Self-Made This Way?: Emily Lim Rogers at TEDxSLC

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• published: 10 Jul 2013
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Emily hails from Vienna, Virginia. Her academic interests include LGBT studies, gender studies, new media, and economics. She is also a member of Student Senate and Curriculum Committee. After graduation, she hopes to pursue graduate work in American Studies. Knowing no other gay kids, without accepting parents, having no Gay-Straight Alliance in their schools, living far away from the "gay meccas" San Francisco and New York, and being too young to enter a gay bar--how do the many queer youth who fit this profile know what it is like to be gay? How do they know what a "coming out story" is, and how to have and retell one of their own? what "transgender" means and if they identify that way? whether they are "butch lesbians" or "femmes"—and how to dress accordingly? and, perhaps most importantly: how do they know they are not alone? With no physical space to turn to, how do queer youth like this (perhaps the majority of queer youth in the United states) develop ideas about their identities? I ultimately answer: the Internet, a virtual space through which queer youth get ideas about, perform, practice, and fine-tune their identities. The interworking of what happens mediated by the screen is overlooked as we consider these elements of our identity as "natural" or even genetic, or that we were "Born This Way," as Lady Gaga tells us. Internet community is a radically different means for an entire generation of queer people to understand their identities. While self-making via the Internet allows for unprecedented access to "queer social spaces" (virtual or not), it can tend to reinforce certain, hegemonic notions of sexuality (and of "how to be correctly gay"). Regardless, if we keep assuming everyone is "Born This Way" all the same, without really defining what we mean by "this way" in the first place, we may miss the ways in which these critical and formative experiences hidden behind screens have had and will continue to have a huge impact on the identities of an entire generation. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)