A man with boundaries

The meme and its tough masculinity could have also symbolized Rebel reasserting himself as indeed, a man, with boundaries. The use of memes and quotes downloaded from the Internet and the use of aesthetic technology helped to cut through physical space to create intimate connections and self-expression. Rebel’s use of the meme exemplified the masculinity of individuals like Rebel, whose use of WhatsApp worked as both a process of confirming his subjectivity and was a part of counterpublic. Existing literature looks at the Internet as a space to create counterdiscourses and counterpublics for queer women in Africa, and literature which similarly looks at ways in which queer youth in the rural United States also uses virtual platforms as counterpublic spaces. Despite the tom and femme binary seemingly echoing heteronormative dichotomous relationships, a stemme also exists in urban Accra, echoing alternatives and a messiness regarding binary conceptions of gender and sexuality, which are quite common within intimate relations in varying contexts.