CHICAGO ( May 11, 2016 ) — New technology has introduced innovative and unexpected ways of bringing LGBTQ people together. Explore this fascinating history at "Looking? The History of Hooking Up" on Thursday, May 19 at the Chicago History Museum.
Brian Mustanski, director of the new Northwestern Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, moderates a talk about the social and historical development of hooking up at the last event of this Out at CHM season. Panelists include Jeremy Foreshew, from Grindr's People & Cultural Engagement team, Michelle Birkett, research assistant professor in Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University, and Jody Ahlm, Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago, studying hookup apps and the complex relationships between new media, sexualities and sexual politics.
From face-to-face meetings in bars, club scenes and bandana culture to early online chat rooms, dating websites and mobile apps, their conversation explores how interactions in these environments have progressed and how the LGBTQ community navigates intimacy, self-identity and self-presentation in cyberspace.
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with a reception that includes drinks and appetizers and DJ Harry Cross. The official program begins at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $20 for the general public and $15 for Museum members and students. To purchase tickets and for more information about Out at CHM, visit chicagohistory.org/outatchm. An after party for the program will be held at Wang's, 3317 N. Broadway in Chicago. Additional drink prices will be charged at the after party.
Major support for Out at CHM comes from the Exelon Corporation with additional support from Robert Kohl and Clark Pellett and the Richard L. Ohlhausen Education Fund. For more information about the Chicago History Museum's programs and exhibitions, visit chicagohistory.org or call 312-642-4600.