2023 is a landmark year in LGBT rights history, as an unprecedented number of anti-trans bills have been introduced across the United States. Since January, state legislators have introduced more than 500 anti-trans bills, including bills targeting trans people’s access to gender-affirming care, education, and other basic human rights. (Trans Legislation).

Since many of these anti-trans legislation target trans youth, my project examines how young trans men TikTok content creators engage in community mutual aid through their TikTok content amid the influx of anti-trans legislation, as a window into how these anti-trans bills are directly and eminently impacting young people. According to Spade, mutual aid is defined as the practice of individuals and communities joining together to support each other’s basic needs and well-being through reciprocal and voluntary exchange of resources, skills, and knowledge (2020). I believe these trans-TikTok creators engage in mutual aid just by their mere media presence and their efforts to create, but I wanted to identify specifically how and what they did to engage in these conversations. 

I examined the TikToks of 12 of the most followed trans men creators as an indicator of their audience reach and community engagement (Appendix A). In response to prevailing anti-trans narratives found within these anti-trans laws, trans men responded to them in various ways including humor, “thirst trap,” or simply sharing their experiences of navigating transness.