See Me: The digital space as a means of creating community and self

  • anonymity
  • digital activism
  • LGBTQI
  • Safe Spaces
Theme illustration

Squad. My peoples. Fam bam.

As a result of today's digital age, we have redefined what it means to have conversation as well as the process of how we create spaces of community selectively populated by those close to you – those who are a part of your pack. One of the key aspects of creating community is the capacity to curate the space that you desire, a space that mirrors you and your values. With the rise of personal blogs and websites as well as micro-blogging platforms, people are increasingly able to play a pivotal role in shaping the world wide web. While this increased space means that harassers are also able to engage online, it also means that as individuals, we are more likely to find our niche group that reflects our needs and values. In other words, the Internet provides a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can expose individuals to risks and threats as trolls lurk behind many pages. On the other hand - and in our case – the Internet is used strategically as a tool to build community and self, to feel safety and to create joy.

One of the key aspects of creating community is the capacity to curate the space that you desire, a space that mirrors you and your values.

Drawing from this idea, HOLAAfrica (aka HOLAA!) was founded as a digital hub created for and by queer African women and gender non-conforming persons in order to depict, express, and share their lives with one another. HOLAA! consists of a host of various moving parts and platforms that are co-created through different methods, with the aim of creating a digital space for people to meet others who experience life in the way that they do.

HOLAA: The Mothership and its moving parts

One of the problems with previous versions of the digital space and of archiving in general was the difficulty of finding people like oneself in public spaces. This was particularly an issue if you , asa result of your identity, did not fit a specific, mainstream life aesthetic. As an African queer woman, the public realm was particularly difficult to access, and the main forms of public information and representation available for us were often violent sources, for example those focused on homophobic rape, such as the video posted on PornHub called 'African Ebony Lesbians F**k Hard' – all of which contribute us to being bunched into the epic battle between the government and its LGBTIQ citizens. Such examples were the totality of continental queer women's and gender non-conforming people's representation and information sources, and thus, out of necessity HOLAA! was born.

Fast forward five years and our platform has grown from its initial stages as a blog with a couple of articles into a hub with multiple parts that together houses podcasts, videos, hundreds of posts and numerous social media accounts. The founding idea was that, in order make up for the minuscule information and representation available on the ground, this archive would have to be built in real time, by and for those who needed it the most – a genuine grassroots-led form of self-empowerment. This idea became a reality as the hub itself grew more and more and was also joined by a plethora of other online spaces. This included the blogs, Kenyan Baby Dyke and Autono|Me, as well as Her_Mentality on Instagram, @stacykiruion Twitter and the numerous Facebook groups and pages that use different platforms to tell the queer woman's story on the African continent while also providing a space to see oneself in life and living colour.

The founding idea was that, in order make up for the minuscule information and representation available on the ground, this archive would have to be built in real time, by and for those who needed it the most – a genuine grassroots-led form of self-empowerment.

HOLAA!'s website is the core of the business, and it creates an archive of the ideas, experiences and wisdom by queer African women for queer African women. Our website provides space for a variety of ideas in order to allow the lives, experiences and voices of an array of people to be heard. Whether through podcasts or other formats, whether anonymous or identified, HOLAA! seeks to use every avenue possible to make sure that people can reach us and each other.

Podcasts and videos: On sight and sound

The written word is just one of the many ways of communicating and for those who are not word smiths, communicating through writing can be an obstacle to connecting with your fellow man. At HOLAA!, we realised early on that if we used only written formats that it would limit us not only in the content we could produce, but also in terms of who could join our community of contributors. While not everyone is able to write well, most people are able to speak, and so by structuring our platforms to allow for audio and visual material such as podcasts and videos, the knowledge shared could branch out in new and wild ways, and grow our little circle of comrades.

While not everyone is able to write well, most people are able to speak, and so by structuring our platforms to allow for audio and visual material such as podcasts and videos, the knowledge shared could branch out in new and wild ways, and grow our little circle of comrades

The idea behind HOLAA!'s podcasts was to bring about a feeling of sitting around with friends as you listen to them, as though you should grab yourself a glass and a snack and sit down because it's about to get real. One of our most successful podcasts was The Wildness with Tiff and Manda, by two queer African girls just trying to get through life.

As mentioned above, HOLAA! introduced audio material as a way to archive stories by persons who wanted to contribute, but did not want to write, and in doing so, we realised that audio was an effective way of disseminating information in the quintessential informal HOLAA! way. The HOLAA! space hosts conversations with queer women from around the continent on topics such as queerness and virginity, speaking about sex with African parents, being real about one's sexual situation, masturbation, having queers in the family or even being a pillow princess. The space also includes spoken word pieces, such as Loving God, and 'I just want to f**k', as well as audio readings of written posts from the site about safe sex, great kinky sex and what to do when you miss your abuser.

Visually, HOLAA! offers a YouTube channel of videos that give advice and answer some of life's questions, such as how to have a threesome or sex and mental health. We also host an agony aunty component entitled 'HOLAA! in a Hot Spot.'

