Table 1 - uploaded by Erica Ciszek
Content may be subject to copyright.
List of Most Popular Video Contributions to the It Gets Better Project.
Source publication
This study examines narratives of the 20 most popular video submissions to the It Gets Better Project campaign to explore how they create a shared story around lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. The results suggest that while the movement has garnered global attention from activists and scholars, much of the discour...
Context in source publication
Similar publications
ABSTRACT
Little is known about the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students attending
religious colleges and universities. This study used grounded theory
to analyze the narratives (N = 271) of LGBTQ former and current
students. The central theme described by LGBTQ students
was a fight for survival with f...
Citations
... Whereas, research focused on younger Millennials found that they are more aware of news and social issues spread on social media, actively involved in advocating social issues using social media, and perceive positive outcome expectations for social good online (Jones and Mitchell, 2016;Pearson, et al., 2016;Seelig, 2018). In addition, younger Millennials find social media easy for self-expression and connecting with others in a virtual conversation, expressing joy and discontent on various issues Ciszek, 2014;Harlow and Harp, 2012;Warren, et al., 2014). ...
... Also popular, NPOs and advocacy groups engage like-minded people with unique and creative experiences accessible through digital media and social media (Büscher, 2016;Hutchinson, 2021;Özdemir, 2012). They connect with others interested in a particular cause, such as tailoring messages to build and cultivate relationships, inspiring people through creative projects and storytelling, and aligning with businesses for philanthropic purposes that advance a cause (Ciszek, 2014;Harrison and Barthel, 2009). For example, the international organization ONE, established by Bono, the lead singer of the music group U2, is devoted to ending extreme poverty and preventable diseases, particularly in Africa. ...
... Despite past research claiming social media effectively brings awareness to important social issues and have outlined the many benefits of using social media to increase activism (Ciszek, 2014;Hutchinson, 2021;Özdemir, 2012;Warren, et al., 2014), mainly the focus has been organization-public relationships and message-level analysis, not how or if social media motivates awareness online and willingness to engage in-person (Boulianne, 2019;Guo and Saxton, 2018;Seelig, 2018;Skoric, et al., 2016) (Anderson, et al., 2018;Debevec, et al., 2013;Jones and Mitchell, 2016;Lee, 2020;Parker, et al., 2019), we know little about how actively they are engaging in behaviors online and the likelihood of engagement off-line. As such, this investigation attempts to answer the following broader questions: ...
Past research has been inconsistent about how awareness and social activism influence young adults’ likelihood of virtual or in-person engagement. The present study thus conducted a national survey of young adults to examine further how social media use, attitudes toward technology, civic-mindedness, social norms, and other factors influence digital engagement, and if online behaviors translate to a willingness to partake in off-line activities supporting a cause. Overall, the findings reveal social media increases awareness of issues, young adults engage and connect with others about social issues online, and perceive positive outcome expectations for social good online. More importantly, this research indicates that young adults are willing to engage online for social causes, and these behaviors are starting to translate to engagement off-line. The study findings also provide important implications for NPOs and advocacy groups on how to design messages for social media advocating specific conditions for people to partake in social activism for the greater good.
... I constructed these questions mindful of victim tropes popular in both homophobic and anti-homophobic representations of gender-and sexually diverse young people (Cover, 2012;Marshall, 2010;Rasmussen, 2006;Rofes, 2004;Savin-Williams, 2005). I was critical of such representations because they portray queer subjects as wounded, with queerness linked to inherent damage and injury (Harwood, 2004: 467), and a need for salvation (Bryan and Mayock, 2014;Ciszek, 2014;Marshall, 2010). At the same time, I did not want to reinforce a neoliberal version of a subject who is framed as completely free to be and do what they want (Cover, 2012(Cover, , 2013McDermott and Roen, 2016). ...
Despite a plethora of existing literature on the topic of suicide, very little attention has been given to research ethics in practice in research on suicide. When suicide research does pay attention to the ethical issues researchers are likely to face, the focus is on the roles institutional human ethics review committees fulfil to ensure ethical conduct in all stages of research. In response to this problem, this article focuses on the philosophical relationship between qualitative methodology and research ethics in the context of researching queer youth suicide. In so doing, I draw on my experiences of interviewing gender-and sexually diverse young people about their familiarity with suicide. These experiences are based on a qualitative pilot study I conducted on queer youth suicide, which used the unstructured interview technique to collect data. Drawing on the works of Emmanuel Levinas and Judith Butler, I examine what it means to face the alterity of the suicidal ‘Other’, and what this facing entails in terms of research ethics as relational. I argue that facing reveals not only myself as more vulnerable than I anticipated, but also the suicidal ‘Other’ as agentic instead of only vulnerable and at-risk of suicide.
