Tita Baby and Belle Rodolfo on queer visibility and the responsibility of content creators
- Xave Gregorio
- Jul 1
- 4 min read
“It’s like the Wild, Wild West out here,” Belle Rodolfo confessed to Mamser.net when asked about the battlefield that is social media for queer people. “It’s a crazy world out there. I don’t know how it’ll evolve.”
Still, Rodolfo stressed that it’s important for LGBTQIA+ people to be seen, as she looked back in the years when the only queer representation she saw were the limited depictions of queerness on mainstream media.
“When I was growing up, I didn't have much of that, especially in mainstream media. All the queers, I knew, were my peers. So at least I had that. But it's not like we knew what we were doing,” she said.
She continued, “So I feel like it's so important now because the young people need something to look forward to when they grow old. I hope they realize that they can live long, happy, regular lives as people who are just part of society, who happen to be queer.”
The former beauty editor, along with Drag Race Philippines Season 3 finalist Tita Baby and trans woman Rica Salomon, were some of the content creators spotlighted by TikTok during its #ForYourPride dinner last June 26, 2025 with other TikTokers and select media organizations.
In a separate conversation with Mamser.net at the sidelines of the dinner, Tita Baby echoed Rodolfo’s thoughts.
“It's very important to have representation, [so] at least those who are younger than me, figuring out themselves, have a visual representation of the possibilities of who they can be. So it lessens the troubles of navigating life, growing up, and, you know, like wasting their time and energy, figuring out who they can be,” she said.
Great responsibility
Some scholars have pointed out that representation of LGBTQIA+ people in mainstream media has come a long way. The depictions of queer people have become much more nuanced in films and TV series, far from the one-dimensional tropes of the past. News media has become far more sensitive when treating stories on queer people, which has included the use of trans folks’ lived names and gender identities in reports.
But as Aldrich Cancino, an assistant professor at the National University – Manila’s communication department, pointed out to Philstar L!fe, it is better to let queer people take the reins of telling their own stories.
“"Providing queer artists with the opportunities to write and produce their own stories is crucial [however] the real challenge is whether media companies will fund these authentic narratives without imposing constraints. By supporting genuine queer stories, we can foster greater understanding and awareness,” Cancino said in the article.
Tita Baby understands this well, saying that the platform that she and other social media creators wield “is a very, very powerful tool in shaping lives, in shaping a culture, in shaping the future.”
But she cautions against young people diving headfirst into content creation.
“First they have to turn into themselves first. Accept undeniable truths about themselves. Both the weaknesses and the strengths, accept it. So that they are more empowered, that they are more powerful, that they can embrace themselves more authentically before they use the platform for others,” Tita Baby said.
Rodolfo agreed, underscoring the need to be “super specific with your own story.”
“There's always going to be different kinds of queer people who have never heard of other different kinds of queer people. And the beauty is in how diverse we are and how different we are and how we shouldn't be stereotyped,” she said.
Both Tita Baby and Rodolfo acknowledge that with their power that their platforms lend to them comes great responsibility.
For Rodolfo, that means they have a duty to be informed, educated, and immersed in other cultures, “not just our own letters in the alphabet.”
Tita Baby, on the other hand, has an ongoing collaboration with Probe Productions to dispel disinformation and misinformation on social media.
“There's a large battleground out there and regardless if it's about the context or the narratives are about LGBT or the heterosexual life, there will always be lies that will be spread online,” she said.
Listen to yourself
But no matter how big creators can get, they said, it’s also up to individual people to equip themselves with tools to keep themselves safe online and offline.
“Take care of yourself. Find the boundary between your social media life and your real life,” Rodolfo said.
“The best way to protect yourself and to mitigate the influences of lies is to do your own research. Like read more, you know. Be curious. Figure out if the news is true or the kwentos are true by, you know, going into different corners of the World Wide Web. Get your sources from credible sources, corners,” Tita Baby said.
Ultimately, for Tita Baby, it’s all about listening to yourself before anyone else.
“Don't believe everything that you watch. Don't believe everything that you hear. Hell, don't even believe me. You know, just start believing in yourself,” she said.
She added, “Explore everything. Explore the world. Explore life. Explore what the world has to offer. Go break your heart. Go fall in love. Go try a new hobby. Go try a new talent. Go learn something new. Read a book, you know? And by doing all these things, eventually you will actually zone into a sphere that is as close and as authentic to you as you can be.”
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