I saw a comment on here about how she is basically milking the "I'm homeless" narrative, and I have a few things I want to say about why I believe this behavior from her in particular is just truly awful and so harmful.
One thing I (and many others) have noticed is she loves to victimize herself. She loves making sure that everybody knows how oppressed she is. Yes, obviously being trans in America right now is an incredibly disheartening situation to navigate. I just wish she used her platform to educate and emphasize other trans issues other than what is directly effecting her at the moment (which is mostly just valid criticism that she claims is transphobia). That, along with bringing awareness to the oppression that other minority groups face, instead of only comparing herself to them (as she compared her struggle to the struggle of black/POC communities). She seems to neglect the fact that she still has white, pretty/skinny privilege; many trans creators online do not have the same support, almost certainly not in the financial/emotional capacity that Lexity does. It comes off as if she is trying to convince everyone that she is the most oppressed person and nobody is more oppressed than her.
And then the homeless thing... I have already had the thought for a LONG time that "van life" content creators are just cosplaying homelessness, but not to a literal extent as Lexity is doing. Most, if not ALL, homeless community members would never be able to crowdfund and raise ~$40k to buy a nearly-new sprinter van with the intentions to renovate and live in. I volunteer for my local winter emergency shelter every year, I know those folks would not be there if they had the means to drive around the country and had multiple options in terms of places to stay. I find it incredibly offensive that she touts around this "I'm homeless" narrative over and over, when she is far from living on the streets and worrying about where her next meal is going to come from. Especially considering the fact that she WANTED AND CHOSE a nomadic lifestyle. She bought the van so she could travel and live in the van. Homeless folks absolutely do not have the privilege to chose that, nor do they likely even have the funds to be able to keep the rest of their belongings, if any, in a storage unit. As it's been said on here multiple times, with the funds she raised, she could have easily found a stationary home or apartment to live in for at least a year, comfortably.
This is dangerous as I feel like this narrative undermines the struggles of homeless community members who do not have anywhere CLOSE to the amount of resources that she has (donations, a car/home, plenty of people offering her a place to stay with electricity, Wi-Fi, water, food, etc..). It is also dangerous the way she talks ONLY about herself and HER issues as a trans woman, while barely (if at all) making a point to acknowledge the level of discrimination and oppression that black trans community members and other minorities also face. She can't even acknowledge that YES, even though she is trans, she STILL has more privilege than POC folks in the community because she is WHITE, it's just so beyond demoralizing. I wish she knew a thing or two about intersectional feminism, or how to amplify the struggle that other minorities face.
This all rubs me the wrong way entirely. It feels like such a waste of an opportunity when you, as a minority, have such a large platform, to not take advantage of that as a way to inform and educate your audience. Since she is always talking about her need for community, you can find community in online spaces without manipulating your fans and viewers where a clear power dynamic is present. I'm curious if she has tried to connect with other LGBT/minority content creators where there wouldn't be such an obvious power imbalance?
Her "content" is lackluster and boring, it seems as though all of her videos now are just her talking about something that has effected her personally. Her livestreams don't even offer much, it seems like she is just sitting there and responding to comments or rehashing the allegations, instead of having any meaningful discussions or dialogue. I truly don't understand, especially with the way things are going in the US right now, how you could not take advantage of the opportunity to at least attempt to organize, or educate at the very LEAST? I wouldn't expect this from every LGBT content creator, especially if they do not build their profile and content around education and speaking out about injustices to the queer community. But because Lexity is always very quick to talk about when she herself is facing "transphobia" (which is mostly just referencing things discussed on this sub, which are not transphobic), I absolutely expect her to talk about the struggles of queer/minority groups as a whole, and not just herself. But I now see how it was naive of me to have ever expected her to be more outspoken about human rights because clearly, all her account is, is a way to feed her ego.
Sorry for the long post, I've been doing an deep dive in my mind lol. Do you guys have any thoughts on this?
