When Towa Bird first downloaded TikTok, she wasn’t quite sure that it would be the right fit. The 21-year old London musician was under the impression that the short-form video platform was just for “twelvies [young teens] lip-syncing,” as she tells them. But one January evening, she decided to upload a clip of herself playing electric guitar in her bedroom just to “see what happens.” In the short video, she can be seen shredding along to the Arctic Monkeys’ “R U Mine?” while showing off her signature rockstar grimace, alt-girl wardrobe, and shaggy mop of curls.
The next morning, Bird awoke to discover that her post had amassed thousands of views overnight, and her new fandom seemed to have one main thing in common. “Lovely day to discover that I’m a lesbian,” commented one user. “Do you like girls asking for a friend,” joked another.
Bird was somewhat unsurprised by the resounding feedback from lesbian and bisexual girls, chalking it up to her “quite explicitly queer” presentation. But she was taken aback by the sheer multitude of her new fans.
“I was like, ‘Holy shit,’” Bird says. “‘I’m reaching an audience that I’ve always wanted to reach and never really had the [faculty] to do so.’”
Bird isn’t the only TikToker to have been unexpectedly thrust into the gaze of adoring, sapphic fans. She belongs to a wave of emerging queer woman creators, who make content spanning a variety of niches — many of whom have garnered hundreds of thousands of followers on the platform within the past year. The majority Gen-Z fans of these TikTok “it girls” pledge their admiration to their favorite creators, ask questions related to sexuality and gender identity, support one another, and, of course, post thirst comments.
Through sapphic TikTok and its numerous fandoms, young queer women and femmes are carving out a space to connect with each other, especially at a time when many physical LGBTQ+ spaces are inaccessible due to the pandemic. Bird and her contemporaries are more than just relatable influencers, heartthrobs, or icons of the moment. They are the vanguard of a community greater than themselves, within which queer youths are redefining what safety and belonging can look like online.
“Fandom, in general, creates a sense of community,” Dr. Leanna Lucero, an assistant professor at New Mexico State University who has conducted research on social media and young LGBTQ+ people, tells them.
She says that, with any fandom, the “icon” or persona at the center typically “becomes [the fans’] safe space.” On TikTok, the creators who go viral are the ones who have the responsibility to “set the tone” within their fandoms. “When that person takes the lead and creates a safe space, it seems as though their fans also want to instill that in the rest of the users throughout that fandom,” she says.
Marthe Woertman, a 21-year old bisexual model from the Netherlands, is one such TikToker who has stepped into her newfound influence. After posting LGBTQ+ humor content, she has gained over 736,000 followers, whom she refers to as the Watermelons.
“Since I’ve been getting this feedback [from queer girls], I’ve been really wanting to be vocal,” Woertman says. She has found it especially important to talk about being bisexual, “because bisexuality is quite often invalidated.”
One 17-year-old Watermelon named Winnie, who came out to her parents as bisexual earlier this year, tells them. that Woertman’s “influence and support” really helped her throughout the process. Being in the Watermelon fandom has provided Winnie with a community both on and outside of TikTok. For the past four months, Winnie says that she’s been in a group chat with Woertman’s followers from all around the world. “We are all young WLW [women loving women] sharing experiences and supporting each other,” she says. “I can say i made very good friends :)”
Alex Payton, a 21-year old student at the University of Arizona, unexpectedly went viral in June for a TikTok in which she confesses romantic feelings to a close female friend. Now, with over 842,000 followers, she makes lifestyle, trend, and humor TikToks. Though Payton says she felt she “got a responsibility overnight” to act as a role model to young queer women, her initial anxiety has since translated to action. She now tries to be as honest and casual as possible with her fans, who frequently ask her advice on coming out. “I don’t want it to be like this big thing,” she says. “I feel like [queer people] shouldn’t have to come out.”
