Paris Mawendwa

First off, some context.

I have been making TikTok since I was 19 years old.

Over the course of a year and a half, I've gained 300,000 followers.

While I'm immensely grateful for this job, it has had some challenges.

Staying present with the feedback I receive online has been something that I have at times found to be overwhelming and intimidating.

At certain points, I've had to significantly decrease the amount of time I spend reading comments and messages due to how the hate I would receive would impact me or how obsessive I would become with the response.

At some point, I found it easier to focus on consistent output than to sit with the response I was receiving.

This failure to adequately medicate my comment section led to narratives that I do not align with and were actively harming members of my community to exist.

Okay, let's continue watching and see what she has to say.

I give my history not to lessen my responsibility, but to give context as to why I have not been active enough in correcting bigoted narratives and removing those that perpetuate them.

I apologize to anyone who has been harmed or made to feel unsafe in the comment section due to the hostility that was present there.

Moving forward, I'll be more present with the comments being left and will be quick to remove or correct any bigoted or harmful narratives.

The other concern relates to a lack of conversation on trans people and their specific plight.

While broadly speaking, the focus of my content has been feminism, it has been more specifically modeled after my life experience.

When I started posting TikToks in 2024, they were based on essays and poems I wrote about my life experience as a Black African lesbian.

The subjects I covered focused on lesbianism, body image, dating, self-confidence, et cetera.

My content took this focus because these were themes I could personally relate to.

As my platform grew, so did the request for me to continue making that type of content.

Due to my hyper focus on my individual life experience, there have been many subjects I have failed to adequately talk about, including trans rights.

I would like to make it clear that my lack of discussion on this subject was not coming from a place of bigotry, but a lack of feeling like I had the adequate life experience or perspective needed in order to meaningfully contribute to this discussion.