Despite the ubiquity of smartphones globally, very little scholarly attention has been paid to the uses of smartphone-based social networking apps in the Global South, particularly among LGBTQI+ and Muslim communities. Drawing on participant observation, qualitative interviews and oral life histories, this essay explores the uses of the Grindr app among gay, bisexual and queer men in Pakistan, and examines especially the negotiations of risks and perils of Grindr. As I argue in this essay, Grindr’s usage in Pakistan creates opportunities for casual sexual encounters and demonstrates the construction of a non-normative sexuality that appropriates Western epistemologies of sexuality. Such appropriations notwithstanding, Grindr’s usage in Pakistan is also characterized by risks and perils. Narratives of users reveal instances of physical and sexual violence, financial extortion, threats of public exposure and blackmail, and catfishing. These risks and perils play out in a restrictive societal milieu. Homosexuality is legally criminalized in Pakistan and access to Grindr is blocked by the government. As such, Grindr represents an important site for digitally mediated negotiations of risks and the desire for same-sex sexual connectivities and intimacies.
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