Who: Hannah Hart
(Tweet: @Harto / IG: @Harto)

To summarize Hannah Hart is quite the task because she’s just so BUSY. She’s an internet personality and online content creator, comedian and actress, NYT Bestselling author, and most recently, the host of Food Network’s new show, I Hart Food.  With 2.5 million subscribers, Hannah’s YouTube channel grew popularity because of her relatable cooking videos (titled, “My Drunk Kitchen“) but she quickly expanded her repertoire to include collaborations, open and honest conversations about mental health, and fun challenges with friends.

Significance: If for nothing else than representation, Hannah’s presence and impact within the LGBTQ+ community and beyond is important. Hannah is a lesbian, and also frequently jumps back and forth between the feminine and masculine stereotypical presentations of gender. In the video embedded above, Hannah answers questions and talks frankly about gender, her understandings, and what the labels mean to her.  She talks about, again, the representations of gender and being mis-gendered. Gender Theorist, Judith Butler,  actually calls this idea of gender presentations – performative. I think Hannah’s non-conformative gender presentation aligns well with Butler’s ideas about gender. (To hear Judith Butler talk about performance gender, click here.)

“I  hope that as my career continues I get to create and work on more LGBT projects and bring LGBT storytelling into more mainstream media!” (Indiewire.com)

Hannah’s appeal has translated to the “mainstream” media as well.  Her second book, Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded, gave the world a look at a complicated woman with a valuable story.

“In her debut memoir [Hart]…delves deep into her past, sharing her experiences with family, mental illness, sexuality, friendship, and love. Although she is currently living the life of a public figure, a fact that she teasingly points out throughout the piece, Hart focuses on her past; its complexities, juxtapositions, and contradictions make up the bulk of her entertaining and honest story. Hart exposes the hardest parts of her life: being gay with a Jehovah’s Witness father, growing up poor with a schizophrenic mother. These and other figures of her life could be easily demonized, but Hart allows them to emerge as complicated characters.” (Source)

Hannah’s “reckless optimism” has also encouraged her fans and followers towards a movement of friendship across the country and the world! Every year, captains all over the world organize events with a purpose :  “HAVE A HART DAY– an initiative to organize & mobilize Hartosexuals & friendly humans to spread service and reckless optimism all over the world!” (Visit the FB page!)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUzqvj5hiC_/