ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses how "the performance of identity tourists exemplify the consumption and commodification of racial difference" is parallel to the ways in which identity tourists "exemplify the consumption and commodification" of sexuality and transgenderism. It explores how three queer users occupy and perceive social media spaces (SMS). The chapter describes how the queer users disidentify within and outside of the spaces to stay safe and make pride accessible. When place-making practices of social media are functionally heteronormative and interface values of straight users, queer users must find ways to survive and feel safe. A space must be highly flexible for a queer person to feel safe, to perform queer visibility as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-identified person. Jordan Canzonetta identifies as a bisexual or queer woman in the Pacific Northwest and views flexibility as crucial. Each digital space affords different functions that allow Jordan to express her sexuality and find community. Martha McCaughey indicates a desire for presence and a desire for safety in SMS. Visual rhetoric on the social media interface serves to authenticate queerness.