Por uma visibilidade transmasculina?: dinâmicas de produção, mediação e apropriação da informação no canal do youtuber Lucca Najar

Abstract

The presence of trans men in the digital media space has expanded in recent years. Many of them have started to turn to digital platforms such as YouTube to share their experiences, discuss issues related to gender identity and to connect with other people in the trans community, movements responsible for making visible informational demands that, transcending the individual sphere, are converted into agendas for a public debate. Aware of this, the present study sought to answer the following question-problem: to what extent do the dynamics of production, mediation and appropriation of information mediated by the youtuber Lucca Najar's channel contribute to foster discussions focused on trans visibility? In view of this, the following specific objectives were defined: 1. to discuss the concept of gender, approaching it from Judith Butler's theory of performativity (2016b) and intending it through the problematization of issues related to trans people; 2. identify the possibilities of interaction, the informational dynamics and the visibility regimes established in and by YouTube; 3. to characterize how the process of production, mediation and appropriation of information takes place in the Lucca Najar channel; and, 4. Analyze to what extent the dynamics identified above contribute to fostering discussions focused on trans visibility. In terms of its methodological characterization, it is an exploratory research with a qualitative-quantitative matrix centered on the case study, since it intended to investigate how the informational dynamics of production, mediation and appropriation of information occur in the Lucca Najar channel and whether they corroborate the promotion of the visibility of trans people in general and trans men in particular. For data collection, a survey of the videos published by the youtuber in the period from August 31, 2016 to May 28, 2020 was carried out, which were categorized thematically, classified based on metric indices presented by YouTube itself, described and analyzed in order to apprehend whether the informational dynamics mobilized by Lucca Najar enhance trans visibility. As a result, it is inferred that the dynamics of production, mediation and appropriation of information mediated by the youtuber contribute to make visible discussions of interest to the trans community, favoring the change of perception in relation to gender transition and enhancing the recognition of trans identity(ies) by society, even if at the current moment this is no longer the main focus of the Lucca Najar Channel.