Transition Art.

As 2020s impending madness creeped upon us, I decided to download TikTok. I primarily made it to browse political content. My For You page flooded with feminism, Black Lives Matter and, of course, the odd cat video. I found myself addicted to the content, ever swiping. Video after video after... you guessed it! Video. However, one day it struck, as my girlfriend was making us dinner, to make a TikTok. This TikTok would be made in honour of our love, it would be made to see her smile at me as she came back with food for us to share and it would take me all of five minutes to edit.

My partner is a wonderful transgender woman. She came out around two years into our romance. We love to get art comisisoned of us (by eelbunny) and I thought it would be a fabulous idea to compare art from before she transitioned to after she began transitioning.

We are always surprising each other in little sentimental ways like that. Little did I know it would begin to blow up immediately after I hit post. 4000 views to 587.6k in a matter of hours. Supportive comments about her, our relationship, LGBTQ+ people and allies blowing up my phone.

I even had people in similar relationships messaging us for advice. Those messages warmed my heart, I’m no expert but it’s nice to talk to similar couples and even ask them for advice too!

Of course with all the amazing support came the occasional transphobic or homophobic comment. Although the comments initially stung, they were no match for the army of LGBTQ+ viewers and allies. They heroically flooded each hate comment with sassy replies, making Ruby and I laugh endlessly. It’s simply amazing that I can talk about my love for my girlfriend, in a simple 15 second video and receive so much passion from the viewers. People who don’t even know us, making us feel welcome and safe in the TikTok community.

LGBTQ+ representation is slim but on the rise and TikTok is a monumental app for creators who fall into that category.

When I was a teenager, I didn’t have a source like this at my finger tips, where I could see content from other bisexual people my age and up. As a result it took me a long time to figure out who I was and what I liked. Granted, I’m only 20, but with apps like this, more young people are seeing others exactly like them. Young people today are more aware they have a community, an online support system. A community full of talented, loving, caring and compassionate LGBTQ+ creators.

Charlie Demelio, the biggest star on TikTok, is a huge ally. She frequently comments under LGBTQ+ videos with positive statements and isn’t shy about her progressive beliefs on Twitter. For people to see such a huge celebrity supporting them is tremendously awesome and highlighting to kids who don’t fall under LGBTQ+ that it’s cool to be an ally! Nothing brings me more joy than to scroll through the app and find an out and proud lesbian couple, or a drag artist, or a gay man talking about the history of gay culture. The diversity is astounding.

The very fact that our video made people feel the same way I do when I watch that type of content still baffles me months later.

I’ve since gained a following of almost 8000 people from that video. I love to make acting TikToks but my real passion is to get political on the app. The content I indulge in has become what I post.

An example of the political content I enjoy filming is the TikTok above. In this TikTok I use a piece of feminist art to portray the narrative, that feminism isn’t about hating men, but instead being equal to them. My motivation for creating this was the astronomical number of men posting about how feminists only want ‘superiority’ or to ‘hate on men’. These comments deeply upset me because it isn’t the case at all! There are extemists, of course, but they aren’t real feminists. As my feelings of sadness over these comments began to fester, I put my foot down and decided to try and inform some viewers. The video reached a lot of people, with 13k of them liking the post. Yes, I did receive some backlash from anti-feminist individuals but I also had a lot of men commenting, recognising that real feminism isn’t about hating a whole gender.

Everytime I post a video and it makes someone happy or more informed than when they opened the app, I’m filled with a great sense of productivity. TikTok awakened the activist in me, and like many others, kept me sane during lockdown. Crazy, how that all started with my partner leaving the room to make me a bowl of spaghetti.