Opinion: How New Media Sells Us – And Gus Kenworthy – Short
If you are reading this, it’ll be in the print or digital edition of DNA #307 or on our website, which you may be reading through your phone or on your desktop device.
And although social media may have led you to this story, you won’t be reading it on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X or Bluesky platforms. The reason I’m discussing this is in response to some recent comments on DNA’s Facebook page, which illustrate the distinct differences between so-called new and old media.
Here’s what happened… On the DNA website, we posted a story headlined, Beyond The Thirst Trap, Is Gus Kenworthy The Role Model We Need? The headline was rhetorical. Of course, Gus Kenworthy is a worthy role model. He’s a medal-winning Olympian who lives his gay life proudly online, honestly and unfiltered.
His recent social media posts during Pride featured simple, unguarded moments: a soft kiss exchanged with his boyfriend, Andrew Rigby, a relaxed bike ride, and easy laughter with friends. These images are not radical on their own. Their power comes from the normalisation they represent. As DNA’s Online Editor, Marvin Valdez noted, “For years, an athlete at his level could never have shared these moments. By doing so, Kenworthy shows a global audience a version of queer life that is peaceful, stable, and happy. It is a quiet but firm statement that our love and our friendships are valid and worthy of celebration.
“Why is this so important?” Marvin continued. “Because somewhere, a young person is scrolling through their phone, feeling isolated or afraid. A person in one of the dozens of countries where it remains dangerous to be gay is looking for a sign of hope.”
Yet when the story link was posted to our Facebook account, it attracted negative commentary. One user wrote: “Would he still be a role model in your magazine’s view if instead of a ripped jock who strips on camera and parties a lot, he was a scientist who studied cancer cures but had a dadbod and wore frumpy clothes? That’s the question for DNA’s editors for sure.”
Social media wants you to endlessly scroll through pages, get annoyed, and leave snarky messages. That’s their business model.
Another user joined in: “I’d bet a million dollars that if a gay man cured cancer and brought peace to the Middle East and saved orphans from a fire, DNA and other gay magazines would check to see if he has muscles or abs before determining whether or not they’d call him a hero. ‘Oh, he has a dadbod and 28 per cent body fat? No pics of him. We’ll do a one-paragraph blog mention. That’s enough!”
These comments suggest that the authors only read the headline and didn’t click through to our website to read the actual story. And that’s not their fault. Social media has conditioned them to behave like this. Social media is designed to keep you on their platforms – they don’t want you clicking away to read the actual stories. They want you to endlessly scroll through pages, get annoyed, and leave snarky messages. This is new media’s business model.
In fact, as annoying as those comments are, they hit the nail on the head. If a “frumpy, dadbod gay with 28 per cent body fat” did cure cancer, bring peace to the Middle East etc, and we posted that story to our social media, with a picture of him, it would not get clicks and views. Not unless he was a sexy daddy! The irony here is that by commenting on our post and being critical of it, these two have reinforced the way the algorithm works. Users being annoyed by a post is more valuable to the big tech companies than users liking a post. Negativity inspires engagement. Good news gets passed by.
For traditional media, like those of us still in print, this creates challenges. We need social media to get ourselves out into the world. In fact, DNA would not have the global readership we have today without social media helping us reach anyone who has an internet connection.
The downside is that social media users get an unbalanced and unrepresentative idea of who we are and what we publish. A post featuring sexy men gets more views than a story about, say, LGBTQIA+ civil rights in Africa. And regular DNA readers know that LGBTQIA+ politics through an international lens is part of the DNA format. And to you, thank you for reading!
It’s not just DNA that gets shortchanged by the assumptions that social media encourages. In this case, it’s also Gus Kenworthy, because while he may not have cured cancer or brought peace to the Middle East, he has just participated in the AIDS/Life Cycle, an 877km bike ride raising money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, he supports the Trevor Project helping prevent LGBTQIA+ youth suicide, and Happy Hippie supporting homeless LGBTQIA+ youth. He has worked with the Humane Society to combat animal cruelty, collaborates with GLSEN to create inclusive spaces for students, and has participated in Black Lives Matter protests. He also has his own Worthy Foundation supporting the LGBTQIA+ community.
So, yes, we do see him as a hero, even if he posts a lot of shirtless selfies and goes to parties!
This piece was first published as Dear Readers… in DNA #307.
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