'What you into?' 'I can host if ur looking?' 'What you into?' 'Do you like straight married men?' 'What you into?' 'Wanna meet in the bushes at the park?' So many messages and not a single one asked how I was—or even asked my name. After a few minutes of bleak scrolling, I realised the only things I'm into are basic manners, commitment and being happily married. Which I also realised I wouldn't be finding on here. Still, that didn't stop me going off to meet the ninth stranger to slide into my inbox after finding myself getting sadder and sadder as each anonymous proposition pinged my way. Raw, moving and savagely funny, What You Into? is Josh Fox's autobiographical account of his spiral into the Grindr world of casual sex, hook-ups and dating apps following the break-up of his marriage.
He documents this journey diary-style, chronicling the often weird, at times dark world of casual sex as he navigates his grief and anger through the consumption of men—only to discover that he too is being consumed by the process. Fox's unflinching account of his descent into sex addiction, his struggle with depression and his search for a way back is framed within the broader background of his life. He shares his difficult upbringing in a housing estate in Manchester, and gives a self-critical commentary on his media career (and his complicated relationship with 'celebrity'), from his time as a teenage YouTube star and paparazzo through to his work in Australian radio. What You Into? is a story of the push and pull of addiction, the power of compulsion over shame, the search for healing through destruction—set against the need for love and the desire to feel alive.