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Intersectionality on the Internet is Coming to a Red Light

Social media has been an integral part of the human experience over the last two decades, and it's not going away any time soon - what can we say? We love our little boxes that let us talk to people all over the world.

But something I've noticed over the last few years is a decrease in intersectionality on social media like Twitter and others - whether it's the algorithm to blame or something else, something has changed.

We're becoming more and more divided.

TikTok is a prime example - many accounts specialize in a certain type of content (ASMR, cats, pranks, ant farms, science, etc) and when something other than the primary category a person follows gets recommended, they'll often comment something along the lines of "How did I end up on _____ TikTok?"

On TikTok, this is harmless for the most part. More traditional social media like Twitter and Tumblr is where the harm comes into play.

We're on Tumblr, so I'll talk about it first. In recent years, the concept of the DNI (Do Not Interact) List has become an integral part of many bios. The concept is that you don't interact with that user if you meet any of the criteria on their DNI List.

DNI Lists can range from the mundane "minors only" for kids on Tumblr to the hyper-specific, usually fandom-based. Something like "DNI if you think X character should be with X character," for example.

It's a similar experience on Twitter, although due to the different media format of Tweets versus blogs it's a bit different. It also has to do with the fact that sites like Twitter and Facebook are primarily algorithm-based. Tumblr's feed is chronological and based only on what a user follows.

Twitter and Facebook use their users' interactions and likes (among other data, but that's a story for another time) to curate a feed for them. Suggested posts are thrown into the feed, with suggested friends and suggested groups and pages. Twitter now even has a "For You" feed which primarily shows the algorithm's suggestions on what it thinks you would interact with.

The problem here should be pretty clear.

The algorithm is killing intersectionality on the Internet by forcing us all into boxes and creating infinite echo chambers.

Only showing things a user is most likely to enjoy is a great idea from a business standpoint. The happier your user is with the content you give them, the longer they stay on your site. Hence, The Algorithm - a complex set of instructions that uses a metric ton of personal data collected by social media companies designed specifically to feed you content you like.

Users will often see themselves being proverbially shoved into a box based on their interactions, making their feeds one-dimensional. I've seen it with my own feeds.

When I first started my professional Twitter in January, I followed a few things and it didn't know what to show me - it started showing me tech news, which I wanted, but it was also blasting politics and local news stories at me, and feeding cultural posts in every once in a while to see if it could box me in with a specific identity.

Three months later, my feed is nothing but tech news. The trending hashtags are nothing but tech. Why? Because tech news is the only thing I interacted with on that account. If I lived in a vacuum, I wouldn't know anything else existed. I wouldn't know that most people don't care about tech as much as I do, because, well, everyone on my feed is talking about it.

So I'm boxed into a profile based on a single aspect of my identity, because that's what The Algorithm thinks I want, thinks will placate me enough to keep using their app. And it's the same for most other users, I'd assume. We aren't shown things outside of our comfort zone, or things others are interacting with (unless it's someone we follow), and as a result intersectionality on the Internet is dwindling.

People on the Internet who often have more in common with each other than they think might never get the chance to interact with each other because of a set of instructions controlling what they see.

It sounds oddly dystopian, and maybe it is. I don't think it was done out of malice or desire for control of the population, but more likely the reckless abandon of morals and ethics by companies in search of fattening their wallets.

#algorithm #intersectionality #I kinda went on a tangent on this one #sorry professor #I'm just really passionate about the way that social media and The Algorithm has a stranglehold on our lives

[foxnate28]

Source

Aside from this being my first "Hey Mom, I'm on the news!" moment, this is a more detailed description of how the Arizona Coyotes are encouraging LGBTQ+ people to participate in sports like hockey. This is how I got into hockey - it's a non-judgmental space where we don't have to worry about the fear of being ostracized for our sexuality or gender identity.

I know my professor probably wants me to talk more about racial intersectionality this week, but look. I'm a cis white dude. There is literally nothing meaningful that I can add to the conversation, and talking about experiences that I don't have is pointless when people who do have that experience need to have their voices heard now more than ever.

