Tiktok made me gay
TikTok's algorithm is making women who've only dated men realize they're queer
Alayna Fender was scrolling through TikTok on her sofa when she fell into uncontrollable sobs. Her ex-fiancé and partner of 10 years had moved out two weeks earlier, but Fender wasn't crying because she missed him.
Instead, Fender had been moved to tears by a TikTok video of two lesbians in love.
"I thought, 'Oh, I desire that could be me, but it's not my life. I made my choice.' Then I paused and realized, 'Wait a minute. That could be my life now,'" Fender told Insider.
Before joining TikTok in , Fender had identified as bisexual for six years. But she said she stuffed down her feelings about women and focused on dating men.
As the app's algorithm showed her video after video of feminine-presenting lesbians — women who looked like her, but who rarely appear in traditional media — she was filled with emotion.
"Every time I went on TikTok, I was faced with these feelings," Fender said. "I was faced with these other people who were living a life that I wished I could be living.
Dance Moms? Hit. Candace Cameron Bure? A definite miss. Gentle butch lesbians? Sort of—at least in an aspirational instinct. Wanda Maximoff? Another hit—and you’ve sunk my algorithmic battleship.
Although I’ve been researching digital culture and social media for years, the correctness is that I’m fairly new to TikTok, and the app is very obviously doing its best to figure me out. As seen in the topics it’s repeatedly shown me above, that algorithm still has a lot to learn. While TikTok’s algorithms are complex and, at times, difficult to wrap one’s leader around, the reason why I finally decided to download the app is simple and straightforward. A distinct niche of TikTok users have taken to sharing how the app’s personalized recommendations, through its For You Page (or “FYP”), have helped them to identify new dimensions of their identity and, in particular, their sexuality. These narratives have moved beyond the TikTok app, as they’re discussed and shared across Reddit forums, Twitter threads and even The Vergecast podcast.
I’ve always been intrigued by our online modes of self-discov
TikTok thinks I’m gay. How could it know before I knew?
Sarah Kelly was getting a divorce from her husband – a "COVID divorce," as it were – and resigned herself to the idea of a spinsterly existence. But a year later, sleepy of that, she began mulling over her future. She simultaneously downloaded TikTok.
What (rather, who) started to crowd her feed? Lesbians. Did that mean could it be was Kelly actually a lesbian too?
Yes.
"Seeing people who came out later in life and that that narrative was a possibility also really helped me feel more relaxed in this space," says the year-old.
Social media apps love TikTok use algorithms to determine the content they show you, and some users say the results clued them in on the truth that they were queer before they realized it themselves. Experts say it's not appreciate these platforms can actually narrate you you're LGBTQ – but they evidently could awaken what you've been missing.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle."Platforms like TikTok grab up on your passive behaviors, like the amount of time you keep on a video befo
TikTok Made Me (Realize I Was) Gay
Picture it: Together States, January I’m talking with my co-workers about this new app, TikTok. All of us who lived through the soar and fall of Vine, the now-defunct social media app also structured around shortened video, knew that TikTok would succeed in spreading the funny, foolish, insane moments of experience. What we didn’t perceive is just how much it would consume our lives over the next six months, virtually altering how we socialize entirely—and maybe even changing how we identify ourselves.
TikTok and You: The Care and Keeping of Artificial Intelligence
For those who didn’t grasp, TikTok saw a 58 percent boom in global downloads during the first quarter of , right as the pandemic forced us inside and online. Our viral use of TikTok echoed the increase of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which only furthered its success. When we couldn’t hang out with our friends, we made friends online. If we couldn’t go to a cooking class, we could monitor @thehealchef prepare another basic , exquisite dish. And the more hours we spent watching videos, the more we gave TikTok’s