It is common knowledge that the first amendment allows all citizens of America freedom of speech, but with more people using technology to cyberbully and post insensitive content on social media, freedom of speech has become freedom to hate.

To begin, a moderately popular tik tok influencer (feelinmiz2.0) regularly posts insensitive content. A recent post of his mentions that body positivity will not save a fat patient from heart attacks. Body positivity has never been about allowing unhealthily obese individuals to continue unhealthy habits. It is about different things to different people. It can be about accepting yourself and your body when you are healthy, or it can also be about acknowledging that there is no perfect body. Body positivity provides an outlet for everyone who hates their body to receive support. It is not about condoning obesity. Besides this post, there are various posts of his that are along the lines of, “tik tok follower percentages are only divided by men & women,'' or, “ultrasounds show if you will have a baby boy or girl.” These posts are made to attack specific members of the LGBTQ+ community, specifically gender fluid or nonbinary, which fall under the large umbrella term of genderqueer. People who identify as genderfluid feel that both male and female gender identities makeup who they are as a person. People who identify as gender nonbinary do not identify with either the male or female gender identities. People who identify as genderqueer are valid people, and yet they receive so much unwarranted discrimination. Until recently, transgender individuals were not allowed to work in the military. According to a 2008 survey, 32% of people who identified as genderqueer experienced physical violence, and 31% reported harassment from law enforcement (Lane). This is just some of the discrimination that genderqueer people have gone through, and for what? Sex is a biological construct (XX and XY chromosomes), and gender is just a social construct. It is how the individual sees themself. There is nothing wrong with someone seeing themselves as different from the sex they were assigned at birth.

This is just one example of insensitivity on social media. Many people do not realize the damage that they can do with their words, or they know the damage and choose to voice their unsolicited opinion. Some individuals use their right to free speech as a shield, and at some point, free speech has become hate speech.

Works Cited

Lane, Nicole S. “What Does It Mean to Be Genderqueer?” Verywell Health, 7 Dec. 2020, www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-genderqueer-5085085.