Queer People in the Media and Why It's Important

Hello, and welcome to my second blog post. Sorry it's taken me so long to get another blog post up, but I'm posting now. Each blog post that I upload, I want to have a different theme. Whilst I may post some blogs where I will touch up on past topics, I do still want to at least have each blog post have a different topic that I talk about. 

Now that I got that out the way, I do have some quick promo to do. All I want to quickly share is I have a new zine issue out under Notts Rebels Extra, in which it's a little more personal to me whilst still on the topic of the Nottingham area. You can read Notts Rebels Extra here . I also want to share my Patreon where I try and upload bts of my work and where you can get the first look at my work before they get uploaded. You can check out my Patreon here . Any other social media you wish to look at and potentially follow me on, check out my Linktree here . The final thing I want to promote is my Ko-Fi. Ko-Fi is similar to Patreon. You can check out my Ko-Fi here .

Now that that's all done and over, time to talk about the topic for this blog post, which is queer people in the media and why it's important. 

Being queer and trans in the media. It's something that I feel likehas definitely risen in the past 6 years since lockdown. However, I think right now, being queer and trans in the media is quite tough from what I have seen online, especially in the past couple of years. Do you want to know why? The rise of homophobia and transphobia has risen both online and in person, but more definitely online. With platforms such as TikTok and Instagram rising in popularity, and with photographs, writing and videos being a great way where queer folk can share stories, it still doesn't take away the fact that homophobia and transphobia has risen a lot too with the rise of LGBTQIA+ content online. Whilst some of the homophobia and transphobia happens in person, an influx of the homophobic and transphobic comments happen primarily online. Ultimately, this has caused a rise in negative stigma around the LGBTQIA+, but mostly the negative stigma around trans folk has become more prominent in the world, especially in countries like America and the UK. So, in this blog post, I want to talk about why queer people in the media are important and how homophobia and transphobia can affect someone's mental health.

One of the main points I would like to make in regards to queer and trans people being important in the media is education. From what I have seen, queer people make it a mission to educate people online, which means more resources and statistics can be pushed, therefore, people can be educated on the suicide rates and other important things in in regards to queer mental health, especially those under the trans umbrella. I know that queer education has lead people to know about trans trailblazer Marsha P. Johnson, a black trans woman, also also trailblazer Stormé DeLarverie, a black trans king, who were both found to have helped in the Stonewall Riots back in 1969 in some way. And if it weren't for people like Marsha P. Johnson and Stormé DeLarverie, the LGBTQIA+ community wouldn't be what it is today. The pride parade is and always has been considered a riot. Something that we wouldn't have today if it weren't for black trans folk. Education of queer history and how it has helped so much in today's society is always important, and one of the main reasons why queer people online are important.

One of my next points I would like to make in regards to queer is trans folk. For some time now, trans folk, especially trans women, have been in the media a lot, and for negative reasons. But here's why transphobic comments and content are harmful to trans folk and can and has actively harmed their mental health. The trans community has been in the media a lot, whether it be on social media by cis folk, or by news stations posting it onto primarily Facebook, transphobic comments never fail to show the lack of understanding or education people may have to trans folk, especially with trans women. But why is this important? Because the more negative things about trans folk that are in the media, the more negative stereotypes and transphobic comments are left in trans creators comments. It doesn't help that things like appearance simply get mocked because someone doesn't look like a traditional man or woman, or too feminine or too masculine or too androgynous or trans folk getting misgendered because "using the correct pronouns for you is difficult" or "I'm not using the pronouns for you because you don't look like that gender" or whatever shitty excuse people can use to not use the correct pronouns on someone. But I do also feel like how you react to getting misgendered can show a lot about your mindset in terms of being misgendered.

Pronouns have always been part of the English language. With most common ones being he/him/his, she/her/hers and they/them/theirs, but also I/we/me/you/it are all also pronouns too. So, how does the existence of pronouns play into the importance of queer and trans folk in the media? Well I will tell you. I think a lot of the time, certain trans folk can weaponise the fact they were misgendered, which can further puttrans folk further into a bad light, especially if documented online. Take infamous TikTok content creator, Lilly Tino, a transgender woman who is notorious for recording herself going to restaurants, and then being upset once she's misgendered, which usually leads to her getting a free meal. Not only that, the first video that had unfortunately introduced me to Lilly Tino, was her making a bold claim that late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was a transwoman. However, the most notorious thing that Lilly Tino has done was where she recorded a few videos of herself talking about bottom surgery whilst at Disney World. This means, with creators like Lilly Tino, it can set back any progress for trans folk back.

Whilst a lot of the transphobia and homophobia can happen online, it's something that needs to be worked on, especially a lot of the trans folk online are minors. A lot of the time, trans youth know their brains and bodies better, and seeing the constant negativity and transphobia online can cause them to stay in the closet longer, which means they can't get the help they need until later in life. Whilst things are put in place that's not surgeries (puberty blockers, which are reversible, social transitioning, which is not limited to the following: haircuts, name changes, change of clothes and also a change of pronouns). This is why having trans folk and other members of the LGBTQIA+ community in online spaces. For education, for awareness, for existing. One thing I like is that I've seen a few trans creators use transphobic comments to make money from the TikTok creator rewards program, and it also shows that they don't let transphobic comments get to them.

But if you also think, being trans and queer online is great is that it can also connect people. With people sharing their own stories and sharing experiences with others, or even finding comfort in knowing they've found a term that fits them. Being queer or trans isn't something to be scared of because it's something that's natural in nature. But being queer and trans online, especially for queer and trans youth who may be trying to figure out their sexuality, gender identity or possibly both. Having queer and trans folk online is a great way to have that online presence to have that education or even to be a good ally by educating themselves on terminology. Having queer and trans folk online is super helpful for education also the desigmation on the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole. Especially with the rise of if trans women being allowed in the women's toilets, which is another explanation on itself.