The Article below was published in Vol. 136, Issue 8 of the Lake Forest College Stentor on April 30, 2021.
Grace Greenly ’24
Staff Writer
Jojo Siwa, an American dancer, singer, actress, and YouTube personality recently joined the LGBTQ+ community. While some parents might delight in the fact that their children can look up to someone in this community, others might shield their children from someone whose values and lifestyle doesn’t align with theirs.
Alec Macartney ’24, a freshman at Lake Forest College with the pronouns he/him/his, shared his opinions with me on the matter. Macartney shared that he was a huge fan of Siwa and her coming out. “My story is similar to Jojo Siwa’s story because inside my family I was very supported, and had come out to them first, but received backlash from peers and fellow students in high school,” he stated. Macartney said he cannot speak for everyone, but feels most homophobia is displayed by those who don’t identify as LGBTQ+ and tend to be mean and disrespectful to those who do identify as such.
I asked Macartney about the censorship of the media within his family, and he explained that there was no overt censorship, but there was a lack of conversation about the way he was feeling. When asked if he wished that he had more celebrities to look up to, Macartney responded, “Kind of, I feel like Jojo is coming out in a time where it is more acceptable to come out and I wish there were more representations when I was a kid.”
Molly Martini ’24, with the pronouns she/her/hers, is a freshman at Lake Forest College and is also a fan of Siwa. Martini said, “When I first came out, it was just to my mom who was very apprehensive at first, and it took some time, and she really came around to me. I think that is the case for a lot of people within the community and it takes time.” When I asked Martini about how censorship of the media was dealt with, she said she was lucky enough to have very open parents, the media wasn’t very censored, and that they were very open.
When asked if Martini would have liked to see someone like Siwa in the media when she came out, Martini responded, “one thousand percent! When I first came out, I was young and talking to my pediatrician, and I did not know I was gay. We talked about Ellen, but there was no one my age or close to my age who I could look up to as a major figure. I would watch obscure random YouTubers because that’s all I could find.”
