalent of that would be disappearing half way through the date and not coming back, leaving the other individual to wonder where you are and if they will ever hear from you again.

Other things that Kaufmann talks about comparing the past and the present include the sexualisation and interpretations of certain actions and how they are seen now. Years ago, a kiss would have mean a lot; it was displayed as extravagant and iconic within Hollywood movies, and scandalous in times before that. These days some people see kisses as nothing, just something to do with someone else. They don’t necessarily associate it with love and it is very common for most people to do so with strangers when intoxicated on a night out. Furthermore, sex is no longer seen to be such a big deal; sex on a first date has become a hot-topic in our modern day, with people debating whether it’s right or wrong. Previously, this never would even have been considered in the past. Jean-Claude Kaufmann also mentions that the significance of dancing; in the past people would participate in the waltz, tango, salsa etc. The close physical contact in these were seen to be very serious and loving. These days it is rare for these dances to be performed, they certainly are not as normalised as they used to be.

All of these debates could be considered pointless; it could all depend on the relationship between two people, the chemistry, the people involved. It can also be linked to social norms. If a boy were to have sex with someone on a first date, he would be praised, yet if a girl were to do so, she would potentially face being called names such as ‘slag’.

One of the main focuses of online dating is the profile picture that someone chooses to put up. The image chosen will be put through the judgement of everyone else viewing it; the viewers will make a decision of whether it fits their standardised view of beauty. Kaufmann claims that “Image are the real, absolute enemy” (Kaufmann, 2010, Love Online, pg. 30). Using statistics found by others, he announced the shocking fact that “Some 23% of the men who visit dating sites are married (Madden and Lenhart 2006), and they are looking for sex, not a soulmate” (Kaufmann, 2010, Love Online, pg. 18). These figures are based on America, but it is likely that the figures will be similar across the Western world. It was noted in ‘Love Online’ that these cheating husbands would almost never have a profile photo, for fear of being caught.

Finally, section 7 of ‘Love Online’ explores the idea of ‘The Game’. “Some men view sex in terms that have more to do with ‘game playing’ in a much stricter sense. We have already seen the way in which they use seduction techniques to get to a fuck close as quickly as possible, [Kaufmann explained earlier that a ‘Fuck Close’ is when someone has sex with someone and then leaves, never speaking or acknowledging them again]. There is a long tradition of male rivalry when it comes to female conquests… they compete to conquer as many women as possible in order to prove something to themselves and to have something to boast about to their friends and rivals” (Kaufmann, 2010, Love Online, Pg. 103). This can almost be compared to a competitive sport and a game, which has become much easier to play now that we have the internet. Jean-Claude Kaufmann explains that the main idea of the game is to not be tied down by one particular girl. If a game like this were to be played by a young male, it is almost no wonder that such a high percentage of husbands later use online dating to cheat; if society had not encouraged these boys to be this way then would the outcome be the same?

Kaufmann explores quite a few sociologists within his books. I will make a separate post looking at a few of these sociologists and their theories of modern love and relationships. This will include Emile Durkheim, Pascal Lardellier, and Bryn and Lenton.

Kaufmann, K 1998, The Single Woman & The Fairytale Prince, Armand Colin, France

Kaufmann, K 2010, Love Online, Armand Colin, France

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Project Update

I have now planned out my app in terms of the features that it will have, and how they connect to one another. I have drawn out how I would like everything to look; I will later draw these up digitally on my iPad; backgrounds, buttons etc, and will then input these in to Adobe XD CC, a program in which you can put together apps.

So far I have only begun developing a logo for the app, which looks at combining a heart with a wifi signal. This is only a work in progress, as I believe it would look more sarcastic and ironic if I were to draw the heart more realistically!

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Confessions of a Tinderella - Rosy Edwards

“Confessions of a Tinderella” is a true story written by Rosy Edwards. Based on when she was in her mid-twenties, Edwards talks about her journey regarding her download of the app ‘Tinder’ and the dates that she goes on with the guys that she meets through it. Alongside, we hear about other goings on within her life, giving us the opportunity to view her Tinder experience from all contexts. Her story is written in a comedic, hilarious style of writing, in which she chooses to often make fun of herself. This makes it a very easy read as she presents her life in a fictional way.

