Everyone hates Tumblr, even people on Tumblr hate Tumblr. It’s true! The website is so bizarre, so liberal, so conservative, so much anime and so so so many opinions. I joined Tumblr a few years back and it really was a crazy ride to begin with. For those who don’t know, Tumblr is basically the underground blog for all the outliers of social media. Except for celebrities, people tend to have anonymous usernames, and share whatever completes the “aesthetic” for their blog or some meme that has completely taken over the internet.
Here a five things I learned from Tumblr:
1. I Discovered The Disabled LGBT+ Community
Of course they’ve existed far longer than Tumblr's inception, but as I began to follow more people, I discovered people who not only dealt with incredible disabilities, but also dealt with the oppression that came with identifying within the LGBT+ community. Some people were angry, some forgiving-but I learned from them, and my perspective on the world changed.
2. The Difference Between a Feminist and a Femi-nazi.
I think my favorite way I’ve heard feminist explained is, “Feminists are the normal people, everyone else is sexist”. Extreme, I know, and I’ve seen more than my fair share of intimidating women-but the majority of feminists are not out to burn men at the stake. Too often people assume the word feminist comes with an awful attitude towards men and it simply isn’t true-Tumblr showed me that.
3. Have Faith In Humanity
If you manage to survive Tumblr for the first few months, and really expand the blogs you follow you’ll begin to see some beautiful posts. Self-care tips, College advice, encouragement for body positivity, and sources to get free food. All of those are SUPER important, and on the days when I felt like my little slice of the world was hopeless-little gems like these showed me that it’s not all that bad.
4. Body Positivity Is For Everyone
And by that, Tumblr means E V E R Y O N E. I started out believing only women struggled with self-image, as it’s the only self-image issue my churches addressed. This is simply not true. Body positivity is for people who are smaller, people who are larger, for women and for men. I learned that people are insecure about so many things-and all of them are valid.
5. Everything Can Become A Meme
I think this really just speaks for itself, but-truly-anything and everything you might think would be safe from the meme-rs of the internet will become a meme. Nothing is safe, but chances are it’ll be hilarious.
For me, that's Tumblr in a nutshell. Have something you want to share> Comment below!