YouTube Restriction on Liberation
How the “Restriction Mode” is Discouraging Personal Development of Gender Theory and Practice
During the past month, YouTube’s “restriction mode” has made itself evident in the YouTube community. The option of restricting content is to create a “family friendly” video search to filter out anything that would be deemed inappropriate or mature. For most part, it was mostly LGBT (queer) content that was being restricted, hurting the views (and revenue) of videos with queer content. This feature did not only hurt Creators, especially Creators with smaller followings, but it hurt the chance of younger people trying to have a better understanding of themselves and the people around them, which can be explained through Bell Hooks theory of using theory as liberation.
When trying to figure out my own identity, I went to YouTube to find something on the LGBT community to understand myself. In a sense, like Bell Hooks,“I came to theory because I was hurting”. She was “hurting” from all of the emotional and physical pain she felt from the misogyny and bullshit in her life. I was looking for something, I didn’t know what at the time, around the contexts of looking for something to help ease the difficulty of understanding the homophobia around me. Coming from a conservative family where gay identities are a forbidden topic to even think about let alone talk about, the pain and worry of the possibility of disappointing loved ones comes difficult to cope with for a 12-16 year old. Finding videos that questioned and had discussion of gender identity, being gay and “coming out” made me feel that I have found a safe space. The comment section, despite being imperfect at times, was the place were I could talk to other people who couldn’t talk to anyone else about their identity crisis. There was a calming sense to know that there were other people to discuss what theory.
I believe that the beauty of these videos are that they are easy to understand in a simplified manner. It is nice to have something made for everyday people because “what use is feminist theory that assaults the fragile psyches of [queer people] struggling to throw off patriarchy’s oppressive yoke.”.In other terms, what is the use to have theory that can make someone feel inferior because they are unable to understand theory. I believe that the beauty of these videos are that they are easy to understand in a simplified manner. I mean it allowed my 16 year old self understand and engage with people on the topic of themselves. I feel like Hooks would appreciate that it is almost accessible to everyone, and the people who have the privilege to watch the videos can easily understand them. The reason why it is comprehendible is because the creators are just everyday people talking about their lived experiences on a platform that is basically an active archive. Having something that is able to be absorb within watching a video at least two times allows people to be able to spend time to ponder on the theory and apply it to their own lives and experiences. They don’t have to spend time on trying to figure out what it is being said.
Why is it disappointing to see YouTube having LGBT and Feminist content, and entire YouTube Channels, blocked from young people? It disrupts the practice of using theory as a way of gaining through a sense of liberation, and reinforces the thought that gay and queer people are deemed inappropriate. When the videos are restricted, by either public schools, libraries, or parents, they are restricting a safe place that young people who have to rely on the internet can no longer put the theories in practice in discussion. Restricting content that discusses gender, sexuality, and other experiences within the LGBT YouTube community is not letting people to be exposed to feminist theory, which completely erases the ability to heal the pain, let alone have anything to put into practice.
YouTube is a platform that can be used for liberation. People, of all ages, are using their own lived experiences to theorize and understand their own pain. All of the creators use language that is comprehendible to practically anyone. Then, viewers are able to use the comment section on the video to have a discussion that they may not be able to have in person. Hopefully, they can have enough solidarity online to be able to have the courage to apply it to their own lives. Hopefully, YouTube can fix the algorithm to not restrict videos and channels on the basis that there is a woman talking about her “lesbian crushes” or simply a same gender couple giving the slightest display affection. LGBT and feminist content creators can help mend some wounds and have safe spaces for people who are hurting from at least one societal weapon. It gives young people the tools to be liberated, if they choose so.
