The BIPOC Attention Tax is the penalty that non-white folks pay in engagement for being non-white on social media sites. This takes form in less shares and visibility on any post, streams, or similar content when people are able to actively perceive you as being ‘not white’. While it affects most BIPOC on social media, it affects sex workers, content creators, and those who rely on mutual aid the most.
We’re societally conditioned to pay more attention to the thin, white, ‘conventionally attractive’ folks and amplify them. While this isn’t their fault individually, it does mean that you need to put active effort into subverting that conditioning by seeking out and actively sharing posts from BIPOC you see on your feed, timeline, skyline, whatever you use.
Don’t just ‘like’ posts from BIPOC, stop worrying about your ‘profile aesthetic’, sharing a post takes a fraction of the effort compared to its effect and – especially in the case of sex work and mutual aid – can literally keep folks housed and fed.
Our content, our art, our lives, and our survival matters.
With the advent of Generative AI worsening digital bigotry and furthering the degradation of the internet’s usefulness, we need to do more individually to care for marginalized communities. Part of that needs to be working on actively uplifting BIPOC voices, art, writing, everything – especially from BIPOC trans folks.
Regarding BIPOC trans folks in particular, we need to increase visibility and support them much more than we currently are, because the biggest white trans accounts are often hitting 6x the follower count (or more) than the biggest Black trans accounts, effectively making whiteness the “face” of transness.
We need to be able to see Black trans folks, Asian trans folks (of ALL subregions), Indigenous trans folks, fat BIPOC trans folks, disabled BIPOC trans folks, and more. We need to be able to see that there’s not one ‘right’ way to be trans. We deserve to live in a world where we can all be recognized and see others like us, not just whiteness. We are a spectrum of experiences in more ways than one.
I have some questions I want you to seriously ask yourself:
- How many non-white friends do you have? Do you have more than one or two that you’d legitimately consider more than an acquaintance?
- Are you actually willing to sit back and listen when you’re told “there is a racial component to this” or similar sentiments by non-white folks?
- Do you actually listen to non-white folks and amplify our voices when we ain’t mad about something?
You have to pay attention to us when the house isn’t on fire too. When we ain’t mad. Incorporate us into your lives rather than existing in a bubble of whiteness. Partake in our joy, not just our rage. You have to care about us when you can’t hear us over everything else.
Actually see us as fucking people.
Yes, I know this is uncomfortable. Realizing you’ve messed up, even unintentionally, always sucks! Every person in the world has a blind spot: the question you need to answer is whether you prioritize your momentary discomfort over the inclusion of minorities.
You’re gonna mess up. We all do. You’re allowed to change but you gotta make that first right step and keep choosing to take steps in the right direction. Let yourself be guided by those who need your help the most.