TikTok Has Led Conspiracy Theory Discussion Among Gen-Z

By Bella J Reilly

IS THAT A GOOD THING?

Amidst the 15-second dance videos and oatmeal recipes, there is a subgenre of TikTok full of bizarre speculations questioning everyone from political leaders to celebrities like Ellen Degeneres: they call it conspiracy TikTok.

Yesterday morning, as I did my regular morning scroll through TikTok (arguably the most mind-numbing part of my day), a video uploaded by a user on September 12th appeared on my ‘For You’ page. The ‘For You’ page crafts videos you may want to see based on the posts you have previously interacted on. The video’s opening line is “Did you guys notice that almost every recent election year we have had a major virus outbreak from a foreign country[?]”. This person is ultimately claiming that major disease outbreaks are planned to influence elections. Then, pictures played over music from the swine flu in 2008, Ebola in 2016, and the current Coronavirus popped on the screen. The video has amassed over 300 thousand views and over 498 comments, most of which are users agreeing that the correlation between election years and outbreaks is far from a coincidence and was somehow planned by the Government. I scrolled through the comments of users referencing ‘Plandemic’– a documentary about the possibility of Covid-19 being orchestrated (which was essentially debunked by Science Mag), dumbfounded by the number of people who believed something just because of a popular TikTok.

The ‘Plandemic’ is not the only conspiracy theory that has made its way onto Tiktok. A search of Hillary Clinton’s name on the app shows hundreds of videos spreading the popular theory ‘PizzaGate’ (the actual ‘#pizzagate’ hashtag has been banned on Tiktok). ‘PizzaGate’ refers to a concept involving numerous Hollywood celebrities and politicians running a child sex ring (another theory debunked by numerous news sources such as The New York Times). As I see videos promoting topics like these almost daily, one thought prevails in my mind: are teens actually believing these theories, or is the discussion all in good fun?

For some, it may be a mix of both. When asking Fordham student Gracie Kunik her take on the debate, she definitely does not fall trap to these theories easily. “I definitely do not think that I would believe anything on TikTok with 100% faith, but I do like hearing about them,” Kunik said. “I think with some Google searches you can find other sources and start to formulate your own opinion.”

On the other hand, Fordham student Sophie Dreskin believes in a few conspiracy theories that have circulated around the internet. Specifically, she believes in the speculation that the website Wayfair is somehow involved in child sex trafficking– a theory that began on platforms like Twitter and Reddit but found their way to Tiktok.

“I’ve really only heard about the idea through Tiktok,” Dreskin said. “But from

the evidence I’ve seen on there, I have reason to believe it’s possibly true.”

Though the internet has its downfalls due to the surplus of information, fake or real, it isn’t going anywhere– especially Tiktok. According to Oberlo, the app has 800 million active users worldwide, 41% of those between the ages of 16 and 24. So, the best thing to do from this point on is, just like you would on any part of the internet, take what you read with a grain of salt. Frankly, most people discuss conspiracies because they find it interesting, not because they actually believe that

Justin Bieber is a reptile or that Avril

Lavigne died in 2003 and has a lookalike who pretends to be her. For now, most of us Gen Z-ers will keep using the app for its original purpose: entertainment.

Layout:

Sophie

Dreskin

Is Your Diet Affecting

Written by: Zoë Mader, Photography: Ashley Alvarez, Model: Gabrielle Simporios, Layout: Emma Foley

Your S Drive? **

In a short answer, yes.

By diet, I’m not referring to going keto, vegan, or that new TikTok diet you’re trying; I’m talking about all the food we consume and how it affects our mood and hormone balance– As for the more common foods we eat daywhether we realize it or not. to-day, many are not scientifically proven to be

