It’s undeniable that social media has become a large facet of our lives, especially in more recent years. Because this is the case, we may be exposed to identities, gender presentations, relationship styles, etc. that we never would have considered before! Plenty of gender transitions and coming-out experiences have even begun with a simple TikTok algorithm. If what you’re seeing on social media is sparking questions about yourself in your mind, or if the algorithm is showing you a bunch of trans or gender-nonbinary content and it’s making you do some deep thinking, here’s a little bit of advice: Just because you might be beginning your gender journey on social media, that doesn’t make it “cheaper” or “less authentic.” There are some that may argue that coming out as transgender or gender-nonbinary is some sort of “online trend” nowadays, but this is largely rooted in transphobic rhetoric. The truth is, the connection between transness and social media can be traced to the fact that if you don’t know what’s out there, you might not find it within yourself. Social media, in part, facilitates this.
The bottom line is, everyone’s experience differs in some way, and you don’t need to justify your process to anyone. More power to you in finding your true self no matter where that starts, including if your true self ends up being how you currently identify!