... In terms of video contents in the IGBP, there is one study available that analyzed the contents of Germanlanguage videos [28], and several studies on American IGBP videos [9,23,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. The Austrian IGBP was found to mainly focus on personal narratives related to coming out and instilling hope. ...
... Only few studies qualitatively examined the IGBP from the viewpoint of LGBTQ+ adolescents, and these analyses are only available for videos from the American IGBP [23]. They suggested that the project increased awareness of the problems LGBTQ+ youth have to face, but also noted a lack of attention to issues of socio-cultural diversity [30]. ...
... LGBQ+ adolescents/young adults were afraid that some overly negative situations portrayed in the videos might instill anxiety in some peers during or before their coming out if they were focused on very unique and troublesome life situations. Both LGBQ+ youth and experts feared negative effects if depicted situations appeared very negative [30]. On the other hand, participants also emphasized that narratives should not be shallow or too positive in order to enhance identification with the narrative. ...
Background
Young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer as well as other sexual/gender minorities (LGBTQ+) persons have higher rates of suicidal ideation and behavior compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers, particularly during their coming out. The “It Gets Better” project is a multi-national media campaign that aims to reduce suicide among LGBTQ+ adolescents by providing personal narratives of hope delivered by mainly adult LGBTQ+ persons. There is only little knowledge so far on how young LGBTQ+ people as well as experts in suicide prevention and counseling perceive these videos, and how to potentially improve the videos based on their perceptions.
Methods
A total of n = 19 LGBQ+ adolescents and young adults and n = 9 experts participated in focus groups to discuss perceptions of a selection of “It Gets Better” videos. Eight focus groups were conducted to assess perceptions on the process of watching the videos, possible effects on young LGBQ+ viewers in general, and suicidal LGBQ+ youth in particular, as well as factors that were relevant to their perceptions.
Results
Messages were found to be helpful in terms of promoting hope. LGBQ+ youth identified several key strategies to increase identification with messages, which they considered crucial for their effectiveness. Criticism emerged from a perceived lack of diversity in terms of portrayed sexual identities, and some shallowness in the portrayal of suicidal ideation and how things can get better. The experts’ perceptions of the videos were largely consistent with LGBQ+ youth, highlighting a positive potential of videos to support coming out and identity building processes.
Conclusions
Young people and experts view the videos as helpful and relevant, but identified several strategies to better tailor them to the needs of LGBTQ+ adolescents, including suicidal peers. The insights gained are useful to the increasing number of suicide prevention projects using personal narratives of coping delivered via media to help prevent suicide.
... As part of how life gets better, the most prominent aspects addressed in the Austrian videos were support from one's social environment, coming out to others as a tool to make things better, and being true to oneself or being self-acceptant. This is consistent with video samples from the US project, where social support and being true to oneself were the most relevant aspects of how things get better (Gal et al., 2015;Phillips, 2013), in addition to coming out (Asakura & Craig, 2014;Ciszek, 2014). A typical personal narrative that was repeatedly used started with the mentioning of changes in societal circumstances for LGBTIQ+ individuals and personal problems that eventually resolved after or during the time of coming out. ...
Background: The It Gets Better project aims to help prevent suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) adolescents. It features personal video narratives portraying how life gets better when struggling with adversities. Research on the contents of messages is scarce. Aims: We aimed to explore the content of videos in the Austrian It Gets Better project regarding the representation of various LGBTIQ+ groups and selected content characteristics. Method: A content analysis of all German-language videos was conducted ( N = 192). Messages related to coming out, stressors experienced, suicidal ideation/behavior, and on how things get better were coded. Results: Representation was strong for gay men ( n = 45; 41.7%). Coming out to others was mainly positively framed ( n = 31; 46.3%) and seen as a tool to make things better ( n = 27; 37.5%). Social support ( n = 42; 62.7%) and self-acceptance ( n = 37; 55.2%) were prevalent topics. Common stressors included a conservative setting ( n = 18, 26.9%), and fear of outing ( n = 17; 25.4%). Suicidality ( n = 9; 4.7%) and options to get professional help ( n = 7; 8.2%) were rarely addressed. Limitations: Only aspects explicitly brought up in the videos were codeable. Conclusion: Videos do not fully represent gender identities and sexual orientations. Messaging on suicidality and professional help require strengthening to tailor them better for suicide prevention.
... Posters were displayed on the website and part of a traveling show promoting sustainability. YouTube has also been an effective outlet to share experiences related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer (LGBTQ) harassment and bullying (Ciszek, 2014;Gal, Shifman, & Kampf, 2015;Phillips, 2013). As part of the "It Gets Better Project," people uploaded videos that portrayed personal bullying and harassment experiences, as well as videos and comments from viewers to show support of bullied LGBTQ youth. ...
