The Problem With Facebook

Facebook is one of the most widely used modes of communication in the entire world. However, one controversial change to the Facebook profile has made it impossible for drag queens to show their true selves to the rest of the world.

A Problematic Policy

It is a well known fact that the names that drag queens prefer to be addressed as when in their personas is not the name that they were given at birth. This does not mean that this stage name is any less a part of their identity than the name that is written across their birth certificates. This is why, when Facebook created a policy preventing drag performers from using their stage name in their profiles, many objections were raised. Though this policy was originally created to promote personal accountability and integrity, it did more harm than good to the communities that it was put in place to protect. It ended up locking not only members of the drag community, but also those who were transgender and others out of their Facebook accounts. These accounts practically vanished from the website leaving their previous users feeling like they were being punished rather than protected (Hot Mess 144).

Only Real Names Allowed

Think about the amount of memories that are stored in each of your social media profiles. Now imagine that your entire feed has disappeared all because someone has decided that the identity that you have chosen for yourself is not your real identity. This is exactly what happened to thousands of drag queens on Facebook after the aforementioned real names policy was put in place on Facebook. A website designed to give its users a platform in order to broadcast their lives had inadvertently taken this ability away from thousands of its users. When Facebook realized what it had done, they did eventually take away this policy once more but major damage had already been done.

Thinking Outside the Box

This event did teach Facebook a lesson and inspired them to take positive steps such as the addition of an expanded menu of gender options. However, Facebook still has a bit of a problem understanding users who operate outside of gendered, sexual, ethnic, and national norms (Hot Mess 145). There is a hope that in the future Facebook will become educated on more complicated aspects of these forms of identity and will continue to change their website in ways that will be beneficial to the ease of communication provided by the site for not only the normal user, but users such as drag queens who subscribe to a different set of social norms. These communities deserve the right to communicate freely through Facebook just as much as anyone else without restrictions.