My most recent writerly adventure is a book called Sticky, Sexy, Sad: Swipe Culture & the Darker Side of Dating Apps. This memoir documents my rite of passage from dating app novice to savvy swipemaster and explains how these platforms are impacting sex, romance, and communication in the 21st century. Using my insights as an anthropologist who studies sexuality and a sex-positive feminist eager for new experiences, Sticky, Sexy, Sad exposes the informational and emotional circuitry of dating apps in a unique way that will excite readers.
This book and the articles I’ve published about dating apps mark my entry into the exciting arena of digital feminism and public scholarship. This is writing that everyone can relate to because it explores universal issues of love, intimacy, and the importance of staying true to ourselves in our increasingly digital world.
My memoir began as a therapeutic exercise to cope with the bizarre, fascinating, and sometimes sad things I observed and experienced while using dating apps. It soon grew into a special record of my dual journey as an anthropologist analyzing the impact of dating apps on our society and a woman struggling to understand what happens when desire goes digital.
As I began sharing my wild, compelling dating app experiences with others, it was like my story was their story- truly fascinating! It was then that I decided that Sticky, Sexy, Sad would be a personal story that doubled as a work of public scholarship instead of a scholarly book.
Being vulnerable is central to this book project and it’s what readers connect with the most. We are eager to learn how others experience romance and the digitization of our lives, which I explore in an informative and inviting way.
What began as a leap of romantic faith transformed into Sticky, Sexy, Sad, a riveting manifesto about staying true to yourself amid the digitization of life and love in the 21st century. In October of 2021 I signed with Hardy, June & Moore, an American literary agency who is as excited about my book as I am. More exciting news: my book has been sold to AEVO, the trade imprint of the University of Toronto Press. Watch this space for more updates along the way!!
Read snippets of my Sticky. Sexy. Sad adventures now and lend your voice to the conversation about sex, love in its many forms and the transformational impact that dating apps are having on how we know one another and ourselves.
I was reading through your blog this weekend and during reading week and I love it! Laughed and related so hard at the accuracy of your experiences with dating apps – the post about the guys and their fish pics killed me 😂 Also, your writing style in “The Looking Glass: Reflecting on Relationships” had me emotional.. it was so poetic to me. Subscribed, obviously…
One of my students’ responses to Sticky, Sexy, Sad
Older women and younger men, you say?
YES, I say. Check out my first academic publication about my dating app experiences, which is the only known example of using the divine feminine as a way to unpack ageism and intimacy within these unique relationship structures.
Neither Crone nor Cougar: Navigating Intimacy & Ageism on Dating Apps, In Gender, Sex and Tech!: An Intersectional Feminist Guide, Jill Fellows & Lisa Smith, Eds. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 86-100.
Download the publication below.
Treena Orchard 