When our hormones are not balanced, we aphrodisiacs, but some test subjects have shown feel stressed, fatigued, uneasy or even de- increased libido as a result. For instance, dark pressed. So how do we avoid this? Author Bon- chocolate releases phenylethylamine, which nie Evie Gifford claims that eating certain foods Gifford calls the “love chemical”, and cocoa can help boost our moods. For example, she increases blood pressure. Flax seeds and pumpsays eating avocados helps regulate our hor- kin seeds give our bodies Omega 3 acids that mones because they are packed with testoster- can “increase our dopamine and serotonin one, oestrogen, progesterone, and Vitamin E. hormone production.” Additionally, oysters and Balancing hormones is a primary step in regu- their high Zinc content are known for “helping lating our moods and making us feel good– but our stamina” and regulating testosterone levels. let’s get to the main reason you’re reading this Other foods high in Zinc include pine nuts and article. red meat (Gifford). Eating oysters or scarfing down a bar of your favorite dark chocolate won’t instantly boost Foods known to boost your sex drive, commonly known as aphrodisiacs, consist of a handful of science-backed plants and snacks your libido, but it will release hormones and cause other effects that contribute to a heightened sex drive. that do the trick. According to HealthLine, foods like maca, tribulus, red ginseng, pistachios, and saffron are some of the science-backed aphrodisiacs that have proven to be effective in most test groups. Going back to the more niche, science-backed plants and herbs, you may be wondering how you would incorporate them into your diet. Holistic-health brand Moon Juice has you covered. Known for its SuperYou supplements and Moon Dust products, Moon Juice uses adaptogens to organically trigger desired responses in our bodies. In short, adaptogens are natural herbs that adapt to your body’s existing hormones to release stress and improve overall mood.

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So, whether you’re sold on aphrodisiacs or not, the naturally-occurring effects of each of these foods makes it easy to wonder “why not try it and see what happens?”

An Interview with

By: Frannie Vena-Pedersen Layout: Erin Foley

It’s a Friday night in quarantine, I’m bored and looking for some sort of entertainment to break the monotony of just watching Netflix. An Instagram notification pops up: “@serenakerrigan is going live”. I click the notification and I am hooked. She was doing a virtual blind date with a suitor located in New Jersey from the comfort of her Manhattan living room. I find myself laughing, commenting along, and feeling genuine joy in what was one of the bleakest moments in my life. And so, a Friday night habit was born. I’d sit doing a puzzle and watch as Kerrigan put herself out there in ways I had never thought possible before. If you don’t know Serena Kerrigan ... What rock are you living under? From her viral TikToks to her Serena F*cking Kerrigan moniker, she is a force to be reckoned with and someone who I actually consider to be incredibly authentic. This is why I jumped at the chance to ask the “Queen of Confidence” a few questions about her dating show Let’s F*cking Date and hear what she had to say about self-love and online dating.

Q: With LFD, you are drastically changing the online dating landscape. Where do you see dating going in the future with the current state of our world?

A: With Let’s F*cking Date, my goal is to empower women to realize that they are in the position of choosing, rather than being chosen. I hope, after watching me, women recognize that they can be assertive and vocalize their preferences on a date. At the end of the day, you should feel one hundred percent authentically yourself when dating and not worried about whether or not the other person likes you. I also hope the show normalizes virtual dating and to not feel weird about FaceTiming before meeting in real life.

Q: How are you trying to shift love and relationships through what you are doing? Is that your main goal?

A: I want my audience to realize they should never settle for anything in life. Life is too short to accept anything less than a “f*ck yes.” If it’s not a “f*ck yes” it’s a no. And when you truly love yourself and know your worth, you will only ever accept a “f*ck yes.”

Q: Do you have any advice for our readers regarding selflove and how did you get to where you are today with loving yourself?

A: In order to love yourself, you have to nurture the relationship with yourself the way you would do with anyone else you love. This begins by talking to yourself in the mirror every day and acknowledging that your reflection is your best friend. I would also advise anyone who is interested in working towards self-love and acceptance to sign up for a confidence coaching session with me!

Q: How have you taken your self-love and confidence and used it to your advantage in your career? A: When you legitimately know your worth, you are willing to take risks. I always knew that I was destined for a bright future, and I realized the only way to get to where I wanted to be was by making it happen on my own. So in February, I quit my job and looked at what happened? If you don’t believe in yourself, why would anyone else?

Q: Do you have any tips for a great online date?

A: Don’t take it too seriously! Given that you’re in a comfortable environment (i.e. your couch) the stakes are pretty low. There are so many perks to virtual dating: you don’t have to spend time getting to the restaurant, getting ready, or worrying about any expectations regarding sex or money. The focus is on the conversation and you should feel empowered to be 100% yourself. If the date isn’t going well you can easily just leave the chat!

Kerrigan’s advice is to the point and empowered, much like her. If there is anything I have learned from her it’s that sometimes you just need to strike your fiercest pose in the mirror and tell yourself you look f*cking hot and not let yourself think otherwise. The journey to self-love and confidence is a long one, but it is one that can be done and one that will have a positive effect on all of the areas of your life. If you are interested in booking a confidence coaching session with SFK, check out her Instagram for more information!