That's why I'm talking about queer hockey instead - it's intersectional in a way that I can speak to, and the fact that our league is completely co-ed means that anyone can participate. We don't split by gender identity, sexuality, or even skill level. We acknowledge those differences and celebrate them on and off the ice, but it doesn't change how we play or perceive each other.

#hockey #queer hockey #arizona #intersectionality

[foxnate28]

This is me, during a hockey game! I play hockey for the Arizona Legacy Pride Hockey Association, ALPHA for short.

Growing up gay and playing sports was not an easy experience by far - I didn't relate to any of the locker room talk my teammates would have and I often felt isolated as a result. Sometimes gay jokes were made, and I'd have to remind my teammates that "Hey, I'm gay. Is that how you feel about me?"

None of my queer friends played sports either, which made me feel somewhat left out in my friend group as well. They'd rag on "barbaric" sports and how dumb jocks are, and I'd have to remind them "Hey, I run cross country and track. Do you think I'm dumb?"

So when I got into hockey, I never dreamed I'd end up playing.

Sports in general aren't known for being that accepting of queer people, and hockey can be especially heinous. So I resigned myself to watching the Coyotes play and reading the queer hockey comic Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu. (It's great; you should check it out!)

And then I found it. This is Tumblr, so I'll actually mention that I was on one of The Apps talking to a guy, and he mentioned that we were both into hockey - and that there was a local queer startup league called ALPHA. I chatted with the league president and then I was the official photographer for the league!

And even though I was just the photographer, I still made friends with the players over the course of the season and we all bonded over our shared experience of being both queer and playing sports growing up. ALPHA became my safe space where I didn't feel ashamed of being gay, nor did I feel weird for liking sports as a queer person.

I enjoyed the experience so much that I signed up to play. I am an Arizona native. I had never set foot (or skate) on ice aside from maybe one time when I was 12.

I spent the entire summer learning to play hockey and falling all over the place. Not once was I judged. Not for being gay. Not for being a newbie. Not for wanting to play a sport.

I had finally found my intersectional safe space - somewhere that I didn't have to hide or alter any aspect of who I am to meet expectations. It's something that I hope everyone gets to experience at some point.

#hockey #gay hockey #check please #arizona legacy pride hockey association #queer sports

[foxnate28]

Intersectionality is the belief that oppressions are interlinked and cannot be solved alone.

Intersectionality: A Fun Guide

I am a white, cisgender, gay man. One of my best friends is a black nonbinary queer person. We're both queer, which means we can identify with each other through the unique experience of growing up queer together in the modern United States and in an environment that wasn't the most accepting of us.

But because we're members of a different race, they also have experiences that I can't relate to, and I have experiences they can't relate to. Does that mean that I should only try to understand my friend as queer because that's the demographic we have in common?

No.

What this means is that when my friend talks about their experience as a queer person of color, I should listen. I don't have to identify with everything my friend does, nor do they have to identify with everything I do. And that's how it should be - Acknowledging the intersectionality of the human experience is important; it allows us all to reach out and connect with others, even if we don't share the same experiences across the board.

#intersectionality #the queer experience

[foxnate28]

This week, my class talked a lot about intersectionality, and a lot of the discussion was focused mainly towards Black Twitter. Black Twitter is a great space for people of color to be themselves and to discuss things that affect their community as a whole, or just to be funny, and has been the source of memes and trends for years.

Twitter as a whole is an interesting space because it allows for this to happen not just with people of color, but with any group. That's why I'm looking this week at Gay Twitter.

Gay Twitter is often criticized as just vain men posting thirst traps, but there's a lot more beyond that - queer culture (particularly in the US) involves a lot of fear and anxiety about simply being who we are, and Gay Twitter offers a safe space of sorts where queer people can talk and joke about the unique experience of being a queer person in the modern age.

Whether it's lamenting that the person you're crushing on isn't playing for the same team or making a joke about a moment in your childhood where you go "Whoa, how did I not know it then?", Gay Twitter offers a safe space for queer people to interact with each other and have meaningful conversations where they may not have that ability in their real lives.

#gay twitter #the queer experience #intersectionality #minorities in the us