In our society today, we have had more and more representation for LGBTQIA+ people in the media, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad, especially when it comes to queerbaiting our favorite characters in the media. LGBTQIA+ representation is so important to every generation—to feel seen and even heard in the media.
In recent news about LGBTQIA+ groups, the community has been targeted, and people’s views of Queer people have been negative lately. With the fear of trans people playing on their gender affirming sports team, or the historically known stereotype that drag queens and kings grooming children and them “turning our kids gay” rumor.
Adding representation, particularly good representation, is important for queer people and for others who may not have the biggest understanding of the community.
Understanding what is good representation versus bad representation means you can really get a good sense of what it’s like to be a queer person.
Queerbaiting is one of the most used things in the media; people hope for great characters to be part of the LGBTQIA+ community, only for their identity to either never actually be explained, if they are, or just their character is completely removed from the storyline.
For example, in 2007, J. K. Rowling said “Harry Potter” character Albus Dumbledore was gay, and explained he was in a relationship with Gellert Grindelwald. Rowling never added these details to any of the books in the “Harry Potter” universe.
Nearly 15 years later, Dumbledore had one line confessing his love to the “Harry Potter” character Gellert Grindelwald in the movie “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.” It took 15 years to have one line showing he is gay, while never truly adding it to the books or even the movies.
Another example is the show “Supernatural,” with the characters Castiel and Dean Winchester. Throughout the show, Castiel is shown slowly developing feelings for Dean. Eventually, Castiel expresses his feelings to Dean, but he dies after. There are so many layers to this death but it just shows the explicit and implicit ordeals of sexuality and relationship when it comes to gay oriented relationships. The core reason why this is bad is because the character gets denied a happy ending and pushes historical censorship of queer relationships.
These are prime examples of the trope “bury your gays”, where they will have good representation or bad, they seem to just add a identifiable Queer character that is pretty known through out the start of the plot, only added to be inclusive and gain views just from them to be killed off and never talked about again.
Furthermore, the fetishization of queer people has been all over the internet. The fruition of this can be seen with oversexualizing LGBTQIA+ characters,instead of properly introducing a character to the audience, or LGBTQIA+ characters are shown having excessive sexual interactions that don’t add to the story’s plotline.
This can be seen in “Blue is the Warmest Color,” which was widely criticized for its 10-minute-long, explicit sex scene that was filmed and choreographed by a male director.
This type of representation is for straight and cisgender identifying audiences to consume, while at the exploitation of queer people. Dr. R Claire Snyder is a gender studies scholar, says that “the portrayal of queer relationships through a heteronormative lens often reduces complex identities to mere spectacle, catering to the desires of straight audience rather than authentically representing queer experiences”.
Off the screen, the hypersexualization of, in particular, queer women by straight and cisgender men can be seen in actuality. For example, in 2003, Justin Timberlake at the MTV Music Video Awards made comments after his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears and Madonna shared a kiss on stage. “It was very sexy,” said Timberlake. The male interviewer went on to say it was “sexy,” as well.
This is just one example out of millions of cisgender and straight-identifying men objectifying just two women kissing, rather than understanding that this is another type of relationship.
Another example is in “Riverdale” in its final season. The show faced backlash due to its polyamorous relationship between the four main characters. Fans saw the forced attempt at adding queerness to the show, and it was seen using the lesbian dynamic for the male gaze.
Good representation is needed in our community, and if it’s not met, people get the wrong ideas about LGBTQIA+ relationships and the community itself. The hypersexualization, the fetishization and the queerbating in the media of the LGBTQIA+ community is just a small amount of what the media does to show our community.
However, there is media that make great leaps in accurately and authentically representing the LGBTIA+ community like “Heartstopper,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Moonlight,, “A Single Man” and more.
Our community shouldn’t be just for views. It should be for showing the good of our community rather than stereotypes.
