Being and Creating a Safe Space on the Internet. Digital CommunicationPractices of Mexican LGBT+ Youth in Response to Hate Speech

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n41a2200

Keywords:

LGBT, youth experience, hate speech, social media, communication perspective

Abstract

This research analyses the digital communication practices that LGBT+ youth develop to confront hate speech on the Internet. To achieve this, a theoretical framework based on the communication perspective, which problematises the subject-technology relationship, is constructed. The qualitative methodology with a descriptive scope is synthesised through the method of systematising experience. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 young Mexicans who dissent from the cisheteronorm to analyse the strategies they employ in response to hate speech on the Internet. The results indicate that LGBT+ youth recalibrate the symbolic impact of hate speech on the Internet due to the subjective technological distance between themselves and the anonymous users who promote it. Consequently, LGBT+ youth leverage the interaction logic of socio-digital platforms to enhance their control over their digital environment and the groups in which they participate in order to render and maintain these spaces as safe spaces.

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Author Biography

  • Raul Anthony Olmedo Neri, National Autonomous University of Mexico

    Professor at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He is a member of the Interdisciplinary Seminar on Communication and Information (SICI, UNAM) and the Mexican Association of Communication Researchers (AMIC). He has received two international recognitions in the young researchers’ category, the most recent being from the UNESCO Chair of Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions, sponsored by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. In addition, he has obtained research grants from institutions such as the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Maria Sibylla Merian Centre for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS). Throughout his six years of teaching and professional experience, he has focused on developing a specific line of research on LGBT+ populations and communication. Building on this focus, he has published over 70 articles and book chapters on the following research lines: LGBT+ studies, digital activism, ICT, and everyday life.

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Published

01-07-2025

Issue

Section

Miscellaneous of Research articles and essays

How to Cite

Olmedo Neri, R. A. (2025). Being and Creating a Safe Space on the Internet. Digital CommunicationPractices of Mexican LGBT+ Youth in Response to Hate Speech. Doxa Comunicación. Interdisciplinary Journal of Communication Studies and Social Sciences, 41, 191-212. https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n41a2200

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