Navigating, Advocating, and Strategizing: Exploring Social Media Practices of Netherlands-Based LGBTQIA+ Youth of Color

Positioned at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, LGBTQIA+ youth of color in predominantly White societies may encounter forms of discrimination and exclusion distinct from those experienced by White LGBTQIA+ youth. In the Netherlands, which holds global prominence in the area of LGBTQIA+ rights as the first country to legalize same-sex marriage, mainstream LGBTQIA+ movements, events, policies, and interventions have often been criticized for their White representation of LGBTQIA+ people, overlooking the country’s ethnic diversity. For LGBTQIA+ people of color, this can contribute to experiences of social invisibility, as they may fall outside dominant conceptions of their respective identity groups. In recent years, however, increased connectivity, facilitated by the widespread adoption of smartphones and social media, has enabled many younger LGBTQIA+ people of color who experience such intersectional invisibility to more easily connect with like-minded others who share similar identities and lived experiences, regardless of geographical location. Drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 37 Netherlands-based LGBTQIA+ youth of color, aged 16–26, this paper explores how social media engagement shapes these youth’s everyday lives, particularly in navigating experiences of discrimination and marginalization, seeking peer support, and finding strength and joy. So far, this group has received little attention in Dutch scholarship.<br/><br/>While public and academic discussions on youth and social media often highlight negative mental health effects of social media use, this focus risks obscuring the heterogeneity of youth as a group and the positive roles social media can play in the lives of marginalized youth. Our preliminary findings reveal various important social purposes of social media in participants’ lives, including meeting peers, finding support, seeking advice, building community, accessing resources, maintaining existing social relationships, and sharing (self-)advocatory messages. Different platforms can play complementary roles, such as Reddit in finding targeted advice, dating platforms and/or Snapchat in facilitating new friendships and intimate connections, and Tumblr and Discord in accessing communities based on shared interests and/or identities.<br/><br/>Despite such positive affordances, participants also indicate challenges with pressures to conform and stigmatization, specifically highlighting beauty standards reinforced through Grindr and Instagram. Many participants express a conscious and strategic engagement with platforms, tailoring their digital presence to different audiences (e.g., separating school and personal digital life) and carefully navigating public and private sharing options. The findings offer an alternative to dominant discourses focused on the harmfulness of social media, instead emphasizing both social enrichments and challenges experienced by Netherlands-based LGBTQIA+ youth of color.