Twerking on the timeline: using social media to have create a holistic life view

There is information online on the lives of queer women, there is a need to categorise and unpack it, to make it as accessible and useful as possible. By using various themes to ensure that there is visibility of all facets of a queer African woman's life, HOLAA! contributes to this unpacking and accessibility. For example, given that each new day brings with it new experiences, creating a flexible platform that engages on new topics was important to us.This is why HOLAA! designed its social media platforms (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook) so that each day of the week houses a different theme, for platform users to engage with. These include: #QueeringTheCloak, #GenuUWinMondays, #SecretSaturdays, #FreakyFriday, #SoulFullSunday and #FreakyFriday.

There is information online on the lives of queer women, there is a need to categorise and unpack it, to make it as accessible and useful as possible. By using various themes to ensure that there is visibility of all facets of a queer African woman's life, HOLAA! contributes to this unpacking and accessibility.

HOLAA! was birthed out of the need to create a safe space that allows us to explore the wide array of experiences that queer women and gender non-confirming humans go through, particularly on a day to day basis. The above themes cover this wide range of topics on everything from intimate partner violence and abuse in queer spaces to making sure you can explore your sex and sensuality (with #FreakyFriday), to aligning the body and soul (with #SoulFullSunday before a grueling Monday). These themes also allow us to go beyond the everyday narrative of one person's life and instead speak to as many aspects as one can. This is an important part of being able to immerse yourself within a space as it enables you to see various facets of yourself within that space.

HOLAA! was birthed out of the need to create a safe space that allows us to explore the wide array of experiences that queer women and gender non-confirming humans go through, particularly on a day to day basis.

HOLAA in a Hot Spot and HOLAAHush: Anonymous add ons

While sharing experiences is a key component of community-building, not everyone has the ability or security to simply tack their name to the end of a wise opinion piece or feature on a podcast. Sometimes the act of sharing or reaching out for help is just as important for community-building and this is what both HOLAA! in a Hot Spot and HOLAA! hush seek to do. By allowing people, especially those living within the context of a sometimes violent and homophobic continent, to share a part of themselves, these two initiatives allow for self-expression under a cloak of anonymity. In other words, people are able to be on the scene without being seen.

Co-creation is a core aspect of how HOLAA! functions, and so we pay particular attention to make sure that the space is co-created; shared life dramas are a part of this co-creation process that we can all relate to. HOLAA Hush and HOLAA in a Hot Spot are the spaces where those who do not want to write think pieces or produce videos, can anonymously submit their experiences, questions or queries that will be posted within the HOLAA! site. In particular, the HOLAA! hush segment of the hub houses the secrets of African women of all sexualities, by accepting submission of secrets (either through the site or corresponding Google doc) that are published on the site and social media platforms anonymously, for which people can either empathise or raise a questioning eyebrow. HOLAA in a hot spotis the 'agony aunty' section of the site through which questions submitted on the site and Google form) are subsequently answered on the site, in podcasts and through the video channel by other members of the community. Both of these spaces aim to allow people to become a core part of the community without needing to feel overly-exposed as is often the case online.

Co-creation is a core aspect of how HOLAA! functions, and so we pay particular attention to make sure that the space is co-created; shared life dramas are a part of this co-creation process that we can all relate to.

HOLAA! has recognised that a critical need of building community is to expand the ways in which we speak to each other and the outside world. In our context, this meant that changing and growing how our space was structured to allow for greater participation in a way that made the individual comfortable and the collective stronger.

The dark side of the dark web

With all the magic that digital spaces have generated, there are also a number of drawbacks, most notably for women and sexual minorities. Although platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have allowed one to 'slide into the DMs', send private message boxes and find like-minded people, these platforms have also allowed unprecedented access to abuse others. With the rise of trolling for example, one finds that a great deal of the onus of protecting oneself lies with the individual. From Twitter banning people for standing up to sexual assault, homophobic slurs or calling out paedophiles, to Instagram taking down photos containing nipples to Facebook allowing groups that have the name 'punch her in the pussy'; whilst blocking pages by African LGBTIQ organisations, the internet as a space is raising a number of concerning and unsafe trends.

From Twitter banning people for standing up to sexual assault, homophobic slurs or calling out paedophiles, to Instagram taking down photos containing nipples to Facebook allowing groups that have the name 'punch her in the pussy'; whilst blocking pages by African LGBTIQ organisations, the internet as a space is raising a number of concerning and unsafe trends.

The digital space has allowed us to create heavily curated lives filled with articles we like, tweets we favourite, Facebook comments we heart, and WhatsApp groups we mute. It has allowed us to find our homes away from homes and to create echo chambers in which we can find those who may not walk and talk like us, but who at the very least think and experience the world like us. Although there may be some trolls under the bridge, the path to finding yourself and your squad is slowly and surely being built through the digital space.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Tactical Tech's editorial stance.

Tiffany is the intoxicatingly scary gatekeeper of HOLAAfrica, a Pan African queer womanist community dealing with sexuality and all things woman. She is also a writer, media consultant and freelance journalist who tackles sex, politics and other less interesting topics.

Enjoyed reading this article? Check out HoLAAfrica's social media manual: A helpful HoLAA: A booklet on how to socialise digitally.