The first time Rosy is introduced to Tinder is when watching her bestfriend use the app. Her initial reaction appears to be confusion; “Is Tinder supposed to be a game? If so, the prize is… what? A shag? A boyfriend? A trip down the aisle?”, followed by “It looks like the least romantic way to find love I’ve ever seen”. With the confusion exhibited by Edwards, we can already conclude that Tinder has multiple purposes, and that it perhaps isn’t considered ‘classy’. What appears to be an issue with Tinder is that it is never clear what each individual is after, unless stated so. From experience of using the app to create my Tinder zine, it appears that most males in their early twenties are only after something casual, which is sneakily hidden until said.

She also comments on the set up of Tinder through the profiles that the males choose; “A single man must prove he is kind and not psychopathic and the best way to do this is to hold a small dog or, better yet, a baby. He will load up his profile with confusing group shots that make it hard to discern which one he is (NB: he’s usually the least attractive one). He will show he’s adventurous (ski shot) and enjoys travel (beach shot) whilst demonstrating he is outgoing (festival shot) and has a sense of humour (fancy-dress shot)… at the very least, he is seeking to prove he doesn’t spend weekends playing X-box and eating cereal in his bedroom”. Through the use of online dating, the pressure of presenting yourself seems much higher than if you were to originally meet someone in real life. As someone cannot discern your personality from a glimpse of a photo and thus know if they can trust you or not, your profile is your opportunity to show what type of individual you are. On Tinder, if someone swipes left on your profile, it means that they have chosen to not give you the opportunity to talk to them, so profiles must be of high standard to try and encourage everyone to give you a chance. Alongside photographs, this can be done with a short biography as well.

Despite a biography and photographs provided, it is still usually next to impossible to interpret what someone’s personality or aim will be. This can be seen within my Tinder Zine, in which many of the first messages that I received from many guys were disgusting or weird. Rosy Edwards also experiences this and gives us examples in her book; “Archie’s messages have all been articulate and interesting – unlike Steve, 31, who enquired succinctly if I wanted ‘sum fun tonight?’ or Callum, 29, who sent me a selfie of him wanking”. These days, Tinder has now banned the option to send someone else photographs in the chats, to avoid unwanted pictures. I do wonder if it is just prevalent that these messages come from males, or if males too receive them from females.

It seems that one of the main themes of Tinder appears to be the ‘access’; hundreds of people to choose from right at your fingertips. This can be both good/ opportunistic, but also bad, as Rosy explains; “Tindering whilst already on a Tinder date is morally sketchy: if you want to get meta about it, perhaps this shameless act is symbolic of the wider Tinder experience, namely that there is always someone else, and potentially someone better, out there. I’m not dissatisfied being here… I am just intrigued to see what else might be on offer.” Whilst it may be good that it becomes so easy to see the vast amounts of suitors your surrounding area, it may also be a curse of having way too many choices. This could even encourage cheating with it being so easy to download the app and set up a profile, even if you didn’t meet your partner through Tinder originally.

But despite all of the bad things that Rosy Edwards says about Tinder, she also concludes that she loves the app and the oppurtunities that it gives. Even with all of her bad experiences that she takes us through in her book, she tries and tries again with the app, even at one point deleting it to take a break from it (but later quickly returning to it). I too can back that Tinder has major flaws and on initial download appears horrible yet can later create amazing opportunities etc if you push through all the bad. These days we live in a world full of technology that is almost unavoidable, and Tinder allows dating to turn to technology too.

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Documentary - Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On. Season 1: Ep 2. Love Me Tinder.

Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On is a documentary series that focuses on individual’s personal stories of relationship, intimacy, and sex through technology and how it changes us in fundamental ways. I watched Episode 2; “Love Me Tinder”, which follows individual James Rhine, a 40 year old from Chicago, and how he uses the app Tinder. Alongside James, it also shadows two girls; Jessica and Alexis, both of whom have dated James.

