What Dating Apps are Doing for Us and to Us
Dr. Corey W. JohnsonWe are honored to have as our March 2025 MRS speaker Dr. Corey W. Johnson. Since 2022 he has been the Karla A. Henderson Distinguished Professor at NC State University. His teaching and research happen in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management. He focuses on power relations between dominant (white, male, etc.) and non-dominant populations in the cultural contexts of leisure with projects focused on gay/Queer bars, trans adjudicated youth, 2SLGBTQ youth in schools, camp, and sports. (If some of those terms are unfamiliar, come to the meeting, and you’ll find out what they mean.) Most recently he has secured considerable grant funding related to digital equity.
His talk to us will be titled “What Dating Apps are Doing for Us and to Us.” Since 2015 he and a co-researcher have studied the role played by apps such as Scruff, Grindr, Tinder, and Bumble in the lives of people, especially LGBTQ people and women. This includes recent work on ways to reduce gender-based violence.
Dr. Johnson is a native of Ohio and did his undergrad at Bowling Green State University. He has advanced degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Georgia. Before coming to NC State, he was a professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
The meeting will be on Sunday, March 23, 2025. We will gather at 7 p.m., eat a potluck dinner at 7:30, and begin the program at 8.