Best Of Tumblr: An Amazing Space For Conversations About Gender, Sex And Sexuality
From housing the Monets and Helnweins of the digital age, to developing its own constantly-updating inside jokes (read: meme of the month), from committed pre-election debates to nuanced conversation on gender inequality and race politics, hilarious shitposting to truly moving reflections on life, the universe and everything — this website has it all. Oh, and did we mention it’s where fandoms collide? It’s a community like no other, and you best believe its user base takes pride in that. If you haven’t guessed it by now — and chances are that’s because you’re not in the club already — we’re talking about Tumblr.
Redefining The World, One Reblog At A Time
Tumblr was started in 2007 by American web-developer David Karp, as a micro-blogging platform (not unlike Twitter) that grew into so much more. Supporting a variety of media — video, audio, image and text — the website has carved for itself a very special place on the internet.
Often accused of being a hotbed for social justice warriors (like that’s such a bad thing), Tumblr has plenty of times served as a learning and dialogue space for a vast number of topics, and in particular those topics that our schools or workplaces won’t give us, whether by omission or deliberately.
The user base saw a 94% spike in the last year alone, and it’s not surprising to see so many people, of all ages, races, gender alignments and nationalities, flocking to it for its vibrancy and inclusiveness. The spike must account for brand new users, but there’s an interesting phenomenon happening parallel. Already registered Tumblr bloggers have been creating additional ‘side blogs’ with specific purposes. There’s those that curate art or showcase the blogger’s own creations; there’s those geared toward online activism and networking; others, through the anonymity provided by Tumblr, build safe spaces for talking about LGBT+ issues, mental and physical disability, sexual violence, and more. It’s kind of a combination of support system and a vehicle for issues oft ignored by traditional media outlets. And what’s great is how viral a lot of this content becomes. Queer readings of literary and visual culture are some of the most widely ‘reblogged’ posts. Artists like Mikhaila Nodel, who created ‘Cosmic Cuties,’ had their start on Tumblr, garnering a large and active fan base. Testament to this virality is how so many Tumblr text post screenshots actually end up on Facebook!
A Sense Of Community
While Tumblr visibility does seem to be growing this way, there is a marked difference in user experiences between this cosy little corner of the internet and a network like Facebook. Of course there are exceptions, but it’s kind of like everybody sitting at the same table as opposed to sitting on opposite ends of the cafeteria. Even though its real-time messaging feature has only recently gone live, the back-and-forths between multiple users have always taken place. Tumblr has a unique way of compiling comments on original posts that are (if the issue at hand is urgent) coherent, build up on one another, and in many ways evolve the conversation. See for yourself!
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Oh, and it’s in depth analysis of pop culture? You may as well transform those into your postgraduate dissertation proposals, because they really are that good.
10/10 Would Recommend!
It’s been 8 years since this website went up, and not only has it opened up so many areas, but it’s also sharpened a lot of people’s positions on things. The accessibility of Tumblr, language wise and format wise (who wouldn’t learn from a few good gifsets?) has actually been able to break down complex discourse into something tangible and relatable. The Business Insider revealed that users between the ages of 13 and 25 were on Tumblr more often than others, and found that 46% of Tumblr users were between 16 and 24. In effect, the platform introduces them a lot of mature (read: important, sophisticated, often complex) material where other formal institutions just won’t. Kids are more likely to learn about sexual health from web-comics than austere chalkboards in class. Maybe you’re thinking, hey that’s pretty cool, but there are two drawbacks to this. First, by virtue of being one of the many tentacles of that leviathan known as the Interwebs, it runs the risk of taking on burdens that school lessons, or family elders won’t broach. Second, given that it is not a closely moderated space, and not everyone stops to verify or cross-check the content they consume, there could be irresponsible elements that are counterproductive to all things well-intentioned. But still, we have to anticipate these risks, and for the most part, I hope we do.
So what can one take away from Tumblr, exactly? While obviously not an e-learning website in any shape or form, it has certainly become a preferred entry point for many into political theory, gender and minority studies, ecology and a whole lot more. You’ve really gotta see it to believe it, and that’s why we’re bringing you some of the very best of Tumblr in this new series. Interested? Stick around. And don’t forget to reblog!