YouTube, a US-based video sharing website created in 2005, has continually promoted its content as original and community-based. According to YouTube, the site “provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small.[1]”
The site has allowed a variety of people around the world to directly connect with their audience in ways not afforded by legacy media.
One YouTuber that has used the platform for outreach and personal enjoyment is 24-year-old Giselle Loren Lazzarato, known by her online handle, “Gigi Gorgeous.” Gigi is a Canadian transgender woman who initially joined the site in 2008 and mainly posted makeup tutorials.
Gigi was born as Gregory Allan Lazzarato but was known as “Greg” or “Gregory Gorgeous” pre-transition. However, Gigi has amassed 2.5 million subscribers, 317 million video views, and numerous sponsorships and collaborations with clothing and beauty brands.
Barbara Kopple, an American director and producer, directed the biographical documentary entitled This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous. YouTube’s paid membership service, YouTube Red, advertises it as a “YouTube Red Original” movie.
The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 24 and in select theatres on Feb. 3, followed by availability via YouTube Red on Feb. 8.
I think that despite the personal struggles she experienced pre- and post-transition, Gigi has has had a positive impact on the LGBT community. Secondly, Gigi’s platform allows her to form parasocial relationships[2] with her viewers through easily accessible content.
She recorded and posted videos about her various surgical procedures and after care, which were also featured in the film.
The conflicting emotions and other circumstances that occurred were indicative of minority stress[3], which builds upon Meyer’s minority stress theory.[4] According to Meyer, minority stress is when “sexual minorities experience distinct, chronic stressors related to their stigmatized identities, including victimization, prejudice, and discrimination.”
Although Gigi did voiceover narration in the film and stated her family and friends supported her, it was not a stress-free experience. According to her, coming out as a gay man pre-transition to her parents, Judy (known formally as Judith), and David, was difficult.
Gigi said she knew she was different when she was eight years old and was, at that time, participating in diving. She excelled and won her first championship at a young age but said her mind was focusing on shoes and clothes. She later quit diving as an adolescent due to being unhappy.
Gigi said that her mother was scared of the possible backlash due to being a gay man.. However, Gigi also said that her dad, who she described as a conservative man, would interpret the news differently. David said he was “shocked but not surprised.” The film did not show her talking to someone who experienced a similar situation, which could have contributed to her feeling “different.”
Eventually, Gigi told her siblings, Cory and Adam. Cory, the youngest of the Lazzarato children, claimed he knew already before the confession and Adam, the oldest, learned via the video posted to Gigi’s YT channel in September 2010.[5]
Gigi displayed moments of emotional pain indicative of minority stress during her pre-transition and post-transition periods. The film shows a montage of some negative comments submitted by video viewers. While such comments may have caused her to feel insecure, Gigi acknowledged that some of her viewers were motivated to express and openly admit their sexuality publicly to friends and family.
This was apparent in the film, which featured some video clips of viewers who referred to her as their inspiration.
She also said the situation, at times, was “depressing and lonely.” The situation worsened due to Gigi’s mother passing away from cancer in 2012.
In Gigi’s YT video entitled I Am Transgender | Gigi,[6] she appeared happy but said she was actually nervous about the news she was sharing publicly.
Gigi was also undergoing hormone replacement therapy, which results in a prescription of estrogen to aid in the transition. The film then portrayed her dad’s insistence on going to Boston where Gigi had an appointment for facial feminization surgery.
However, she expressed disappointment when David did not refer to her by feminine pronouns or her chosen name.[7]
Gigi expressed excitement but also dread at the idea of leaving home for two weeks but went to Boston with David and her friend, Tiffany Namtu.
In addition to FFS, which included tracheal shaving and rhinoplasty, Gigi also had a breast augmentation and electrolysis. She came out as a lesbian in 2016[8].
The film ends with Gigi returning to her high school. She reintroduces herself to some of her former teachers, asking if they remember her when she was known as Greg. Then Gigi changes into a swimsuit and does one dive into the school pool. She emerges from the water, looks at the camera, and says her tagline “stay gorgeous.”
The videos, voiceover narration and onscreen commentary by Gigi, her friends and family in This Is Everything highlight the individual experience of minority stress by a member of the LGBT community and the parasocial relationships a YouTuber formed with her viewers.
The parasocial relationships she formed with her audience and her personal experiences shared on the YT platform contribute a positive impact on LGBT individuals and the community itself, followed by further studies by researchers on such topics.
[1] See “About YouTube” page on https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/en-GB/
[2] Lizhen Zhao’s thesis entitled “Parasocial relationship with transgender characters and attitudes toward transgender individuals.”
[3] Defined as “sexual minorities experience distinct, chronic stressors related to their stigmatized identities, including victimization, prejudice, and discrimination.”
[4] The term was defined and introduced in 1995 (and later revised in 2003 to include lesbian and bisexual individuals) via research conducted by Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D. Meyer’s study explored the minority stress and mental health in gay men, specifically in New York City (sample size n=714).
[5] The YT video where Gigi, pre-transition, came out as a homosexual/gay man was posted when he* was 17 years old and is no longer available to view on the channel. A short clip of the original video was used in the film.
[6] The YT video was posted for public viewing on Dec. 16, 2013.
[7] Gigi legally changed her name to Giselle Loren Lazzarato in 2014.
[8] Gigi’s YT video entitled I’m a Lesbian | Gigi was posted for public viewing on Sept. 14, 2016.
References
Dentato, M. P. (2012, April). The minority stress perspective. Psychology and AIDS Exchange Newsletter. Retrieved March 5, 2017, from http://www.apa.org/pi/aids/resources/exchange/2012/04/minority-stress.aspx
Kopple, B. (Director). (2017). This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous. United States: SelectNext.
Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, Social Stress, and Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations: Conceptual Issues and Research Evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674–697. Retrieved March 5, 2017 from http://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674
Russell, S. T., & Fish, J. N. (2016). Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Youth. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 12, 465–487. Retrieved March 5, 2017, from http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093153
Zhao, L., “Parasocial relationships with transgender characters and attitudes toward transgender individuals” (2016). Dissertations – ALL. 553. Retrieved March 5, 2017, from http://surface.syr.edu/etd/553 YouTube. About YouTube. Retrieved March 5, 2017, from YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/en-GB/