Twitter's Gay Baiting

What Precisely Isn't Queerbaiting?

Queerbaiting, undeniably harmful to the queer population, warrants public censure for those who exploit an audience through fabricated representation. Conversely, like many internet coinages, the phrase has morphed into a catchphrase, deployed without a full grasp of its ramifications.

This doesn't only lessen the severity of legitimate claims but might also create an uncomfortable expectation that "queerbaiting" actors are obligated to offer the world an explanation of their sexual orientation.

Considering Kit Connor, for illustration, the term has been weaponized against an eighteen-year-old, alleging he duped queer admirers. Implying that a man's queerness is impossible due to a potential relationship with a woman is overt bi erasure, a significant matter within the LGBTQ community itself.

Beyond this, however, to condemn Connor of queerbaiting means making unsubstantiated suppositions concerning his sexuality. Celebrity culture frequently leads us to think that stars owe us the same intimate revelations that we witness them embodying on-screen, in their true lives.

Connor is just eighteen; he is not obligated to provide anyone with an explanation for his sexual orientation. One Twitter user was swift to highlight the hypocrisy of declaring that "anything less than proclaiming your sexuality from the rooftops is equivalent to queer baiting," concurrently ostracizing Connor from the community.

Do TV programs also eschew the need to label sexualities?

Well, it's complicated. Characters like Todd from BoJack Horseman and Eve from Killing Eve undergo a journey of self-discovery concerning their sexuality, revealing it inside the shows.

Nonetheless, these characters are unquestionably queer; Todd reveals himself as asexual, albeit not aromantic, and Eve engages in a passionate relationship with assassin Villanelle (my apologies for the spoilers).

Queerbaiting develops into a problem when programs persistently hint that characters may be LGBTQ, yet decline to confront their sexuality.

While his character, Will Byers, has now been affirmed as a gay character, Noah Schnapp instigated such accusations in a recent interview.

"I feel like they never truly address it or explicitly state how Will is...I perceive that's its beauty; it is simply up to the viewer's interpretation."

Millie Bobby Brown added, "Can I just say, it is 2022, and we aren't obligated to label things."

Queer people, particularly trans and non-binary individuals, have persistently challenged socially imposed classifications of gender and sexuality, often enduring rejection and exclusion as a result. Crucial pioneers of the gay rights movement, such as Marsha P. Johnson and Slyvia Riveria, rejected others' expectations and declined to adhere to simple labels.

It is 2022, and queer individuals do not have to label themselves nor abide by others' labels. However, when corporations and television programs utilize these concepts for self-promotion, they further appropriate queer identities whilst still denying them representation.

Queerbaiting signifies the intentional teasing and deception of an audience that had repeatedly seen its very existence erased and its identities belittled for cheap jokes, in order to profit from their elation.

Even though this phenomenon continues as an unwelcome trope in mainstream media, we can still retrieve our queer joy in authentic representation; artists like Lil Nas X and shows such as It's A Sin and First Kill are poignant salutes to a culture that refuses to be concealed.