There is evidence of queer relationships dating back to even the earliest civilizations. As time has evolved the way queer people found each other has changed as well. The mid 20th century had code phrases such as “friend of Dorothy,” whereas the 80s and 90s had ear piercing code signals. As time has advanced, being gay has become less of a thing people feel they need to hide, therefore the “indicators” have become more bold and apparent. Nowadays, social media allows people to subtly display their identities in ways not previously possible. These ways include multiple hashtags across various platforms, one of the largest posted to hashtag being #WLW. This stands for “Women loving woman” and has become a space for queer women to express themselves. It started as a place where people exclusively posted about the sapphic experience but has become a digital space that includes pop culture and visual aesthetics that are often consumed by queer women.
Spaces like this are critical to oppressed communities, such as queer people. Especially those who live in areas where they do not interact with many other openly queer people, social media allowing them to have Insight on other people's experiences can be a lifesaver. However, there are inherent dangers to communities like this. As previously mentioned many videos under this hashtag are not about being gay but about day to day life that just adds the hashtag and the caption as an indicator to people of their preferences. Well this is really empowering, the dangers of doing this should not be overlooked. By nature, posting something on the Internet runs the risk that people will see it and may behave violently towards the community.
With that being said the very reason these online communities began had a large impact to do with people not finding queer spaces in real life. As stated earlier, there are many branches of this hashtag. Some of these branches are in fact just talking about the experience of being Sapphic, other branches are looking to connect with other queer women. An area of this hashtag that I find very interesting is the way it ties into pop culture. scrolling through this hashtag you will find videos of people lip syncing to artists and songs that are not meant to be queer. However, in finding a community these women have also found art that resonates with them, whether or not that was the artist's intention.
With this, many people who find themselves Seeing many videos under this hashtag find their taste in media impacted. One example of this is a stereotype that has become increasingly more well-known over the years, that the Irish artist Hozier has a large lesbian fan base. Hozier is a cisgendered straight man who writes songs about women, and yet looking up his name will take you to multiple articles analyzing this phenomena of his fan base being mostly lesbians. realistically there are many factors to this however in situations like these the power of social media cannot be dismissed.
In conclusion, faces like this are vital to Young people's growing up, though it is undeniable that taking part in these communities can pose real world safety hazards.This does not just go for this hashtag but any hashtag dealing with identity in any capacity.