At the start, James is dating Jessica (and a few other girls). Already, a difference between modern love and past love is clear; whilst once it was acceptable to only date one girl at a time, it now is acceptable to date multiple girls unless considered “exclusive” or actually in a relationship. From James’ perspective, this is totally acceptable. Jessica is unaware that James is dating other girls and is under the idea that they are “exclusive”. When she later discovers that he is not just dating her, Jessica becomes extremely upset. Her comment in response to the modern version of dating through apps is “Dating is awful. Downright dirty awful”. It could be established that part of the fault of this miscommunication is down to technology and the dating app itself; talking to someone through a screen creates a detached situation in which feelings and emotions are often not interpreted correctly. For some people this may actually be desired. James himself says “I don’t want to deal with their emotions”.

One of the most shocking things that I found from watching James, was how quickly he tired of one girl and moved on to the next. With James’ lack of interest in the female’s emotions and feelings, he detached himself in the easiest way possible; rather than being straight forwards and telling them nicely that he no longer wished to date them, he chose the tactic of further using technology and social media to solve it; “When I am seeing a bunch of other people, all I have to do is post a couple of snapchats and get really drunk over a weekend and then I’m no longer seeing anyone anymore. It’s called reloading. Tactical reloading [laughs]”. An example is shown in the documentary itself; whilst with Jessica, James starts seeing Alexis; a much younger girl than Jessica at the age of 25. James forces Jessica to break up with him herself by posting a video of him and Alexis kissing on his Snapchat, as he’d rather she (Jessica) ‘do the deed’ and not feel guilty himself. This then moves on to look at the selfishness of James and how common this appears to be within modern love and online dating.  Again this links to the detachment you have through social media, later shown in the documentary when Jessica demands to meet James face to face, forcing him to confront her emotions. In this conversation, Jessica cries to James and asks “Do you even realise that you hurt people?”. As James has previously avoided confrontation in person with all the previous girls that he has dated, he later comments “The conversation with Jessica… that was a slap upside the head, a kick in the groin that I needed from someone. And the reality is that I was a fucking asshole”. Obviously, it is ideal that James finally realised that his actions were awful, however many younger guys that have grown up with this online culture of dating through apps may believe it is the correct behaviour to have. Even James himself at the beginning of the documentary believes that because of the app being superficial, his behaviour could be superficial in response despite to representing him as a person realistically.

Half way through the documentary, Alexis comes to a similar end as Jessica; eventually dumped and then “ghosted”. Ghosting is the action of ‘disappearing’ through social media; blocking someone and no longer talking or responding to them further, becoming a ‘ghost’. The documentary states at one point that “Nearly 1 in 5 people who use dating apps say they have been ghosted. 1 in 3 of them say they have ghosted someone else”. Having a younger view point than both James and Jessica, Alexis alongside her mother later talk to the documentary team and provide an insight in to modern love and why it is the way it is; “We’re like a socially inept generation. If I’m in a room of 300 people, but I’m on my phone, so technically I’m on my own”. Her mother responds that when she was Alexis’ age, friends would be made through people, not via social media and technology, and was shocked at Alexis’ comment regarding her generation.

It is clear that technology and online dating has definitely made a huge impact on modern love. Dating has perhaps been made too easy through these apps, creating a ‘throwaway’ culture in which it becomes easier to let go of one girl and know that there are 50-100 lined up. Greediness and selfishness have become more prominent, and many people now expect others to want to ‘hook-up’ rather than be involved in a genuine relationship. Picking others based on how they look may have its perks, but can be seen as a toxic, awful way to choose a fellow human; people are never as they seem. According to Alexis, on Tinder, James came across as attractive and friendly. He did this through posting photos of him and his dog, and by avoiding posting shirtless selfies (which has become well known in dating apps to be common), however this was not an accurate representation of his actual personality. This can both be said for males and females as at the start of the documentary a few select guests briefly talk about similar situations happening to them, and all were a range of gender.

