Snapchat Scores Millions of New Users Thanks to Gender Swap Filter

Thirteen million people have never heard about drag apparently??

According to a new report from Ad Age, Snapchat added about 13 million new daily users in its second business quarter of 2019 and had an estimated 50% revenue growth -- likely because of that gender swap filter that let you see what you looked like as a boy ("as a boy") or as a girl ("as a girl"), which, at the height of its popularity, managed to bring in more than 200 million users to the app in just two weeks.

This is good news for Snapchat, which hasn't been doing so great over the past few years. Advertisers have started flocking back to the social media platform because of all this new growth and are increasing their spending, Ad Age says.

But for me? Personally? I think it's bad!

I mean, think about it. Since the dawn of time, or at least 1977, a man could just go in his mom's closet, grab one of her wigs and a little off the shoulder something or other, and -- bam! He knows what he'd look like as a girl. He could go to the local gay bar, tip one of the queens, then become friends with her and learn the tricks of the trade! So what's the appeal of something like Snapchat's gender-swap filter? Why it's because it feels safe -- it sidesteps the risk of trying on a dress and making you realize you like it, avoids the "scary" social connection of having to acknowledge, own, and express your cross-gender desire to another person. Sarah Schulman likely says something relevant to whatever point I'm trying to make in The Gentrification of the Mind, but I haven't read that book in years and can't quote it from memory so just trust me! There's some perfect quote that hammers my point home.

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