Hook, Line, and Sinker: Everything Wrong With Queerbaiting

Over the past few decades, the LGBT+ community and movement have progressed into mainstream focus and out of obscurity. With this shift in general public awareness and societal views, LGBT+ issues have become increasingly more relevant within popular media and culture. Overall, this has been a positive step for the LGBT+ community, leading to increased representation and creating a more diverse cast of characters within movies and television. However, another problem arises; one related to the way that LGBT+ characters are portrayed in media.

You may or may not have heard the term “queerbaiting” be used in online circles; it refers to the action of hinting at a same-sex relationship between two television or film characters without actually depicting it by dismissing it, ignoring it, or making fun of it.

Some common examples include Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge from Riverdale, Dean Winchester and Castiel from Supernatural, and Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from Sherlock. In these cases, the two parties involved often show “romantic chemistry” (i.e. similar to romantic relationships in television and media), characteristics that are “LGBT+ coded” (drawing on archetypal and stereotypical traits of gay characters), or are even mistaken as a couple by other characters. However, the creators of the show constantly reiterate that the characters are straight by introducing other love interests (such as in Riverdale) or playing the relationship off as a joke (such as in Sherlock)

Why then, one might ask, is queerbaiting harmful? First, the LGBT+ audience consuming the media, often teenagers and children, never see the representation that the show or movie might seem to promise. Yet, they keep watching for the hope that there will be representation. As Eve Ng, a media arts professor at Ohio University says, “for many young people, [fictional characters] are their only […] queer person they know”. The blatant rejection of LGBT+ characters and relationships, especially in major roles is “causing mental and emotional pain”. She also states that good representation are “validating and normalizing for LGBT+ youth” and “contribute to their identity development and overall well-being”.

Second, queerbaiting is often used as a tactic by producers to draw in a LGBT+ audience to their show or movie without actually committing to an LGBT+ relationship (at least in a major role or between major characters). This allows them to keep the traditional “straight male” audiences and the LGBT+ community- both large consumers of media such as mainstream television. By doing this, the creators of television shows and movies are essentially taking advantage of the LGBT+ community while taking away or lacking proper representation, creating the subtle message that the LGBT+ community doesn’t deserve or are less worthy of such stories. It should be noted, however, that some creators would include LGBT+ relationships if it was under their control, while others may purposely utilize queerbaiting to draw in larger audiences.

Again, queerbaiting is often used by creators in relation to major/leading characters in their stories. Some of these series may have secondary LGBT+ characters as well. The question could then be raised asking whether a leading LGBT+ relationship (rather than baiting it) would be necessary if there are already other LGBT+ characters in the series. Why make Veronica and Betty a couple if there are gay and bisexual characters such as Joaquin or Cheryl?

This is a common argument for many different television shows or movies. “There’s already one gay character, why do we need more representation?”

However, this question implies that LGBT+ characters are only included in shows or movies to appease the LGBT+ community, instead of trying to depict the real populations of people who identify as LGBT+ or normalizing gay or lesbian characters. People, especially the youth, identify with characters from television and film, feeling a sense of solidarity or belonging. If “geeks” have Big Bang Theory and “preps” have Gossip Girl, why can’t the LGBT+ community have television series or movies that appeal to both the LGBT+ community and a wider audience that features a LGBT+ main lead?

The LGBT+ community cannot be encompassed in a television show with only one secondary, couple, while queerbaiting is still used to hint at a relationship that one of the main characters might have.

Moreover, while many mainstream television shows and movies may feature secondary LGBT+ characters, those characters may often fall into the “bury your gays” trope or into stereotypical depictions of gay, lesbian, and transgender roles. A GLAAD report notes that 25 lesbian and bisexual female characters in mainstream television shows were killed off in 2016- and most served little purpose outside of “[furthering] the narrative of a more central (and often straight, cisgender) character”. Out of a total of 92 LGBT+ female characters in television, 25 deaths is around 27%. Most of these deaths are violent and can seem like a grotesque and insensitive reflection of the violent crimes committed against LGBT+ people in real life. For more about this topic, see NBC’s “Bury your gays” article and Autostraddle’s list of over 200 dead LGBT+ female characters in television.

Queerbaiting is a new term for gay or lesbian subtext in mainstream media, but homoerotic or homosexual subtext has been included in film and television for a long time, and it used to be celebrated by LGBT+ communities due to the Motion Picture Production Code, which regulated what material could be shown in mainstream movies. Thus, gay subtext was the only way that LGBT+ communities could subtly see themselves depicted on the big screen. However, the code has since been replaced in 1968 by the MPAA system. This means that subtext is no longer the only way for LGBT+ representations in mainstream media. Queerbaiting, then, only applies to modern media that often consciously chooses not to explicitly depict LGBT+ relationships.

Of course, this is all written in a western-focused lens, where LGBT+ relationships are no longer censored by government and media laws. In other countries, including China, representations of LGBT+ people are often shown as the butt of jokes, through subtext, or are used as a way to bait audiences of either straight males or females who enjoy or fetishize gay or lesbian relationships.

Queerbaiting, the act of hinting at gay or lesbian relationships without actually depicting it in television series and movies, is harmful to the LGBT+ audiences consuming those forms of media, taking advantage of their viewership while giving the message that LGBT+ people are worthy of realistic or honest representation in mainstream media. Though it is only one of the many problems seen in the portrayal of LGBT+ characters in popular culture, it is still worthy of note; before praising a television show for its representation or its creators, think about the impact that it could have and the message that could be conveyed.

Accurate, realistic, and respectful representation of the LGBT+ community is possible, and it can only start through a change in the industry and its audiences.