Module description
The popularity of dating apps and the use of digital technologies to communicate with partners are two examples of the increasingly important role of digital technology in intimate lives and practices. This module will primarily focus on the use of digital technology for purposes of romantic and sexual intimacy. The module will explore how intimacy is informed by digital technology and by broader social and political discourses related to, for instance, gender, sexuality, and ‘race’.
Running through the ten lectures of this module, will be the key concepts of digital intimacy, intersectionality, consent, and vulnerability. Throughout the module, we shall explore digital intimacy from different perspectives. One perspective, will be to address digital intimacy by looking closely at the technologies used for such purposes, like self-tracking apps and robots.
Another perspective is going to involve examining practices of intimacy as communicated through digital technology such as the exchange of intimate imagery, focusing on how digital mediation informs practices and perceptions of intimacy in various interpersonal relations.
As part of this module, we shall also critically consider digital intimacy from the perspective of incidents where digital intimacy and consent are violated, examining pressing contemporary problems like the use of digital technology in the abuse of intimate imagery.
Each lecture is followed by a seminar with learning activities centred around a question developed in line with the lecture and required reading.
Assessment details
- One x 1000-word individual essay (30%)
- One x 2500-word individual essay (70%)
Educational aims & objectives
The educational aim of this module is to provide an understanding of how digital technologies feed off and into practices and perceptions of intimacy. Students will be working with learning materials that encourage them to critically reflect on the ways that digital technologies inform how humans establish close connections with each other, as well as what humans think of as close connections in the first place. The module also aims to equip students with knowledge about how digital technologies contribute to the changing nature of associated concepts like consent and vulnerability. Thinking about digital technologies as both opportunities for and obstacles to intimacy, another educational aim of this module is for students to learn to express their critical thinking around digital intimacy through the formats of group presentations and essays.
Learning outcomes
After completing this module, students should be able to:
- Critically examine approaches to intimacy in the context of human interactions with and through digital technology.
- Describe the concepts of intersectionality, vulnerability and consent, and apply them to empirical examples of digital intimacy.
- Contribute to discussions about social and political concerns related to the use of digital technology for intimacy.
- Communicate knowledge about digital intimacy through the formats of presentation and essay.
Teaching pattern
Ten one-hour lectures and ten one-hour seminars