"You're totally obsessed with sex and all you ever show are shirtless, hunky, young, white, gay guys."
This is a common criticism leveled against popular shirtless, hunky, young, white, gay YouTuber, Davey Wavey. But it's also a common criticism leveled against gay and LGBT media — yes even PRIDE. Why not focus on bigger issues? Why all the slideshows about sex? Why not more diverse stories? Why all the white, shirtless hotties?
Well, in a recent video, Davey identifies the problem ... you.
Ok, so that may sound kind of harsh. But it's me, too. It's anyone that has ever scrolled past an article about trans rights and clicked, instead, on the "20 Tips to Help you Become the Ultimate Power Bottom." It's anyone that has ever ignored a thoughtful video about queer people of color and instead shared a clip of the naked Warwick Rowers. Because, at the end of the day, content creators (like Davey, like PRIDE) are creating content that people want.
And it's not just a bunch of guesswork. In his video, Davey proves his point with staggering statistics. The discrepancy between "Shirtless Hunks" videos and "Everything Else" is massive — more than 55 million versus less than 500,000, respectively. And while Davey feels that he has an "honest responsibility to showcase the underrepresented voices of our community," he also uses his video content to make a living. And sex sells.
It's the same conundrum we struggle with here at PRIDE. PRIDE hires writers with diverse backgrounds and diverse perspectives because we want to "showcase the underrepresented voices of our community." But, like most media companies, we rely on readership, views, clicks, shares and engagement to stay in business. And let me tell you — Davey's numbers are right on the money. Literally.
As a writer for PRIDE, I get weekly analytics reports on the stories I write. Here's just a brief example from a recent report:
9 Times Garrett Clayton Made Us Thirsty for 'King Cobra' = 66,885 views
It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No, It's a Pride Flag in Space! = 457 views
As a writer, who also relies on page views, readership, engagement and shares, what is compelling me to write more diverse stories, if it's not what people are actually reading? How are we supposed to encourage YouTubers like Davey to continue to put time, money and effort into content that may actually give a voice to the underrepresented in our community, if no one watches them?
It's not just LGBT or gay content creators that suffer from this. Think about Hollywood. Transformers movies continue to get worse and worse, but Hollywood keeps making more and more. Why? Because they make buckets of cash! If we want more quality films in theatres, we have to stop paying to see garbage and start paying for quality.
"Serious" news outlets have been getting blasted this past election cycle (and even now) for writing sensationalist and often misleading headlines — why? Because we're clicking on them, retweeting them, commenting on them.
We're our own worst enemy, and we're caught in a seemingly endless cycle.
But what if you like hot, shirtless guys?
Great! Trust me, so do I! But if that's all I choose to engage with, I can't be surprised if that's all I'm given. It's one thing to say we want more diversity ... it's another to prove it with our views, likes, clicks and shares.