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Everyone’s first experience with love is different. Some first loves are in high school, some are in college, some are long-term relationships and some are people we never even dated officially. What all first experiences with love have in common is that when it ends, it fucking sucks.

My first love was my high school boyfriend who I dated for over two years. I, like many other people, held onto him for way too long after the relationship was clearly over, let him control my life, and did not allow myself the proper healing that a clean break would have given me. A clean break sounds so easy and beneficial to everyone involved, and it should be. But from what I’ve seen, the first person you love is never just in your life one day and out the next.

One weekend last year, three out of four of my best friends at Fordham had their ex-boyfriends come to visit. Literally, none of the visits went well. Everyone either felt that they were too involved, that they still loved them, and that moving on, even though we were all trying it and going through the motions, was never possible. It was the same way for me. Even though my ex-boyfriend went to school four hours away and knew none of the details of my life at school, I talked to him like he was still here, and like he still cared when, in reality, he didn’t anymore.

So what is it about first love that makes it so hard to get over, and so hard to move on from? There are literally countless articles about all of the reasons why you may still love, or think you love, someone who was so formative to your adolescent year and your first experiences with love. I don’t know what it is truthfully. All I know is that almost every person I know who has loved someone has had a terrible experience with the end.

But all of us are fine. Most of us, like me, have a new love who is a million times better than the first, and most of us realize how much that first person sucked. But rock bottom exists for a reason, and in our love lives, our first experience with it is the most valuable. Even though it sucks to go through it, the results of our first love experiences always leave us better off than we were when we were 15 and in love.

irginity Rocks

“Virginity Rocks.” In the last few years, you might have noticed buzz surrounding shirts bearing this eye-catching slogan. Popularized by YouTuber Danny Duncan in 2017, the catchphrase and the merch started out as an ironic joke. But the teenagers who chose to sport the slogan on t-shirts and hoodies weren’t kidding around.

In a way, this catchphrase perfectly encapsulates the uncertainty that many teens and young adults feel about their sexuality. Is virginity something to take pride in, or should we be ashamed of it? At what point is it normal for us to start having sex? Does virginity actually “rock?” to feel like everyone is having sex. It’s hard to watch the glamorous lives of fictional high schoolers and not feel a little bad when comparing their dramatic and tantalizing love lives to your own.

According to the CDC, the average American loses their virginity around 17. If you are ahead or behind this curve, it’s difficult not to feel self-conscious. You start to question your choices and your worth. Is there something wrong with me? Am I too promiscuous? Am I not promiscuous enough?

By the time you reach college, it gets harder to ask those questions. Virginity becomes a taboo topic. If you begin college as a virgin, you start to feel like you’re in line for an exclusive club, barely able to glimpse through tinted windows at what the beautiful people are doing inside. There’s shame in becoming sexually active, and there’s shame in staying celibate. It depends on who you ask. The church, for in- So what should you do? There is a temptation to stance, greatly endorses staying celibate until just “get the whole thing over with” and lose your marriage, even as this ideal becomes increas- virginity as soon as possible. If you’re ready for ingly outdated in popular culture. Even if you this step, go for it. If you’re not, you’ll only hurt don’t personally identify as religious, there is yourself in the long run by pushing yourself to do still pressure to conform to these standards of things that make you uncomfortable. The world is purity. The choice to be sex-positive isn’t an in shambles and it can feel like you’re sitting still easy one—there’s a lot of guilt that comes watching it act upon you in ways you can’t with “losing” something you were control. But, you are the one and only pertold to hold dear until son who decides what to do with your your wedding night. sexuality. Comparing yourself with Popular media only produces anxiety. In the end, presents a different there really is no reason to sweat this kind of social pres- stuff. Wear that “Virginity Rocks” sure. Watch Euphoria, Gos- shirt with pride. Or don’t. The sip Girl, or any number of other TV shows that beautiful thing is that it’s comare popular with teen audiences, and it starts pletely up to you. your peers in this area is unwise and Author: Abbey Delk Model: Carson Waldron, Layout: Jacqueline Risch 55

Future of Millenial Love

Article By: Japnour Bhasin Layout By: Stephen Pastore Photographer: Carson Waldron Model: Victoria Broadbent

We’re all looking for love. The big kind. The one that will change the world as we know it. We spend so much of our time waiting, searching, and going through the motions of dating until we see what we’re looking for. In theory, online dating is supposed to widen the pool of potentials that singles come in contact with, but for anyone who is dating in the age of apps, seeing more than one person at once is completely common. The modern-day hookup culture is changing rapidly with the accelerated increase of technological advances. Usually, you would go on a date and see if you were interested in someone and make a pre-judgment about it then. Now with a simple glance at an Instagram feed or bio, we already have unconscious prejudice. And the eye-opening fact is that it is acceptable and more profound in our societies today.

