It can be satisfying to see a niche thing you love –a book, a band, an artist – become popular in the mainstream. Yet it can also be upsetting. You root for their success for so long, but once everybody knows about them, it doesn’t feel as special. That’sgatekeeping, the grown-up cousin of “You can’t sit with us.“But there is a community that doesn’t gatekeep: the Gates Open, Come Insubreddit. It’s where people invite each other to like and enjoy stuff others might tell them is inappropriate or uncool, and generally have each other’s backs. Like the kids say these days, “In the clurb, we all fam.“Bored Pandagot in touch with one of the community’s moderators,u/Merari01, and they kindly agreed to tell us more about the subreddit. Read our short chat with them below!This post may includeaffiliate links.
It can be satisfying to see a niche thing you love –a book, a band, an artist – become popular in the mainstream. Yet it can also be upsetting. You root for their success for so long, but once everybody knows about them, it doesn’t feel as special. That’sgatekeeping, the grown-up cousin of “You can’t sit with us.”
But there is a community that doesn’t gatekeep: the Gates Open, Come Insubreddit. It’s where people invite each other to like and enjoy stuff others might tell them is inappropriate or uncool, and generally have each other’s backs. Like the kids say these days, “In the clurb, we all fam.”
Bored Pandagot in touch with one of the community’s moderators,u/Merari01, and they kindly agreed to tell us more about the subreddit. Read our short chat with them below!
This post may includeaffiliate links.
u/Merari01 told us that the theme of the subreddit drew them to become one of the moderators for the community. “The internet can be a negative place, full of angry people and content, which in some form makes people feel excluded,” they told us via a message. “This subreddit is positive, inclusive, and shows a welcoming atmosphere.“The Redditor believes that people want their feeds to have more positivity. “Having a space that is explicitly inclusionary resonates with a lot of them,” the netizen added. While moderating the subreddit’s comment section can sometimes be challenging when members get into petty arguments, u/Merari01 is pretty happy with the job overall. “It’s a fun space to be in, so, it’s not a real challenge.”
u/Merari01 told us that the theme of the subreddit drew them to become one of the moderators for the community. “The internet can be a negative place, full of angry people and content, which in some form makes people feel excluded,” they told us via a message. “This subreddit is positive, inclusive, and shows a welcoming atmosphere.”
The Redditor believes that people want their feeds to have more positivity. “Having a space that is explicitly inclusionary resonates with a lot of them,” the netizen added. While moderating the subreddit’s comment section can sometimes be challenging when members get into petty arguments, u/Merari01 is pretty happy with the job overall. “It’s a fun space to be in, so, it’s not a real challenge.”
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We can gatekeep many things: the recipe for our favorite pasta, where we bought our fabulous shoes, our favorite sports teams, and many other things. In 2022, Vogue actually chose “gatekeep” as theword of the year. What, according to them, used to mean institutions or people withholding power now means not sharing information or access to something.On TikTok, notgatekeepingmeans sharing where you got that sweater from and how much your tickets to see Taylor Swift cost. But Vogue writes that this is slightly ironic: if anything, the app made information and the world itself more accessible than ever. “Want to find out where a media-only fashion party or sample sale preview is taking place? You can probably hunt down the invite onTikTok.”
We can gatekeep many things: the recipe for our favorite pasta, where we bought our fabulous shoes, our favorite sports teams, and many other things. In 2022, Vogue actually chose “gatekeep” as theword of the year. What, according to them, used to mean institutions or people withholding power now means not sharing information or access to something.
On TikTok, notgatekeepingmeans sharing where you got that sweater from and how much your tickets to see Taylor Swift cost. But Vogue writes that this is slightly ironic: if anything, the app made information and the world itself more accessible than ever. “Want to find out where a media-only fashion party or sample sale preview is taking place? You can probably hunt down the invite onTikTok.”
Licensed psychologist and lecturer on the psychology of metal and punk rock Steve Byrneexplainsthat social psychologists have observed our tendency to divide into groups. We make friends with people who have similar interests and outlooks on life, and we align ourselves against those who are different.Byrne points to the Robbers Caveexperiment, carried out in the 1950s. In it, social psychologist Muzafer Sherif studied 22 boys who, during the experiment, divided themselves into in and out-groups. It reflected the most basic truth that we divide ourselves according to many things: political beliefs, likes and dislikes, and even for the benefit of our own social standing.
Licensed psychologist and lecturer on the psychology of metal and punk rock Steve Byrneexplainsthat social psychologists have observed our tendency to divide into groups. We make friends with people who have similar interests and outlooks on life, and we align ourselves against those who are different.
Byrne points to the Robbers Caveexperiment, carried out in the 1950s. In it, social psychologist Muzafer Sherif studied 22 boys who, during the experiment, divided themselves into in and out-groups. It reflected the most basic truth that we divide ourselves according to many things: political beliefs, likes and dislikes, and even for the benefit of our own social standing.
Byrne writes that it’s natural for us to see those who are different from us as a threat. Then we want to appear stronger, more sophisticated, and cooler in front of them. And that’s where gatekeeping comes in. In essence, wegatekeepbecause we’re insecure. Putting others down is one of the ways we cope with insecurities. “At least we’re not as bad as them,” we comfort ourselves.
Perhaps now more than ever, division into insiders and outsiders is hurting us all around the world. Byrne suggests that some political leaders thrive on sowing division with the “us against them” mentality. In reality, there must be very little that’s actually different about us.
Interestingly, some people see gatekeeping as a good thing. In an article for The Cut, Ann Friedmansuggeststhat some communities gatekeep to preserve their culture. She writes about Anthony Bourdain worrying about sending tourist masses to mom-and-pop restaurants, as well as Black creators feeling conflicted when white creators use their aesthetics, language, and memes and calling it appropriation.
Kelly Elizabeth Wright, a lexicographer with the American Dialect Society, explained that gatekeeping in this context gives minorities back that little bit of power they lose in this age of vast media consumption. “You could be making a piece of content that is for other Black people or for your community, but then it’s public or it gets algorithmically exposed. There is less control in the way social media is surfaced and served to people.”
Sirena Bergmanwritesfor Business Insider that the boom in tourism in Hawaii during the pandemic caused native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders to “gatekeep” the state. The natives talked about the rise of COVID-19 cases and the environmental impacts of tourism and asked people not to travel there, but still faced backlash.
That’s how “gatebreaking” came to TikTok, the opposite of gatekeeping. The idea is that there should be no barriers to information, expertise, places, or knowledge. But Bergman observes that there’s more nuance to this problem. While being against gatekeeping is, in essence, standing against inequality, it’s alright for some people to sometimes stay on the fringes of certain spaces.
However, in most cases, the old cliche"sharing is caring"might just be true. Sharing information, access, knowledge, and just genuinely having each other’s backs. If this wholesome list is right up your alley, Pandas, check out the previous ones that we’ve done about the “Gates Open, Come On In” communityhereandhere!
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