Pinterest Reveals Major Spike In ‘Pride” Related Searches

Online blogging-board, Pinterest has released its Pride Month stats showing a significant boom in LGBTQI related searches.

Since the cancellation of major Pride events across the globe, Pinterest has seen dramatic increases in searches for LGBTQI content and “milestone moments” – with a 70 per cent increase in searches for ‘transgender transition,’ a 96 per cent increase in searches for ‘Lesbian wedding suit,’ and a 77 per cent increase in ‘drag makeup’ searches.

People have long turned to Pinterest to explore the LGBTQI community by searching for representation and tips on gender transitioning or ideas for genderless fashion and aesthetics.

Laila Woozeer, an active LGBTQI pinner on identity and race from London, told Pinterest that Pinning has allowed her to maintain a sense of connection to the queer community since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK.

“My Pinterest boards have been a source of inspiration for me around self-expression, and gender experimentation in particular,” Woozeer said.

“During lockdown, this is something I have been considering differently – with no social settings to go out and ‘express’ in, this has become a more private and intense practice, and I use my boards to inspire me through that.

“In terms of Pride, I’ve also found collecting images that share other people’s artwork and responses to queerness has been a way of feeling connected to a community in a time where I’m not able to physically be present amongst the community.”

For many, coming out to family or friends is difficult, and this can be compounded during isolation with unaccepting family or friends.

During lockdown and the beginning of Pride month, searches for “LGBTQ coming out stories” rose by 93 per cent as more people turned to a collective wealth of stories and experiences, similar to YouTube’s plethora of ‘coming out’ videos.

As many Pinners have been exploring themselves during quarantine, searches also jumped for gender fluidity, with Genderfluid aesthetic searches jumping by 89 per cent and Gender fluid tips increasing by 43 per cent.

One active Pinner who discovered her sexual and gender fluidity through Pinterest blogging, Sioned Jones, told Star Observer, that Pinterest allows a much more hands-on way to curate and explore gender and sexual identity.

“There’s a really big community out there and it’s sort of like we’re all exchanging and exploring these bits of us,” she said.

“I love planning things like my wedding, but it goes a bit deeper than that. You see people post things about how to dress corporate but gay, and that’s super interesting to see.

“It also gives that creative freedom to understand fluidity a bit more. I’m not a man or a woman, and I don’t have typical femininity. Since I’ve been Pinning more in iso, I feel like I’ve met a whole bunch of people who are like me.

“They aren’t in a box and [instead] want to make their own.”