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Neo-Identities in Non-Cisgender, Non-Straight Communities on Tumblr FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD: NEO-IDENTITIES IN NON-CISGENDER, NON- STRAIGHT COMMUNITIES ON TUMBLR by Christine Feraday Bachelor of Science, University of Toronto, 2014 A thesis presented to Ryerson University and York University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Program of Communication and Culture Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2016 © Christine Feraday 2016 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A THESIS I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this thesis to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this thesis by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract Non-cisgender and non-straight identity language has long been a site of contention and evolution. There has been an increase in new non-cisgender, non-straight identity words since the creation of the internet, thanks to social media platforms like Tumblr. Tumblr in particular has been host to many conversations about identity and self-naming, though these conversations have not yet been the subject of much academic research. Through interviews and analysis of Tumblr posts, this thesis examines the emergence of new identity words, or neo-identities, used by non-cisgender and non-straight users of Tumblr. The work presents neo-identities as strategies for resisting and challenging cisheteronormative conceptions of gender and attraction, as well as sources of comfort and relief for non-cisgender/non-straight people who feel ‘broken’ and excluded from mainstream identity categories. This thesis also posits that Tumblr is uniquely suited for conversations about identity because of its potential for self-expression, community, and anonymity. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Susan Driver, for her guidance and encouragement throughout this project. I also want to thank my committee members, Dr. Paul Moore and Dr. Jamin Pelkey, for their advice and enthusiasm about my work. Without this team of amazing people to guide me, this project wouldn’t have been possible. I want to thank everyone who took part in the interviews for their excitement, their willingness to share, and their thoughtful perspectives. I’m very lucky to have been a part of so many great, exciting conversations. Thank you to the family and friends who have supported me in my work and helped me through this process. Thank you especially to my partner Z for encouraging me to keep going, pushing me to improve, and staying up all night editing with me. I couldn’t have done this without you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 1 OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................................. 2 SHIFT HAPPENS ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO NEO-IDENTITIES............................................................................................. 6 HISTORY OF NEO-IDENTITIES ..................................................................................................................................... 9 WHY NEO-IDENTITIES MATTER ............................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 2: TRANSFORMING IDENTITY LANGUAGE ONLINE .......................................................................... 14 INEQUALITIES THROUGH LANGUAGE ........................................................................................................................ 14 LANGUAGE AS SUBVERSIVE ..................................................................................................................................... 17 TRANSGRESSIVE ONLINE SPACES .............................................................................................................................. 20 NON-CIS AND NON-STRAIGHT PEOPLE ON TUMBLR ................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 3: WHAT IS TUMBLR? ..................................................................................................................... 24 HOW DOES TUMBLR WORK? ................................................................................................................................. 24 EVOLUTION AND BUYOUT ....................................................................................................................................... 29 COMMUNITIES ON TUMBLR .................................................................................................................................... 30 TUMBLR AS A TRANSGRESSIVE SPACE ....................................................................................................................... 31 CRITIQUE AND BACKLASH AGAINST NEO-IDENTITIES ................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 4: THE ETHICS OF EMBEDDED RESEARCH ON TUMBLR ................................................................... 42 STYLISTIC ACCESSIBILITY ......................................................................................................................................... 45 CONTENT ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................... 47 INTERVIEWS ......................................................................................................................................................... 49 PARTICIPANTS ....................................................................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER 5: RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................... 56 PART I: “MAKING OUR OWN BOXES”: NEO-IDENTITIES ON TUMBLR ............................................................................ 56 Creating a More Nuanced Model of Attraction .......................................................................................... 58 Gender Beyond Male and Female ............................................................................................................... 62 Challenging Damaging Cultural Norms ...................................................................................................... 65 PART II: THE RISE OF NEO-IDENTITIES ...................................................................................................................... 67 Acceptance and Visibility ............................................................................................................................. 68 Out of the Closet and Onto the Web ........................................................................................................... 71 Why Tumblr? ................................................................................................................................................ 73 PART III: THE UTILITY OF LABELS AND NEO-IDENTITIES ............................................................................................... 82 Labels Aren’t for Everyone ........................................................................................................................... 82 Lost in Translation ........................................................................................................................................ 86 The Limitations of Language ....................................................................................................................... 88 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................. 91 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH .................................................................................................................... 92 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................................................ 95 v Introduction “You will want to cry. Because after searching and searching you have found a word to validate how you feel, to tell you that you are not alone, you are not broken, there is a word for people like you and it is okay.” Nita Tyndall, “How It Feels to Discover You’re Demisexual” In a letter to her younger self, Nita Tyndall writes about the tumultuous experience of growing up demisexual. Demisexuality is an asexual1 spectrum identity, and describes the inability to experience sexual attraction until a strong emotional bond is formed with someone. For Tyndall, much of her youth is characterized by confusion and misunderstanding, because she’s unable to match a word to her experience: “You don’t understand a lot. You don’t understand the crushes so many of your friends
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