Adam4Adam
is an
online dating
Online dating, also known as Internet dating, Virtual dating, or Mobile app dating, is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An onlin ...
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...
designed for men to meet other men "for friendship, romance, or a hot
hookup".
[ Adam4Adam Website](_blank)
/ref>
Ranking
As of September 2005, ''San Jose Mercury News
''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
'' ranked Adam4Adam as the second most popular online gay personals site in the United States (being ranked behind Gay.com
Gay.com was a chat, personals, and social networking website catering to the LGBT community. The site was a digital brand of Here Media Inc. In addition to community features, the site featured LGBT-related news and features. As of September 2 ...
). As of March 2007, Hitwise ranked it number one (the number two and three position being occupied by Manhunt and Gay.com
Gay.com was a chat, personals, and social networking website catering to the LGBT community. The site was a digital brand of Here Media Inc. In addition to community features, the site featured LGBT-related news and features. As of September 2 ...
).
Characteristics
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.
Unlike similar competitors, Adam4Adam does not charge members to use its full range of services. Instead, Adam4Adam receives revenue from advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
, particularly from pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...
pornographic
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, websites and companies offering erection
An erection (clinically: penile erection or penile tumescence) is a physiological phenomenon in which the penis becomes firm, engorged, and enlarged. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular, ...
enhancement drugs like sildenafil, vardenafil, tadalafil
Tadalafil, sold under the brand name Cialis among others, is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED), benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is taken by mouth. Onset is typically within half a ...
and their generic drug
A generic drug is a pharmaceutical drug that contains the same chemical substance as a drug that was originally protected by chemical patents. Generic drugs are allowed for sale after the patents on the original drugs expire. Because the active ...
equivalents through mail order
Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as:
* Sending an order form in the mail
* Placing a telephone call
* Placing ...
.
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.
Although Adam4Adam has members of all ethnic groups, the percentage of non-White
White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...
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, San Francisco, and New York City 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.
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. As with most sites of this type, members are allowed to post nude
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
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
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and ora ...
and avoiding methamphetamine
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Meth ...
addiction
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...
. The counselors also discourage the party and play
Party and play (PnP), also called chemsex or wired play, is the consumption of drugs to facilitate or enhance sexual activity. Sociologically, it refers to a subculture of recreational drug users who engage in high-risk sexual activities under t ...
phenomenon.
The site also maintains an interactive blog. Posts are organized into several categories, ranging from sex to lifestyle to news.
Crime
In October 2006, New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
-area media including ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station ...
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.
Many news sources reported similar occurrences in the Washington Metropolitan Area
The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virg ...
. 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
Online dating, also known as Internet dating, Virtual dating, or Mobile app dating, is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An onlin ...
crimes in the past five years" and added that victims of internet dating
Online dating, also known as Internet dating, Virtual dating, or Mobile app dating, is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An onlin ...
crimes are "overwhelmingly men cruising for sex
Cruising for sex, or cruising, is walking or driving about a locality, called a cruising ground, in search of a sex partner, usually of the anonymous, casual, one-time variety. Published: 11-14-2007 Published: 9-21-2005 Article from NYT about a ...
."[''Washington Blade'' June 8, 2006](_blank)
/ref>
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.
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.
In reporting on the murder of a 39-year-old San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
man by a 19-year-old U.S. Marine, an editorial in the ''Gay and Lesbian Times
The ''Gay and Lesbian Times'' was a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newspaper in the San Diego, California area. The Times was a member of the National Gay Newspaper Guild. The paper originally launched in January 1988 as the San Di ...
'' 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
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are ...
apartment, where he ultimately met his fate.
Outing
Adam4Adam has also been used to "out
Out may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
* ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander
* ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...
" people who have otherwise kept their sexual orientation somewhat secret.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network warned United States military
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...
personnel in 2004 that online profiles on Adam4Adam and similar sites were a violation of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on Decembe ...
” policy, and that in some cases online profiles were being used as evidence in outing service members to military command.[Servicemembers Legal Defense Network ](_blank)
/ref>
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.
Adam4Adam has also been mentioned by sources such as the ''New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Ta ...
'' in reference to the outing of an ''American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to A ...
'' contestant who previously had said that he was heterosexual
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" t ...
.
''New York Daily News'' also reported that the Adam4Adam dating profile of artist Ross Bleckner
Ross Bleckner (born May 12, 1949) is an American artist. He currently lives and works in New York City. His artistic focus is on painting, and he held his first solo exhibition in 1975. Some of his art work reflected on the AIDS epidemic.
Early ...
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."[Rush, George; Molly, Joanna Rush. (March 13, 2006) ]New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Ta ...
''Interview pitts Douglas vs. Brangelina.'' Section: GOSSIP; Page 26. Bleckner laughed off the incident, saying "For them, that's high praise!"
Dating
While Adam4Adam and other social networking venues are often dismissed as "sex sites", there is evidence to the contrary. For example, the ''Washington Blade
The ''Washington Blade'' is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area. The ''Blade'' is the oldest LGBT newspaper in the United States and third largest by circulation, behind the '' Philadel ...
'' 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
The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...
door. Gay male social networking sites like Manhunt, 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.
Regulation
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.
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.
''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.["New adult Web site regulations put on hold"](_blank)
''Gay & Lesbian Times'' 01 Feb 2007
If successfully applied, these regulations would mean that Adam4Adam and similar companies would have to keep records proving that individuals appearing in photograph
A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now creat ...
s or video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
s 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.
An attorney
Attorney may refer to:
* Lawyer
** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions
* Attorney, one who has power of attorney
* ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film
See also
* Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...
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 hewrong alphabetical order ..you’re facing federal prosecution on a first offense with a maximum of five years, nda secondary offense itha minimum of two years. It’s just insane.
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
A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers ...
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 ould have to have it Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames.
Notable ...
signed under penalty of perjury
Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
. 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.
Deceased users
An article in ''The New York Sun
''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...
'' 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."''The New York Sun''
/ref>
See also
* Homosocialization
* Timeline of online dating services
This timeline of online dating services also includes broader events related to technology-assisted dating (not just online dating). Where there are similar services, only major ones or the first of its kind are listed.
Dominance of online dati ...
* Tinder
Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam4adam
Online dating services of the United States
Internet properties established in 2003
Gay men's websites
Same sex online dating