Queerbaiting is a complicated topic. There are nuances to discussions around queerbaiting which take some significant space to grapple with in detail. There are concerns around linking shipping with LGBTQ+ activism, complexities around drawing a distinction between queerbaiting and homoerotic subtext, discourse around why certain pairings become such fandom behemoths and arguments which suggest investment in shipping 'straight' characters leads to the neglect of LGBTQ+ characters or shows with plenty of LGBTQ+ visibility. Then of course there's ace erasure and a desire for more nuanced male intimacy in pop culture in general and many of these issues would require independent articles to address the complexities in full.
However, I try to reframe the debate in this short piece for The Mary Sue, with reference to a simple bugbear of mine. Why does a desire to see same sex twosomes get endgame romance on television get side-eyed, when the same is never true of hoping for a romantic culmination to the story arcs of an opposite sex pairing? What does assumed heterosexuality of mainstream television characters and arguments which insist a character is 'straight' tell us about a general lack of LGBTQ+ diversity in television, bierasure and heteronormativity in the mainstream?
The article can be found HERE
However, I try to reframe the debate in this short piece for The Mary Sue, with reference to a simple bugbear of mine. Why does a desire to see same sex twosomes get endgame romance on television get side-eyed, when the same is never true of hoping for a romantic culmination to the story arcs of an opposite sex pairing? What does assumed heterosexuality of mainstream television characters and arguments which insist a character is 'straight' tell us about a general lack of LGBTQ+ diversity in television, bierasure and heteronormativity in the mainstream?
The article can be found HERE
RSS Feed