Catfishing and sex work explored at Ethical Dating Online workshop hosted by Centre for Love, Sex and Relationships
Catfishing and sex work are just a few of the subjects explored at an innovative Ethical Dating Online workshop
Catfishing and sex work are just a few of the subjects explored at an innovative Ethical Dating Online workshop hosted by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures’ Centre for Love, Sex and Relationships (CLSR).
The workshop, which took place at the IDEA Centre at Leeds on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 September, brought together philosophers who research issues relating to online dating with representatives from a dating app, as well as sex educators.
These included Noor Salama, Trust and Safety Lead at Feeld; Alice Hoddinott from Brook, the relationships charity; Ruby Rare, influencer, sex educator, author and broadcaster; as well as several researchers who travelled from the UK, Europe and the US to join the event.
Talks addressed a range of topics, from the ethics of catfishing to whether sex workers should be permitted to use dating apps. Researchers benefitted from hearing about the more practical constraints dating apps face, and from hearing about some of the distinctive issues that young people face when using dating apps.
Speaker delivers session at ethical online dating workshop
The workshop concluded with a rich and thought-provoking roundtable discussion of where the newly formed Ethical Dating Online Network can and should go next, given the issues discussed over the course of the two days.
Dr Natasha McKeever, a Lecturer in Applied Ethics at the University of Leeds and one of the workshop’s organisers, said:
“We are really grateful to our funders: the British Academy and the University of Leeds Translational Funding, and to everyone who attended, spoke, and helped to organise the event. We look forward to strengthening our relationships with those in the network, with a view to making a practical and positive impact in the field of online dating.”
You can find out more about the project and the network at https://www.ethicaldatingonline.com/
