Jumping the Gun: Uncritical Trans Ally Artivism Post-HB2

Abstract

Heated debates on social networking sites in the spring and summer of 2016 concerning the rights of transgender bodies to appear in gender-segregated public spaces continued in state legislatures, mass media, and online. In this article, I focus on three cases of visual aliteracy in which LGBTQ+ allies sought ways to help spread information through social media in efforts to support transgender communities. Efforts often included creating or sharing artivist multimedia or memes found on popular online media outlets. In some instances, well-intentioned allies and trans people hinder trans communities’ social and political progress through hasty image creation and uncritical image sharing on social networking sites. Thus, socially responsive art education in the digital age is tasked with teaching visual literacy specific to trans-related imagery as well as to consider why such literacy matters for improving allyship and creating affirming spaces for trans people.