Online Dating as Context to Design Sexual Consent Technology with Women and LGBTQ+ Stakeholders

Title of the Paper

Online Dating as Context to Design Sexual Consent Technology with Women and LGBTQ+ Stakeholders

Paper Information

• Subject Area: Online Dating and Sexual Consent Technology Design
• Keywords: Consent, Affirmative Consent, Sexuality, Sexual Violence, Online Dating, Dating Apps, Participatory Design

Research Background and Issues

• Problem Identification:
  • Current sexual consent practices (e.g., through non-verbal cues) are prone to misunderstandings and sexual violence.
  • Existing consent technologies (e.g., "consent apps" that record consent) may reinforce sexual violence rather than reduce it.
  • Women and LGBTQ+ groups face higher risks of sexual violence, yet their involvement in the design of consent technologies is lacking.
• Research Significance:
  • Sexual consent is a core element in preventing sexual violence; improving consent technologies helps safeguard autonomy in sexual interactions.
  • Affirmative consent, recognized as a sexual violence prevention model, has insufficient public adoption and requires technological enhancement and promotion.
• Motivation and Related Work:
  • Previous studies have explored computational interventions for sexual health and challenges of sexual consent on social platforms, but most lack user needs and participation.
  • The authors aim to redefine sexual consent technology from the perspectives of women and LGBTQ+ stakeholders, addressing the gap in user-centered research.

Proposed Solution

• Proposed Approach:
  • The authors adopt a participatory design research method, involving 17 women and LGBTQ+ individuals in co-designing sexual consent technologies.
  • The study focuses on online dating scenarios, covering the full interaction cycle from online to offline, to explore potential technological interventions.
  • Three core design themes are proposed:
    1. Technological Support for Transparent Conversations: Technology initiates and maintains transparent discussions about sexual expectations.
    2. Consent Interaction Models in Interface Design: Interaction design ensures both parties feel comfortable discussing sexual topics.
    3. Machine Translation of Potential Discomfort: Using biosignal-assisted detection to convey non-verbal discomfort.
• Innovations:
  • Expanding sexual consent from a "one-time record" to a dynamic, ongoing dialogue process.
  • Proposing that technology should not replace direct verbal communication but reduce communication barriers.
  • Extending consent technology to encompass the entire process before, during, and after sexual activity, rather than focusing solely on the moment of sexual interaction.
• Implementation Steps:
  • Conduct online design workshops via Discord to collect participant feedback and co-create designs.
  • Use timeline tools to detail intervention points, from initiating online conversations to face-to-face interactions and sexual activity.
  • Develop technological concepts through user sketches and discussions, including applications of wearable devices, biosignals, and future augmented reality technologies.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Results:
  1. Introduced a new concept for sexual consent technology: not recording irrevocable consent but emphasizing sexual expectation dialogues and ongoing verbal consent exchange across online and offline interactions.
  2. Proposed specific design principles, such as consent-based interface interaction models or using biosignals to convey non-verbal physical discomfort.
  3. Clarified the role of AI in online interactions, such as using chat prompts to naturally guide conversations toward sexual topics.
• Advantages:
  • Compared to existing technologies, the proposal better addresses barriers to affirmative consent practices and increases public acceptance.
  • The technology design reshapes comfort levels, making it easier for users to discuss sensitive topics.
  • Emphasizes user privacy and agency, avoiding forced consent models.
• Experiments or Evaluations:
  • Participants designed various technological concepts, such as smart wearable devices to detect sexual discomfort, biosignal translation technologies, and interface interaction designs to enhance user comfort.
  • Encouraged participants to imagine technological possibilities over the next decade, beyond current technological constraints.
• Limitations and Future Directions:
  • The design of machine translation for discomfort involves potential issues of user privacy and control, requiring further research.
  • The study is limited to participant groups (young women and LGBTQ+ individuals) and geographic location (United States); future research could expand to more cultural contexts and gender groups.
  • Further exploration is needed to achieve widespread adoption of affirmative consent and influence broader user groups.