2024/09/10 by Eve Ng · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Social Media and Politics #LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy #Asian Culture and Media Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/15405702.2024.2395392
openalex publication_date 2024/09/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
Transphobic discourses have become prominent even as media representations of gender non-conformity have increased, demonstrating the paradoxes of media visibility for the status of minority groups. Illustrating this phenomenon, transphobic commentary proliferates on two iterations of The L Chat (TLC), online forums centered on popular culture topics of particular interest to lesbians. Presenting a critical qualitative analysis of TLC discussion threads about actor Elliot Page, and transgender and nonbinary identities, activism, and politics, this article identifies how these contribute to what is theorized as a broader global phenomenon of networked transphobia. While some of the themes identified overlap with those found in other research on transphobia, the TLC threads reflect complexities arising from the posters’ political positionalities, and suggest that the circulation of regressive discourses on sex and gender attain distinct specificities at particular online spaces, including discussions filtered through interests in popular culture.