From Navigating Discrimination to Developing Professional Digital Intimacy: How Indonesian LGBTQ+ Users Harness the Affordances of Healthcare Apps

Abstract

This article investigates how lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ+) Indonesian users engage with healthcare apps, addressing the challenges they face in accessing inclusive and affirming digital health services within a sociopolitical environment that often marginalizes LGBTQ+ identities. Drawing on 21 in-depth interviews with LGBTQ+ Indonesian users and the media go-along method to trace their interactions with healthcare apps, this study examines LGBTQ+ users’ experiences in navigating and accessing medical services through mobile applications. The study conceptualizes “professional digital intimacy” to explain how LGBTQ+ users strategically use platform affordances to connect with medical practitioners. Establishing this form of intimacy allows LGBTQ+ users to access health services while mitigating the risks of discrimination. The study highlights the strategies LGBTQ+ users adopt to construct, negotiate, and selectively disclose their identities when interacting with healthcare apps, demonstrating how these strategies help them navigate stigma, ensure safety, and assert agency within a neoliberalized digital health landscape.