Seeing two people at one time is how millennials date nowadays, and convenient apps like Tinder and Hinge just make it easier and more convenient to meet someone. Society standards of dating in today’s world are entirely different from what it used to be. You could quickly be dating two people without necessarily being in a relationship, and you’re technically not cheating.

Simultaneously dating two people can be a lot of work, but here are some tips to help you get through it. Making time for multiple people can be merely EXHAUSTING. The countless text messages and plans to meet up can be incredibly time-consuming, especially when you have a job or school to worry about. Think of dating less as an iterative process for finding someone perfect and more like a series of potentially enjoyable evenings with beautiful strangers. For a broad stripe of people, especially in cities, dating one person at a time is uncommon, if not entirely fictional.

There’s a misconception that casual dating doesn’t demand much from you emotionally. But it takes a lot to do it well. Meeting different people is already a challenge. Dating them is a separate and much more complicated story. Attempt to get to know your dates instead of just sleeping with them. Dating multiples is one thing, f*cking multiples is another. If you’re a relatively young person, who’s just “trying to find yourself,” I highly recommend making a sincere attempt to get to know those you choose to go out with. After all, isn’t part of finding yourself figuring out what kind of people you’re really into?

These days, sex and dating don’t have to be about traditional relationships or monogamy unless you want them to be. The world is filled with fun, exciting people who are well worth loving, so it’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to limit yourself to just one. There’s a fine art to successfully dating multiple people at once, and in today’s society, it’s more thrilling and accessible than ever.

The Digital Dating Dilemma:

Dating Apps and Hookup Culture in the Gay Community

Article and Layout By: Stephen Pastore

As a gay man, I have found it extremely difficult to navigate the online dating world. With gay hookup apps like Grindr, it is so easy to find something superficial that ends just as quickly as it begins. Upon arriving at college, I immediately crafted profiles on both Tinder and Grindr and started connecting with way too many people. I was looking for a relationship with someone who I could place my trust in, someone to fall in love with. Yet all I received were one-worded responses, unsolicited photos, and messages from grossly older men. Yikes. That’s when I began to wonder why I am getting nowhere with these platforms. The train never left the station, and I soon realized that hookup culture is the reason why.

With many gay dating apps, there is a sex first mentality. However, there are still people, like myself, using these apps to search for a long-term partner because it is so hard to navigate the dating world as a gay man in real life. The issue is that excessive hookup culture is creating a hypersexualized environment where it is nearly impossible to find someone with genuine intentions. I could sit here and write an entire book unpacking Grindr alone. Your profile includes information about everything from your body type to your sexual preferences; I quickly realized this was absolutely not the place for me to find what I was looking for. That’s when I realized my current predicament was much deeper than I initially thought.

Ultimately, my problem boils down to how LGBTQ+ people are conditioned by society to hide and suppress their sexuality. To put this in perspective, I only came out a little over two years ago. For almost 18 years of my life, I was living a lie where I never expressed my interest in men. Meanwhile, the straight people around me got to experience relationships, express their feelings, and learn how to navigate dating life. So, many gay men get caught up in hookup culture because they just want to find someone once they finally come out. Their sexuality has been suppressed their entire life, so their desire for a relationship is way more than that of a straight person. However, what actually transpires is the complete opposite. You find someone on an app like Grindr, hookup, then never see each other again. Gay men are settling for less, not because that is their nature, but because apps like Grindr make relationships easily accessible. These relationships might not be real or long-lasting, and for many, that’s more than enough because that is what they are seeking. However, for others like me, these relationships are better than nothing. The sad reality is that this disconnect in gay dating life is so normalized, but I, along with other young gay men, have the power to break this cycle.

I have decided to never use dating apps again, period (trust me, I have deleted then redownloaded Grindr and Tinder so many times that I have lost track). For many of you reading this, dating apps are the right path for you; but for me, they just never worked out– and that’s totally okay. To any young Queer person reading this, just know you deserve a real relationship. You deserve a partner that shares your values, makes you a better person, and most importantly will take you to a nice restaurant for your first date (not a dingy apartment). Do not settle for less just because it is convenient, because you will probably regret it later. One day, the one will come into your life and you’ll know they are the real deal.