Home Institution

Santa Clara University

Publication Date

Fall 2016

Program Name

Morocco: Multiculturalism and Human Rights

Abstract

This paper examines the role of social media in the Moroccan LGBT sphere. It draws on personal narratives from LGBT men and women as well as activists in order to establish the various ways that social media is employed in the interests of the individual, the community, and the activist. While social media has been a tool to expand the LGBT community around the world, it is specifically and unusually useful in Morocco where there is considerable censorship of incoming and outgoing media. Additionally, many public displays of resistance are considered to be counter productive to the pro-LGBT movement because they are often construed as disrespectful to the cultural norms (which discourage all public displays of romantic affection) and hurt the efforts to find a unique Moroccan solution to the problem of LGBT discrimination. This work will attempt to add qualitative, first-hand accounts of how the progress of the LGBT movement in Morocco must be treated differently than the progress of similar Western movements and to highlight how access to information and privacy of the individual through the use of social media are essential to LGBT development. Finally, the intent of this paper is rooted in finding practical methods in which the mental and emotional health of LGBT individuals has already been and could further be improved by access to LGBT supporting social media.

Disciplines

Communication Technology and New Media | Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Mass Communication | Mental and Social Health | Public Policy | Social Media | Social Policy

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