Aural Sects

Meta on what is and is not queer-baiting

mamastiles:

So, Maryssa and I were talking about this, and now I just wanted to post a mini-rant here.

The issue of queer-baiting comes up when you have two heterosexual characters (usually both male, but sometimes both female) who are thrown together in moments that, to the viewer, appear to be sexually tense, in order to engage a queer audience and make them feel represented. (Even though they are clearly NOT, because both heterosexual characters will scream to the rooftops that they are not gay, if the world will listen.)

The issue of queer-baiting does NOT come up when you have two characters who have never stated their sexuality (heterosexual relationships/feelings do NOT imply heterosexuality, and if you think they do, you are extremely ignorant to how sexuality works) thrown together, not in moments that appear to be sexually tense, but thrown together in moments of emotional and physical dependence. Add onto this that there are probably hundreds of thousands of words of well written, and clearly thought out meta explaining why these two characters would work well together. That’s not queer-baiting. That’s telling a love story.

I agree. It’s absolutely not the same as the shows that constantly have the male characters proclaiming “no homo” and it’s exhilarating to watch.