The Show Must Go On: Who Deserves Influence and Who Doesn’t? | by Jaylin Leslie | Apr, 2023

Are online communities safe?

The shaming that takes place when supporters speak out about the abuse taking place in these online communities is often met with disregard. Such disregard proved valid in the prevalence of lack of trust amongst many. It was invalidating and similar to people blaming the congregation for listening to the pastor, who turned out to be crooked.

It’s time to stop supporting randos and opinionated panderers. The intention of those coming online, and the desire for a community, have now been exploited.

One thing that I found to be most frustrating about the revolt of many feminists is how quickly their perceptions and ideologies shifted once they entered into relationships.

I’ve found it to be significantly unfortunate how a specific group of women have taken this idolized sense of freedom and independence and generated significant income from Boss Babe culture, only to still benefit from being the standard of desirability while leaving the many other women who followed them naively, to forfeit their happiness and fulfillment in its results. I also considered how women of a certain demographic aren’t given a choice regarding independence, and how they are now generalized for such faulty behaviors and pseudo-advice.

This is a troupe of the modern wave of cultural appropriation. It was this taking on and off the struggles of others for the sole benefit of profit. It was lead us to see each other as commodities. Influencer culture and social media marketing has contributed to the disregard and lack of empathy in our connections with one another.

We heard it in rap culture when one of the artists, who has garnered much influence from younger generations and was aware of such impact, blatantly spoke about how the music she releases is not how she lives her life. Outside of celebritism, regular, day-to-day influencers were also starting to change the narrative after garnering the heart of loyal supporters and those who felt seen by their content. I found this interesting as women built these communities and slowly shifted the dynamics of their hard-pressed psychologies.

I was open to growing, learning, and reframing our mindsets as we grow and shift. Still, there is something sinister about exploiting those vulnerabilities. It was the people we hurt along the way.

Do we consider these influencers as scammers? Do we extend grace, continuing to grow and support their content? Does this further validate our need to eradicate influencer culture altogether?

Women building content centering on hurt and trauma and then healing and moving on from that trauma is a fascinating observation. To what extent do we allow ourselves to follow suit in supporting content creators, and to what extent do we begin to look at these women from a more objective point of view?

At what point does influence become harmful, and at what point do we negate and sell out for our futures, abandoning our authentic audience? When do we hold influencers and content creators accountable for their destruction?