Fair enough - I don’t have one. At least not to hand. There has been a LOT of reporting about misinformation, disinformation, and fucked up cultural trends unique to TikTok, but I used that phrase hyperbolically to reinforce my actual point: that it is literally impossible to cite sources on TikTok, making it the only social network where credible, knowledgeable, expert, and authoritative creators cannot in principle be distinguished from hoeseshit.

Ayyy that person can go eat hog turds alone in a field

You’re worthy of respect and as real a woman as anyone alive. Sorry for the shitty Pride experience. There are Pride events that aren’t like that, I swear. My local Boston Block Party is mostly weed stores and a killer drag show. Wishing you happier Prides and reciprocated trust in the near future.

If TikTok starts allowing standard hyperlinks it would dramatically reduce the platform’s peak harm potential. Tiktok’s single biggest problem rn is that it is literally impossible to cite your sources - that’s why it’s the runaway global leader for misinformation. Adding text would help, bringing it back down to regular Facebook levels of social erosion and election distortion.

95% of people definitely aren’t hetero though. Or anyway, they aren’t cisgender and straight and vanilla and mainstream in every other possible way related to sex and gender. We have no idea how many people are queer, but it’s a lot more than 5%, and we won’t know what the actual numbers are like until there have been several generations that are very queer accepting.

I agree that cashing in is at least important part of this. As I understand it, however, past a certain point creating and using LLMs is in fact extremely expensive. That’s why GPT4 limits user interactions, for example. I also think that the more restricted these tools are in general, the better for everyone. It’s absolutely possible to use them in positive ways, but as it stamps they are mostly just flooding the internet with garbage at killing low level content jobs.

Agatha Christie is queen of fun, quick reads. Terry Pratchett is also perfect.

I think everything you’re saying makes lots of sense. The only thing I want to add is that the discomfort and confusion you’re dealing with around this isn’t because of you. You live in an intolerant, homophobic society and you’re trying to figure out how to treat people well who are marginalized and excluded by that society.

It’s genuinely difficult, because you have to choose which social norms to ignore, which to try to change, and which to follow. Doing that with grace is very hard. And putting in effort is the single most important thing.

Yeah dude! It can help to watch queer things - maybe try Unhhhh, Ru Paul, or Queer Eye? Just to sort of…help you feel familiar with what you’re seeing and hearing. Being aware of queer ideas and spaces and vocab is probably the #1 thing here.

Otherwise, if something like rainbow pins and stickers are too overt, and ditto earrings or nail polish, you could consider just sort of…looking fashionable. Hair and skin, nice shoes, well fitted clothes, color and flair, all of that (at least to me) signifies “I didn’t vote for trump and I know what a French tuck is.” Obviously not a failsafe metric, but it can help.

It doesn’t take a lot to show you’re safe, most of the time. Another good option is, if the chance comes up w/o busting into other people’s spaces, put yourself out there a little or offer a complement or a supportive remark.

Okay last thing. To really be safe, and be an ally, you may need to confront members of your family who pose a threat/risk to queer people in public. Telling off your homophobic aunt is a GOOD way to show who you are.

Holy cow, thanks for posting! I had no idea :)