Queer Youth - Gen Z

For this edition of my Connection series, the design draws heavy inspiration from early Internet aesthetics because the target demographic for modern underground queer raves is online Gen Z subcultures. To understand why these aesthetics resonate, it helps to consider the environment queer youth had to navigate growing up. For many, that story begins in middle school, one of the most awkward transitional moments in a person's life.

Middle school marks the point where cliques form, interests start to sprout, and ideas about identity suddenly matter. It's also the age when many queer kids begin realizing that their sense of attraction, gender, or belonging doesn't line up with the expectations around them. In unsupportive or hostile environments, this discovery can feel isolating or even dangerous. The CDC's 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported that 57.8% of LGBTQ high schoolers experienced suicidal ideation that year, emphasizing how harmful rejection from peers or family can be (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In addition, Professor Jessica Feinberg from the University of Maine School of Law argued that supportive parents drastically lower risks of depression and substance use, in reality, and improve long-term well-being(Feinberg 957).

For many queer Gen Z youth, especially in conservative or rural areas, the Internet became the first place where support was possible. We grew up on smartphones, laptops, and social media platforms that allowed anonymous self-expression. This element of anonymity was crucial for queer kids who couldn't safely come out in their offline environments. As César G Escobar-Viera, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, notes in a study on LGBTQ youth and digital platforms, "Rural-living LGBTQ youth who feel socially isolated and use social media turn to several of these platforms to seek support and to connect with others like them in meaningful ways." (Escobar-Viera 8) This finding aligns with what many of us witnessed firsthand – online friends from Tumblr, queer memes shared on Instagram, and Discord servers acting as lifelines for the (many) of us who needed them.

Because of this, queer GenZ culture is seemingly inseparable from digital spaces. Our humor, fashion, music, and subcultures were shaped by the Internet of the early 2000s and 2010s. We hold fond memories of learning to express ourselves through our online personas. This is one of the many reasons why underground queer raves lean into Internet nostalgia in their promotion. This fake event, happening June 1st of an undisclosed year, borrows the language, visuals, and chaos of those spaces as a way to honor them and re-create the feeling of finding your people online.