Lauren S. Berliner: Producing Queer Youth: The Paradox of Digital Media Empowerment

In Producing Queer Youth: The Paradox of Digital Media Empowerment, Lauren S. Berliner seeks to critically evaluate the prevalent conceptions of queer youth empowerment by examining the limitations of digital media expression as a means of cultural and social transformation. Berliner identifies the work as a departure from previous accounts of youth media and empowerment by considering how differences in race, social class, and other aspects of identity influence how young queer people engage with digital media and by challenging the widespread belief that access to means of digital production and distribution inherently improves the lives of queer youth. She argues that self-produced anti-gay-bullying public service announcements (PSAs), like the It Gets Better Project, create a one-dimensional narrative of queer experience as one of mere survival. Berliner tactfully draws on her experience working with queer youth media producers in a media production workshop, as well as from critical evaluations of queer youth-produced PSA-style videos, to caution researchers and educators against viewing digital media production as inherently liberating and empowering for queer youth. …