 Adam4Adam logo | |
 | |
| Owner | A4A Network Inc. |
|---|---|
| URL | www |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | 2003 |
| Current status | Active |
Adam4Adam [1] is an online dating website designed for men to meet other men "for friendship, romance, or a hot hookup". [1]
| Adam4Adam logo | |
| | |
| Owner | A4A Network Inc. |
|---|---|
| URL | www |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | 2003 |
| Current status | Active |
Adam4Adam [1] is an online dating website designed for men to meet other men "for friendship, romance, or a hot hookup". [1]
As of September 2005, San Jose Mercury News ranked Adam4Adam as the second most popular online gay personals site in the United States (being ranked behind Gay.com). As of March 2007, Hitwise ranked it number one (the number two and three position being occupied by Manhunt and Gay.com). [2] [3]
Adam4Adam was launched in 2003 by a company called "Convergent Ideas, LLC" and is now operated by "A4A Network Inc.". Adam4Adam's members are mostly in the United States. [1] [4]
Unlike similar competitors, Adam4Adam does not charge members to use its full range of services. Instead, Adam4Adam receives revenue from advertising, particularly from pay-per-view pornographic websites and companies offering erection enhancement drugs like sildenafil, vardenafil, tadalafil and their generic drug equivalents through mail order. [1]
The site offers a "plan-a-trip feature" to locate potential friends or dates where one is headed. It also has a specific way of posting party invitations. [1] [5]
Although Adam4Adam has members of all ethnic groups, the percentage of non-White men represented in member profiles is higher than the percentage of non-White people in the United States population, though the degree to which this is true varies by city/region. For instance, research into demographic representation in Atlanta, [6] San Francisco, [7] and New York City [8] profiles evidences a trend of higher representations of men of color among younger age cohorts, with decreasing diversity in profiles as age increase. This is also true of Adam4Adam membership in the United Kingdom.[ citation needed ]
Unlike Manhunt and some other sites, Adam4Adam does not prohibit escort ads, however such ads are placed in a category separated from the mainstream personal ads. [9] As with most sites of this type, members are allowed to post nude photos and many choose to do so.
Adam4Adam provides a "Health Resource" page as well as a page devoted to "Online Safety Tips". The site encourages health organizations to create "Health Counselor" accounts. All these measures encourage good health practices such as safe sex, getting tested for sexually transmitted infections and avoiding methamphetamine addiction. [10] [11] The counselors also discourage the party and play phenomenon.
The site also maintains an interactive blog. Posts are organized into several categories, ranging from sex to lifestyle to news.
In October 2006, New York City-area media including The New York Times and WCBS-TV reported that Adam4Adam was the focus of a conspiracy to find gay men online to rob. A number of men in New York City used the site to lure a Brooklyn man to a remote area where he was robbed and murdered. The men were found when one user was identified via his screenname. [12] [13] [14] [15]
Many news sources reported similar occurrences in the Washington Metropolitan Area. In discussing the case of a perpetrator of multiple robberies in that region, a Washington, D.C. police officer from that police force's Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit said "We've definitely seen an increase in online dating crimes in the past five years" and added that victims of internet dating crimes are "overwhelmingly men cruising for sex." [16]
The same police officer also noted that these criminals are often technologically savvy and create profiles using fake information and other people's photos from cyber cafés or public libraries, making them difficult to trace. [16]
A high-profile April 2010 murder investigation in the Washington, D.C., area revealed that the victim, a high school principal, met his assailants through adam4adam.com. [17]
In reporting on the murder of a 39-year-old San Diego man by a 19-year-old U.S. Marine, an editorial in the Gay and Lesbian Times said that the victim:
was an avid user of adam4adam.com, a popular gay chat and hook-up Web site. Instincts told us that the victim may have met his killer online and invited him into his Little Italy apartment, where he ultimately met his fate. [18]
Adam4Adam has also been used to "out" people who have otherwise kept their sexual orientation somewhat secret.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network warned United States military personnel in 2004 that online profiles on Adam4Adam and similar sites were a violation of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and that in some cases online profiles were being used as evidence in outing service members to military command. [19]
According to the Gay and Lesbian Times:
In many cases it’s either a jilted ex-lover, a roommate or friend who is upset about something who knows that the service member has the online ad or profile and they then print out that profile and give it to the command. [19]
Adam4Adam has also been mentioned by sources such as the New York Daily News in reference to the outing of an American Idol contestant who previously had said that he was heterosexual. [20]
New York Daily News also reported that the Adam4Adam dating profile of artist Ross Bleckner was printed in the Coagula Art Journal . In the Coagula Art Journal article, Bleckner's "age, 33-inch waistline and youthful photo" were questioned, but ultimately accepted by the magazine as true since "overall (for Internet personals), he's a pretty honest, bland dude. Like his art." [21] [22] Bleckner laughed off the incident, saying "For them, that's high praise!" [22]
While Adam4Adam and other social networking venues are often dismissed as "sex sites", there is evidence to the contrary. For example, the Washington Blade featured an article about the evolution of online dating in which it was reported that:
an increasing number of gay and lesbian youth have taken their first steps into the “gay community” by passing through an online chat room door. Gay male social networking sites like Manhunt, [Silverdaddies,] Adam4Adam and the recently launched DList, for "edgy gay men," provide just as easy an opportunity for men to find a coffee date as easy as a gangbang. [23]
Adam4Adam uses the new "Restricted To Adults" label in the metatags of its pages. The RTA label is free to use, voluntary, and universally available to any website that wishes to clearly and effectively label itself as being inappropriate for viewing by minors. The Free Speech Coalition recently endorsed the RTA website label. [24] [25]
Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press Writer, March 22, 2007, writes:
Federal judge blocks 1998 online porn law.
