A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
“I made myself a new safety bubble”: Building trans virtual homeplaces
Authors: Jaaksi, Vilja
Publication year: 2025
Journal: International Journal of Cultural Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779251322782
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779251322782
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/484890250
Discussions on filter bubbles are often entangled with ideas of polarization and the internet as a public sphere. This article explores an alternative vernacular use of the term bubble, as used by Finnish trans/nonbinary social media users. In their use, bubbles are sites of safety and retreat. This article interprets this idea of bubbles in terms of trans virtual homeplaces, as plural and porous digital spaces where trans people come together away from the transphobia of the broader internet and resist a culture of constant surveillance, visibility and engagement. The article traces the meanings these spaces are given, the practices of their creation, and their messy boundaries of membership. Thinking bubbles in terms of homeplace avoids equating digital spaces to public spaces and moves toward thinking trans online communities beyond counterpublics.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |
Funding information in the publication:
This work was supported by the Strategic Research Council, (grant number 327392, 352520).