UCLA

My thesis, entitled, “High-Value Cyber Identities: Radical Traditionalism of Black Gender Performance in Digital Spaces” investigates the rise of gendered content produced by cisgender heterosexual Black people who have been gaining popularity that reify society’s views on gender identity and gender performance. The political and economic climate that developed in the United States in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic made way for radical movements such as the Black manosphere and the soft life movement among Black cisgender heterosexual identifying people in digital spaces. Through digital spaces, Black people who participate in this movement are able to reenvision their place in the gender hierarchy online.