Software filters work much better than a 1998 federal law designed to keep pornography away from children on the Internet, a federal judge ruled Thursday in striking down the measure on free-speech grounds.
Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. also said the Child Online Protection Act fails to address threats that have emerged since the law was written, including online predators on social-networking sites like MySpace, because it targets only commercial Web publishers.
"Even defendant's own study shows that all but the worst performing (software) filters are far more effective than COPA would be at protecting children from sexually explicit material on the Web," said Reed, who presided over a monthlong trial in the fall.
The never-enforced law was Congress' second attempt to protect children from online porn. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld in 2004 a temporary injunction blocking the law from taking effect; Reed on Thursday issued a permanent injunction.
The law would have criminalized Web sites that allow children to access material deemed "harmful to minors" by "contemporary community standards." The sites would have been expected to require a credit card number or other proof of age. [26] [27]
Gay & Lesbian News reports that Adam4Adam and similar sites may soon come under an expanded interpretation of 18 U.S.C. 2257, the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act and wrote:
anyone with a sexually explicit picture on a site like Adam4Adam.com could be considered a secondary producer if the new regulations go into effect, and would be subject to the same type of requirements that the adult Web sites would be under. [28]
If successfully applied, these regulations would mean that Adam4Adam and similar companies would have to keep records proving that individuals appearing in photographs or videos are over the age of 18. They would also have to "categorize those documents in a meticulous manner", with failure to comply resulting in possible felony charges and prison time. [28]
An attorney for the Free Speech Coalition noted:
It’s just a series of land mines designed to trap the unwary [...] if you file it wrong, if you put it in [the] wrong alphabetical order [...] you’re facing federal prosecution on a first offense with a maximum of five years, [and] a secondary offense [with] a minimum of two years. It’s just insane. [28]
Further, not only the company but the website's members could be responsible under these same regulations. The same lawyer remarked that if he had a profile on Adam4Adam this would mean:
I would have to have a photocopy of my own ID and a list in my home ready for federal inspection, a paper with my legal name, or any name I have ever used under any circumstances [...] the form of ID I provided to myself, the serial number of that ID and [would have to have it] signed under penalty of perjury. If I don’t have that document or a photo of my ID available 20 hours a week for federal inspection, I’ve committed a felony. [28]
An article in The New York Sun entitled "Morbid Web Site Makes Amusement of Online Profiles Left Behind by the Dead" discusses a site that highlights the user profiles on various social networking websites. Adam4Adam is mentioned several times and it is noted that Willi Ninja's profile remained posted on Adam4Adam months after his September 2006 death received widespread press attention. In this article, an Adam4Adam spokesperson is quoted as saying "We deactivate them as soon as we get notified." [29]
Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of heterosexuality and heterosexual relationships. According to Elizabeth Cramer, it can include the belief that all people are or should be heterosexual and that heterosexual relationships are the only norm and therefore superior.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBTQ rights that took place in the year 2005.
LGBTQ culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, LGBT culture, and LGBTQIA culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean either "LGBT culture" or homosexual culture specifically.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Afghan members of the LGBT community are forced to keep their gender identity and sexual orientation secret, in fear of violence and the death penalty. The religious nature of the country has limited any opportunity for public discussion, with any mention of homosexuality and related terms deemed taboo.