This documentary was definitely interesting, particularly in seeing James’ perspective in treating people the way that he did. However none of it was much of a surprise; at my young age of 21 I have already both witnessed and experienced the awful treatment such as Jessica and Alexis did through online apps, as unfortunately it seems to now be common and expected. However if someone from an older generation were to watch this documentary, they may be more shocked about modern love and online dating these days in comparison to how it was when they were my age.

Above: James and Alexis on their second date. At this time, James was still dating Jessica too.

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Project Update

Previously for my project, I continued by making the ironic Valentines cards that showcased a small bit of my zine; I tried two designs but unfortunately the screen somehow was blocked with grease and so one design didn’t print properly. However, here is the successful card:

Moving forwards, I have started planning my own dating app that focuses on the general stupidity and realism of our modern day apps. I have begun by deciding the features that I will like it to have, such as “send a pick up line” etc, and I have also started looking at tutorials on how to use XD CC, an adobe program that specifically helps users create apps. I have tried playing around with the program but truthfully I am finding it quite complex and difficult! I will keep pushing forwards to see if I can create a successful outcome.

One current issue that I have found with my project is that it appears that people are taking the wrong message from it. A few people have believed that I am looking at the modern day love and dating from a perspective of feminism etc, but truthfully I am only observing my own experience from the app and creating humorous responses; I personally do not want to focus on feminism at all, but just identities that still subtly relate to the Greek Gods. That is why after the app I will shift focus on to a different God/Goddess, that will likely be related to environment and our surroundings. I will be showing my planning for this in a later blog post.

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Edward Burtynsky - Exhibition

Today I have visited the Flowers Gallery in Cork Street, London, to visit their current exhibition featuring Edward Burtynsky; “The Human Signature”. This exhibition was created in collaboration with artists Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas De Pencier following Burtynsky’s ongoing project “Anthropocene” which explores and investigates the impact that humans have on the planet.

The first thing that I noticed about these images, was the size of them. The photographs are printed large enough to fit the walls in some cases; this really emphasises all of the details of the images and makes them almost seem surreal whilst in reality they are genuine photos of some of our environments caused through human interaction. With my own art through this project, I have’t stopped to consider the sizes at which I am choosing to produce my art; I should further look in to this to see if it’ll make a difference on the impact and effect that my art creates.

“Carrara Marble Quarries no.2” 2016

“Uralkali Potash Mine no.4″ 2017

“Uralkali Potash Mine no.3″ 2018 “Urakali Potash Mine no.6″ 2017

It appears that in this particular exhibition Burtynsky has mainly chosen to focus on ‘beautiful’ images, and not necessarily images of our environment in ‘collapse’. If I myself were to look in to this project, I personally would choose to focus one more impactful and destroying influences that us humans have, such as through waste and loss (i.e. the glaciers). Both encouraged by Edward Burtynsky’s work and my own interests, I would probably use photography mostly, and perhaps create a film or animation from this. I may also create t-shirts and tote bags that reflect our impact, but I will look in to this later on as well. Looking further in to Burtynsky’s work in his project ‘Anthropocene’, I notice that he has previously looked at ruined areas despite the images that he chose to present at this exhibition; I personally find these images of his stronger due to their context and content;

“Dandora Landfill No.3″ 2016

Whilst this exhibition doesn’t necessarily correlate with my project at the moment, I was hoping to develop my project to surround the theme of this exhibition; human impact and waste.  The background of my current project is the identities of Greek Gods and how they have impacted our modern society. I can perhaps take this idea and look at how humans have impacted the planet/ society themselves concerning nature in comparison to how they used to treat our surrounding environments, despite being considered ‘lesser’ than Gods. I could also focus in on Goddess Demeter and Persephone, and the God Pan, all of whom focus their identities on Nature etc. I will look in to this soon and have a discussion with Paul to find a way to feed and develop my project forwards to relate to this.