This study examined how non-profit organizations (NPOs) adapted to the new media environment and created an innovative culture of advocacy to directly facilitate engagement with interested supporters. Findings from this content analysis and virtual ethnography revealed NPOs dramatically transformed the structure of online content. Shifting the emphasis of the web and social media from a one-way transmission of information to an interactive conversation substantially changes the dynamics for activism, and fosters new models of engagement between NPOs and supporters. In this participatory, co-operative media culture, people were actively engaged and shared digital content that inspired others to care about important issues. These overall results indicated that the web and social media, when used to its fullest extent, played a key role encouraging communication and inspiring interaction among individuals on- and off-line.
... 1246), ignoring power differentials between race, gender, and religion. A recent study argues the dominant narratives of the most popular video contributions to the U.S. project reflect a culturally recognizable Cinderella fairytale that overlooks structural and institutional inequalities (Ciszek, 2014). The narrative arc of the videos often emphasizes cultural elements of neoliberalism (Meyer, 2012), a framework that Grzanka and Mann (2014) suggest places the burden of a ''better'' life onto the emotional lives of LGBT youth who are instructed to endure suffering in the interest of inevitable happiness. ...
... Many scholars and activists have been critical of the narratives of video contributions to the It Gets Better Project; however, user-generated videos are only one tactic in a larger movement strategy. Unlike the dominant ''happily ever after'' narratives (Ciszek, 2014) of the most popular U.S. video contributions, findings from this study suggest activists see TMMx providing a different function, not one of stories of futurity and resilience development, but one of alternative discourses to the representations (or silences) that dominate mainstream media. TMMx represents the localization of a global movement that challenges ideological and institutional frameworks impacting Mexican LGBT lives. ...
Digital media present great potential for disseminating campaigns, connecting with constituencies, and creating spaces for connectivity. This article explores a contemporary digital media project, Todo Mejora México, considering how emerging technology affects activism. This research illustrates how activists mobilize digital media, localizing and vernacularizing an international effort. Through user-generated projects, activists harness the power of digital media to create a platform for story-telling, content curation, and distribution of alternative lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender discourses into the media landscape.
... What an imagined community does not do is draw attention to the larger institutional and structural inequalities that are the sources of these oppressions. By focusing on the future as the key message, the campaign may reify a narrative of oppression and triumph, in which individuals are able to pull themselves up out of darkness if they work hard enough (Ciszek, 2014). ...
This article examines a contemporary articulation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activism, LGBT youth outreach, as a historically contextual moment. By way of a cultural-economic examination, this study explores the identities constructed by both producers and consumers of an LGBT activist campaign. The cultural-economic model (CEM; Curtin & Gaither, 2005) provides a critical theoretical framework to examine public relations, activism, and social movements.
... Some commentators are critical of the collective moral panic about queer youth suicide that they feel IGB has generated (Grzanka and Mann, 2014), while others maintain that it ironically serves to reproduce the very narratives of risk and vulnerability it purports to dismantle, through an endless repetition of stories of victimization which portray LGBT youth as being in need of salvation (e.g. Ciszek, 2014;Cover, 2012a). ...
This article locates itself within an emergent, counter-discursive body of scholarship that is critical of universalizing depictions portraying queer-identified or LGBT youth as vulnerable and ‘at-risk’ of a range of negative mental health outcomes, including self-harm and suicidality. Drawing on key findings from a large-scale, mixed-methods study exploring the mental health and well-being of LGBT people, we seek to contribute to the development of a more expansive understanding of LGBT lives by demonstrating the diverse ways people engage with their sexuality and gender identity and illuminating the complex meanings that those LGBT people who have experienced psychological and suicidal distress ascribe to their feelings, thoughts and actions.
This research explores how and by which mechanisms and processes a social movement diffuses to other countries or regions and the role of communication management in this spread. Findings suggest activists and advocates involved in the diffusion process can be understood as strategic translators whose work is locally oriented, but also whose connections and frames of reference are transnational. Activists and advocates are not merely receivers of information; rather, they are active seekers who engage with transnational ideas, information, and connections.
This study incorporates Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles and Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, and Archer’s (1999) social presence strategies to examine how LGBTQ+ organizations use Facebook to cultivate relationships with publics. Facebook posts from January 2016 to December 2017 were collected for this study. Content analysis reveals that organizations frequently use Facebook to develop a sense of community and group commitment through
their messages. They predominately (62.8%) employ cohesive strategies to connect with publics and convey a sense of social presence on Facebook. LGBTQ+ organizations also use affective
strategies (59.86%) to demonstrate empathy so that organizations can connect with publics through emotional bonding. This study also illuminates that LGBTQ+ organizations frequently use social media to disseminate information rather than using dialogic loop features.