Manhunt is a geosocial networking website and online dating application that facilitates male same-sex introductions. The majority of profiles are sexually explicit and include nude photographs and graphic language and are by patrons that are looking to hook up. Some profiles, however, are specifically not designated as primarily sexually-oriented and explicitly state they are not cruising for sex.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Cuba have significantly varied throughout modern history. Cuba is now considered generally progressive, with vast improvements in the 21st century for such rights. Following the 2022 Cuban Family Code referendum, there is legal recognition of the right to marriage, unions between people of the same sex, same-sex adoption and non-commercial surrogacy as part of one of the most progressive Family Codes in Latin America. Until the 1990s, the LGBT community was marginalized on the basis of heteronormativity, traditional gender roles, politics and strict criteria for moralism. It was not until the 21st century that the attitudes and acceptance towards LGBT people changed to be more tolerant.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the United Arab Emirates face discrimination and legal challenges. Homosexuality is illegal in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and under the federal criminal provisions, consensual same-sex sexual activity is punishable by imprisonment; extra-marital sexual activity between persons of different sexes is also illegal. In both cases, prosecution will only be brought if a husband or male guardian of one of the participants makes a criminal complaint. The penalty is a minimum of six months imprisonment; no maximum penalty is prescribed, and the court has full discretion to impose any sentence in accordance with the country's constitution.
Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the Gambia face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal for both men and women in the Gambia. Criminalisation commenced under the colonial rule of the British. The 1933 Criminal Code provides penalties of prison terms of up to fourteen years. In 2014, the country amended its code to impose even harsher penalties of life imprisonment for "aggravated" cases. The gender expression of transgender individuals is also legally restricted in the country. While the United States Department of State reports that the laws against homosexual activity are not "actively enforced", arrests have occurred; the NGO Human Rights Watch, reports regular organised actions by law enforcement against persons suspected of homosexuality and gender non-conformity.
All homosexual sexual activity is condemned as sinful by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in its law of chastity, and the church teaches that God does not approve of same-sex marriage. Adherents who participate in same-sex sexual behavior may face church discipline. Members of the church who experience homosexual attractions, including those who self-identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual remain in good standing in the church if they abstain from same-sex marriage and any homosexual sexual activity or sexual relationships outside an opposite-sex marriage. However, all people, including those in same-sex relationships and marriages, are permitted to attend the weekly Sunday meetings.
The North American Man/Boy Love Association is a pedophilia and pederasty advocacy organization in the United States. It works to abolish age-of-consent laws criminalizing adult sexual involvement with minors and campaigns for the release of men who have been jailed for sexual contacts with minors that did not involve what it considers coercion.
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is an American non-profit political organization established to work against the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. It was formed in 2007 specifically to pass California Proposition 8, a state prohibition of same-sex marriage. The group has opposed civil union legislation and gay adoption, and has fought against allowing transgender individuals to use bathrooms that accord with their gender identity. Brian S. Brown has served as the group's president since 2010.
The United States military formerly excluded gay men, bisexuals, and lesbians from service. In 1993, the United States Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed, a law instituting the policy commonly referred to as "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT), which allowed gay, lesbian, and bisexual people to serve as long as they did not reveal their sexual orientation. Although there were isolated instances in which service personnel were met with limited success through lawsuits, efforts to end the ban on openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people serving either legislatively or through the courts initially proved unsuccessful.
Homosexuality, as a phenomenon and as a behavior, has existed throughout all eras in human societies.
dudesnude is a popular social networking website dedicated to gay, bisexual, bicurious and men who have sex with men. The site was launched in 2002 and it has over 500,000 members. The website's purpose is to facilitate chat, dating, and setting up sexual encounters known as a "hookup". The site also has a live-streaming feature, where members can chat with others while masturbating on webcam. The company slogan is "picture, video, and profile sharing for men!" The company is based in London and the homepage is flanked by a bare chested man staring upward, partially obscuring his face.
This article gives a broad overview of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history in Canada. LGBT activity was considered a crime from the colonial period in Canada until 1969, when Bill C-150 was passed into law. However, there is still discrimination despite anti-discrimination law. For a more detailed listing of individual incidents in Canadian LGBT history, see also Timeline of LGBT history in Canada.
This article addresses the history of gay men in the United States. Unless otherwise noted, the members of same-sex male couples discussed here are not known to be gay, but they are mentioned as part of discussing the practice of male homosexuality—that is, same-sex male sexual and romantic behavior.
Don't Filter Me is a project of the American Civil Liberties Union dedicated to fighting LGBT-related internet censorship that happens in public schools in the United States.
This is a timeline of notable events in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community in the United States.
This overview shows the regulations regarding military service of non-heterosexuals around the world.
