In this deep dive video essay presentation, de-transitioner and former Gen Z Tumblr user Laura Becker unravels the intricate web of woke propaganda, gender ideology, social contagion, mental illness culture, and the prevailing sense of learned helplessness that has affected an entire generation. Understand the history of the infamous social media website and its harmful influence on young girls that has led to countless de-transitioner stories today.
This is so eye opening for many parents who are estranged and had no idea what was going on. Thank you for this very informative, time consuming and helpful post. It explains why there are so many 25ish therapists who are believers and now misleading so many kids down this path. They grew up on it.
My daughter went down this same path and Tumblr was an integral part of her indoctrination. Your extremely well-thought presentation makes this phenomenon much more transparent and understandable to my generation of parents (50-somethings who wish we had known what our children were exposed to).
Thank you so much for making this. I'm around the same age as you and had the same experience with Tumblr. I hope this helps people who aren't in our generation or didn't experience 2010s Tumblr understand what was going on in those years, which still informs how so many people think and behave today.
Something I wrote about tumblr when I was still on the site back in 2015:
"You know that saying:
"When you're 20 you care what everyone thinks,
when you're 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks,
when you're 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place" ?
Social media makes it feel like there are people out there scrupulously paying attention to everything you post, share, like and everyone you are friends with, and making a list of who is pure and who is problematic like evil versions of Santa Claus. And to a certain extent, you can't not care - the internet seems full of people who would not only ostracize you, send you rape and death threats, destroy your livelihood for the flimsiest of reasons, but do it with a sense of righteousness in their hearts. (But true, they could be said to not be thinking of the target of the day - certainly not of them as an ordinary person, with some good and some bad in them, just like they are.) As other people I follow have said, tumblr makes me feel deeply afraid. The internet as a whole - even though I spend much of my waking life here - frightens me in a very real way and makes me feel afraid for everyone I love.
And just admitting that makes me feel stupid and crazy. But I don't think I'm alone in feeling that way. I don't know."
I plan on watching the video later tonight. Thank you for sharing it, Laura!
Great video essay. I’m mom to a ROGD kid, FtM. She’s 19 now but declared herself to be trans about five years ago.
She has been on social media, including Tumblr, for several years. She’s like a lot of kids you describe: quirky, artsy, with a weird sense of humour.
I do think that Tumblr played a role in her indoctrination into this transgender nonsense world. As you say so eloquently, I knew she was on social media but didn’t realize how bad it was, or what was at stake. And she’s always done things in real life - drama, some amateur film making, hanging out with a small group of close friends. I thought this was enough to keep her grounded IRL, but apparently not.
I did my own, small deep dive into online “Are you trans?” quizzes a few years ago. They are horrendous and, of course, designed to make everyone think they’re truly trans. (“If you’re wondering whether you’re transgender, then you probably are!”) I took screen shots. People will want to see the evidence, eventually.
At the end, you describe tumblr as a place where a 14 yo will be told, if you’re uncomfortable in your body you’re trans. And if your parents don’t agree, there are other ways to get hormones and binders in secret.
Sadly, that also describes the entire education system today. (I’m in Canada.)
Sorry to say the video doesn't work for me. I've tried refreshing the page but nothing seems to make it work.
This is so eye opening for many parents who are estranged and had no idea what was going on. Thank you for this very informative, time consuming and helpful post. It explains why there are so many 25ish therapists who are believers and now misleading so many kids down this path. They grew up on it.
My daughter went down this same path and Tumblr was an integral part of her indoctrination. Your extremely well-thought presentation makes this phenomenon much more transparent and understandable to my generation of parents (50-somethings who wish we had known what our children were exposed to).
Loved this. Faith formation unfolding with real-time data. Historians will be thrilled.
Thank you so much for making this. I'm around the same age as you and had the same experience with Tumblr. I hope this helps people who aren't in our generation or didn't experience 2010s Tumblr understand what was going on in those years, which still informs how so many people think and behave today.
Something I wrote about tumblr when I was still on the site back in 2015:
"You know that saying:
"When you're 20 you care what everyone thinks,
when you're 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks,
when you're 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place" ?
Social media makes it feel like there are people out there scrupulously paying attention to everything you post, share, like and everyone you are friends with, and making a list of who is pure and who is problematic like evil versions of Santa Claus. And to a certain extent, you can't not care - the internet seems full of people who would not only ostracize you, send you rape and death threats, destroy your livelihood for the flimsiest of reasons, but do it with a sense of righteousness in their hearts. (But true, they could be said to not be thinking of the target of the day - certainly not of them as an ordinary person, with some good and some bad in them, just like they are.) As other people I follow have said, tumblr makes me feel deeply afraid. The internet as a whole - even though I spend much of my waking life here - frightens me in a very real way and makes me feel afraid for everyone I love.
And just admitting that makes me feel stupid and crazy. But I don't think I'm alone in feeling that way. I don't know."
I plan on watching the video later tonight. Thank you for sharing it, Laura!
Hi Laura,
Great video essay. I’m mom to a ROGD kid, FtM. She’s 19 now but declared herself to be trans about five years ago.
She has been on social media, including Tumblr, for several years. She’s like a lot of kids you describe: quirky, artsy, with a weird sense of humour.
I do think that Tumblr played a role in her indoctrination into this transgender nonsense world. As you say so eloquently, I knew she was on social media but didn’t realize how bad it was, or what was at stake. And she’s always done things in real life - drama, some amateur film making, hanging out with a small group of close friends. I thought this was enough to keep her grounded IRL, but apparently not.
I did my own, small deep dive into online “Are you trans?” quizzes a few years ago. They are horrendous and, of course, designed to make everyone think they’re truly trans. (“If you’re wondering whether you’re transgender, then you probably are!”) I took screen shots. People will want to see the evidence, eventually.
At the end, you describe tumblr as a place where a 14 yo will be told, if you’re uncomfortable in your body you’re trans. And if your parents don’t agree, there are other ways to get hormones and binders in secret.
Sadly, that also describes the entire education system today. (I’m in Canada.)