Oh hello darling, and welcome back to celebration month, where I will be bringing you content about the LGBTQ+ community. Today I want to talk to you about something very important to me, and that is inclusivity.
I’ve talked about this a lot in my stories, but I wanted to solidify my thoughts on this in words. I know for a fact that I fight for inclusivity in all areas of my life. Whether this is sizes in clothing, gender representation in media, to beauty campaigns that cater to all skin tones. I am not the only one flying the flag for inclusivity, but we forget about the smaller things.
In the rush to produce content, we forget that so many people that engage with our content may have issues that require us to use captioning. Captions are SO important. It allows deaf and hard of hearing individuals to watch videos, help people to focus on and remember the information more easily, and lets people watch it in sound-sensitive environments.
Posting content without captions, and by captions I mean EVERY-WORD-YOU-SAY, is closing off your content from so many people. It annoys me when I see so many people’s faves putting up content without captions.
Beyond captions, when it comes to the work we share on Instagram, you know I adore my Share Love Saturdays. I bring you a real mix of the things that I have loved that week, and I make sure that the content that I bring you is diverse and representative. Yet why am I still seeing accounts that only really share things that are not inclusive?
There are so many brands that only repost skinny white influencers, and brands that don’t seem to showcase their LGBTQ+ audience. There are also personal accounts that only seem to support queer people if it’s sexy and conforms to traditional/heteronormative values. The only way we can make ALL people feel accepted is to represent ALL of them.
Probably the most impactful part of being inclusive is knowing when to speak, and when to be silent. Leaving space for others to speak is so important, and we can all do this. When you are spoken over, and not included it can feel awful. I know there are things I cannot talk about, so I don't and make sure that I raise the voices of those around me that can.
Inclusivity is so important, and as someone who is already pushed to the fringes of society, I know what it feels like to be excluded. Change has to start within, and so I urge you to always consider how inclusive you are!
Thank you so much for joining me, I will be back next week to conclude Celebration Month!
Shot by Rachel Pechey
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