Grindr: Less Gay Sex, More Gay Babies

Grindr, a mobile app designed specifically to connect gay men for immediate, no-strings-attached gay sex has taken on a new cause: Babies.

Earlier this year, an Israeli couple received media attention after their failed attempt to have a baby via surrogate in Israel, where gay adoption rights are not entirely established. Enter Grindr (whose CEO is Israeli-born), which has mounted a campaign soliciting donations and pledged to give 100% of its new subscriber revenue to the now bankrupt couple.

Because when you think Grindr, you think babies.

Yuval and Liran need help with their surrogacy dream. Their government sent them false leads and dead ends that cost them thousands and put their dreams of fatherhood on hold. They have decided to continue to pursue their dream but need a helping hand. You can help by donating to their dream and sharing the story. Also, for the next week, 100% of Grindr Xtra revenue from new subscribers will be donated to Yuval and Liran.

No offense to babies, but who cares?

Yes, Grindr is a global business with just as much of an interest in public image as, say, Apple (which, incidentally, Grindr is dependent upon in order to stay in business), so obviously they want to attach themselves to a worthwhile charity. And I have no doubt that Grindr is sincere in wanting to help babies (because the point of gay adoption or any adoption is not to help the adults who want to have babies, but rather to help the babies who don’t have parents, right?). But when the biggest modern symbol of gay promiscuity goes flaccid and starts showing an interest in children, well, so do I.

And it’s not just babies. Grindr—which again I remind you was invented so that a gay man can find the closest possible gay man to him and have sex with him instantly—also wants you to get married. The Grindr Equality blog (yes, really) covers every breathless development in the fight for gay marriage, even delving into the incredibly wonky specifics of tax policy for unmarried couples and even making political endorsements with headlines like “A Vote For Romney Is A Vote Against Your Own Wallet” (because you know how much gays love their wallets). If Grindr is so interested in marrying everyone off and giving them babies, who do they expect will be left to use Grindr? Gay men cheating on their husbands? The babies?

Of course, more single gay men are using Grindr to have very gay sex than ever before, but we can’t talk about that. The public voice that screams Marriage Equality! and Babies For Everyone! is all image and all business. And projecting a homogenized, assimilated, emasculated version of gay men is great for business. Gay man as doting dad? Beautiful. Gay man as drag queen? Subversive and hilarious! Gay man as sex symbol? Only if that gay man is perceived to be straight. (Don’t worry though, women and straight men can still be sexually objectified.)

But a gay sex app marketing itself as some kind of weepy human rights group isn’t just lame and boner-killing, it’s also somewhat irresponsible, isn’t it? While Grindr (and, to be fair, it’s not just Grindr; it’s also GLAAD, the national mainstream media, the White House, and every awful gay blog) is committed to not really talking about gay sex, all of its customers are definitely having it. In fact, half of Grindr’s customers admitted to having gay sex without condoms (and just think of the other half who were lying), which would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that the CDC recently reported a 45 percent increase in HIV in men aged 13-29. 13? That’s practically a baby.

The Grindr press release and global campaign to educate its users about the effects of AIDS and how to put on a condom before you fuck someone you meet on Grindr who might have HIV is no doubt forthcoming, once they get this whole Israeli baby adoption thing squared away. Or not. Maybe gay men don’t use Grindr to have bareback gay sex and acquire HIV after all; maybe they use Grindr to get married and have children. Maybe we aren’t having gay sex anywhere at all anymore. Thanks to Grindr, we may as well have wombs. Let’s just hope we don’t pass our miraculously-acquired HIV on to our babies.

 

8 thoughts on “Grindr: Less Gay Sex, More Gay Babies”

  1. I understand “mmarriagr equality” but seeing two fags (with horrible names ) “paying thousands” so they can inseminate a bitch they’ve never met so she can lay en egg for them…Guess I’m not feeling it!!

    It’s like puppies, you want one? Adopt.

    If you can’t then do like most couples and keep fucking til it works XD

  2. Grindr has never advertised itself to be a hookup app. Slutty men turned it into that. I’ve actually met people on there and DIDN’T have sex. It’s called “making friends”, the original point of the app.

    1. Nope. Joel Simkhai, the founder of the app, lives on my street. He definitely invented it to hookup with guys. Total sleazebag, the gay Zuckerberg.

  3. I honestly don’t get the point of your post. So Grindr is not supposed to exercise any corporate social responsibility because it produces a hook-up app? According to your logic, Naked Sword, being a porn provider, shouldn’t host a blog that also discusses cultural issues, right?

    1. fucking jesus h christ

      I think the author meant HIV infection rates have increased and now infect a broad age group of 13-29, which is completely tragic. And the Apps choice of political interest in the surrogacy of a gay Israeli couple is silly. There is a gap between what the app does, which promotes gay sex, and what it doesn’t want to say, which is “have safe sex with a condom!” I guess reminding people of HIV as a threat, might turn them off from random hookups using the app. I know it does for me. Despite being ethically or legally required, often a warning label on products deters customers from buying it. So companies don’t like to use fine print when a warning is issued. The grindr app wants to use fine print when warning of the dangers of barebacking and casual sex.

      There must be something with gay Israelis, they are bonkers…ask Micheal Lucas.

  4. Let’s not blame messenger for the message. Grindr, by any other name, would exist thanks to libidos and GPS. Modern gay men have a short term memory especially since generations have died from a holocaust known as AIDS. I myself would like to be more sex positive, accurately more safe sex possible. Despite higher rates of substance addictions, the process/behavior addictions like sex addiction are rampant especially within the gay community since male sexuality doesn’t have so much societal prohibitions. The orgy of gay sex will always continue whatever technology it uses to announce the party.

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