Cringe Culture

As Pixar director Domee Shi once said, “I am cringe, but I am free.”

Online bullying, also known as cyberbullying, has and always will be a drawback to the Internet. Since users have the option to remain anonymous, it is easier to harass others without consequence compared to offline bullying. There's a social phenomenon called "Cringe Culture," where people publicly mock others for expressing themselves in unconventional ways, often targeting specifically neurodivergent and queer individuals for their interests. The term gained popularity in the early to mid-2010s, when "cringe compilation" videos became a popular genre on YouTube and Reddit (Lorenz). The purpose of these videos was to elicit the physical reaction humans have to second-hand embarrassment by showcasing people's awkward moments.

There are countless subcultures deemed cringeworthy, with most usually boiling down to overly enthusiastic fan bases of niche media or neurodivergent behaviors. From my observation and personal experience in the underground queer nightlight scene, a heavy majority of party-goers belong to a plethora of “cringey subcultures.” For example,

These descriptions aren't definitive– just my interpretations as someone who has been part of many of these communities.

• Cosplayers- people who dress up as fictional characters, often from games, movies, or anime.
• Emos- individuals who embrace an edgy, dark aesthetic meant to outwardly express one's distressed emotional state.
• Furries- members of a community centered on anthropomorphism, often creating animal inspired personas or art
• Expressive LGBTQ individuals- LGBTQ+ people whose style, gender expression, sexuality, or art is openly queer
• Anime fans- previously seen as strange but recently becoming more mainstream, anime fans enjoy japanese cartoons.

…and many more subgenres of alternative culture.
Any successful queer underground party has attendees from most or all of the subcultures above. Because these subcultures thrive online, and many of their members often grew up within them, there's a strong incentive to preserve their culture. Social scientist and author Mary Heinz examined LGBT+ identity formation in furry spaces online in 2020. In their findings they noted online platforms like DeviantArt and FurAffinity provided queer and alternative youth with "...a playground in which they learned to create not only their own identity but also to create art." (Heinz 30) It's no coincidence that the art teams behind queer underground events like Subculture Party, Gender Death, Ravefurrest, and Roflcopter Party are made up of artists who spent their formative years on these same sites. The strong bonds of alternative communities promote the preservation of cultural media, manifesting in adamant nostalgia. creep3rraver. "Gender Death Random Rave [event flyer]."

To better illustrate this concept, I've scoured old websites once popular for sourcing graphics used in personalized webpages, littered with obnoxiously bright GIFs and images of "cringe" media. The lineup for this Connection event features a curated selection of music artists who create music inspired by similar media, including Foodhouse, Ian Star, and Purityleech. You can read more about them and their relation to these alternative subculture communities by clicking the artist's names on the home page, or in the interviews section! I also recommend checking out my sources section to see the websites I used for finding graphics.