“Yes, that is me in HEELS! #LGBT #selflove”: Exploring LGBT Identity, Disclosure and Authenticity in Social Media Posts

To this day LGBT and queer communities experience marginalisation, and discrimination and remain understudied and underrepresented across research. Consequently, there is a lack of resources, education and protection for these groups. It is necessary to represent their voices and lived experiences in research. Studying LGBT and queer populations is essential to understanding how they cope with these adversities. Research on LGBT communities in the context of self-love could give insights into how they learn to overcome internalised prejudice and cultivate self-love and authentic self-expression despite marginalisation. Individuals turn to social media to explore and share aspects of their queer identities. Therefore, this study aims to highlight the voices of LGBT individuals to uncover how they navigate and express their LGBT identity development. This study focuses on social media narratives to understand protective factors like authenticity and positive LGBT identity within the...Show moreTo this day LGBT and queer communities experience marginalisation, and discrimination and remain understudied and underrepresented across research. Consequently, there is a lack of resources, education and protection for these groups. It is necessary to represent their voices and lived experiences in research. Studying LGBT and queer populations is essential to understanding how they cope with these adversities. Research on LGBT communities in the context of self-love could give insights into how they learn to overcome internalised prejudice and cultivate self-love and authentic self-expression despite marginalisation. Individuals turn to social media to explore and share aspects of their queer identities. Therefore, this study aims to highlight the voices of LGBT individuals to uncover how they navigate and express their LGBT identity development. This study focuses on social media narratives to understand protective factors like authenticity and positive LGBT identity within the context of self-love. To achieve this, this study used a mixed-methods cross-sectional approach. By performing a qualitative content analysis, we identified themes across social media posts from Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) within the year 2019 that contained the hashtags #lgbt and #selflove (n = 723). The study also included a quantitative Chi-square analysis to investigate the association between posts that contain authentic views of the self and posts that 1) mention positive LGBT identity and 2) contain a personal tone of the post. Results of the content analysis revealed that the top five themes out of 26 themes discussed within #lgbt and #selflove posts were: 1) posts disclosing a personal story, 2) posts talking about identity pride and 3) identity integration, 4) posts written in a prosocial and 5) encouraging manner. Results also showed a statistically significant association about positive LGBT identity and authentic self-perception. No statistically significant association was found between posts about authentic self-perception and personal tone of post. The study brings forward the conversations that are shared within the context of LGBT and self- love on social media posts. It underscores the significance of social media as a place to express LGBT or queer identities and foster community support. It highlights the importance of research and mental health environments focusing on helping LGBT and queer individuals cultivate self-love and embrace their identities, which have often been neglected or associated with feelings of shame and discrimination.Show less

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“Yes, that is me in HEELS! #LGBT #selflove”: Exploring LGBT Identity, Disclosure and Authenticity in Social Media Posts