Latine/x LGBTQ+ TikTok Counterspaces as Learning Communities Fostering Counternarratives and Intersectional Identities

• In Event: Wellness, Healing, Joy, and Resistance at the Intersections of Racial, Gender, and Sexual Identities

Abstract

Latine/x LGBTQ+ youth and young adults experience invisibility and intersectional discrimination within Latine/x, LGBTQ+, and mainstream cultures. Latine/x LGBTQ+ YYA have reported seeking out social media contexts to navigate intersectional discrimination and support and the development of their intersectional identities (AUTHORS, 2023). Using ecologies of adaptation (AUTHOR 1, 2016) and Borderlands theory (Anzaldúa, 1987) as theoretical frameworks, the present study examines TikTok as a digital Borderland (Anzaldúa, 1987) where Latine/x LGBTQ+ YYA develop and learn strategies to navigate intersectional discrimination and invisibility. Our findings showed Latine/x LGBTQ+ content creators use TikTok to develop strategies to navigate intersectional discrimination and invisibility at macrosystem, exosystem, micro- and mesosystems.

Authors

• Gloriana Lopez-Leon, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Saskias Casanova, University of California - Santa Cruz