Nike: Pick and choose who you interact with...
Introduction:
Nike is a 30 year-old bisexual male living in Newark, New Jersey. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, his life has become quite hectic. Nike works for the government, and his work hours have increased significantly since March. Before the pandemic, he usually worked 40-50 hours per week. The pandemic has caused work to speed up, he says, and he is now working 60-70 hours per week. In terms of his social life and sex life, Nike finds himself carefully picking and choosing who to interact with, and where. He used to spend much time in New York City, but has only visited the city around ten times this year. He doesn't want to spend too much time with too many people because he, “didn't know what they were doing,” to keep themselves safe. When seeking sexual encounters, Nike uses online platforms. In his interview, he notes that some people he runs into online have the pandemic on the forefront of their mind. They might post on their profile that prospective partners must wear a mask. Some of these same people, on the other hand, find unprotected sex (without a condom) to be acceptable. Nike suggests they might be confused. Why worry about one particular disease but not worry about others? In general, however, Nike says most people aren't talking about the Covid-19 pandemic on such online platforms. To select potential partners, Nike relies on chatting to get a sense of whether or not they are doing what they need to do to keep safe. After he makes such a determination, his sexual encounters are no different than they were before the pandemic. According to Nike, the changes he's noticed on dating apps are minimal, though he also admits he hasn't been explicitly paying attention to specific changes.
Notable Quotes:
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOUR SEX LIFE?
“It hasn't affected on coming in, but outwards I slowed the process down a lot. You know, pick and choose who I decide to, you know, interact with, same as social, same as sexual. Pick and choose who I decide to interact with because you just don't know. And it's like, you know, sometimes, I ran into people where it's like, they more concerned with the pandemic than any other disease. Want to have a mask on but I'm okay with not having a condom on. So, it's like, that's been like, the whole like, the whole forefront of everything, look people more worried about having a mask on but not a condom. And he just, I think confused like. So you worried about this disease, but not all these other diseases? K cool, no problem.”
HAS THE PANDEMIC CHANGED HOW PEOPLE COMMUNICATE ON ONLINE PLATFORMS?
“Different? Yeh, I mean like I said, you see people like, “no mask-no talk,” “no mask-no meet up.” If that's the first thing, the only thing you're worried about, I prolly won't speak to you, I prolly won't hit you up. But, I mean, maybe I don't pay attention to certain things like that. I don't really see too much of a difference. I know at one point, with the whole Black Lives Matter thing... ...but I know, at one point, they've taken a lot of the race and ethnic background out of the options that people pick and choose who you wanna look for. That's upset a lot of people.”