With the rise of LGBT characters on screen and having many celebrities come out as a part of the community in recent time, we are witnessing a boom in LGBT content.
Wether it’s targeted towards the LGBT youth or the mass audience, that’s our question.
As a conservative muslim society, our media does not cross the line of presenting such topics to the general public but it’s a wide spread market in western countries.
Queer baiting is the act of having a straight person pretend to be gay or a part of the community for clout and sales.
Using said community and young members looking for representation beyond stereotypes of being the “gay best friend” or a queer coded character to make profit.
The term “BL” meaning “boy love” is referred to shows where the main character are homosexual males.
This would have been seen as progressive and representative to the community if it wasnt targeted towards straight women who only watch it for the actors to fulfill their fantasy.
As the community still faces backlash and hatred, production companies use queer baiting and the oversexialization of the community to sell its content.
By doing this, said companies are gaining profit from both sides: the LGBT community looking for representation and the people who fetishize this type of relationships.
In recent years, this type of content has been more and more daring in the music industry (miley cyrus feat dua lipa- prisoner) and in Kpop.
While content made for and by the LGBT community is still pushed back, where it highlights their struggle, dysmorphia and pain, content that paints as sexual and immoral beings has been highlighted recently.
It intersects with racism and colorism for most of the characters on screen are attractive white actors/actresses who represent the ideal image if beauty and desirability.
Having straights artists pretend to be a part of the community for shock value has brought more even further negative image.
A heterosexual actor can always exclude himself from his roles as a gay character but a gay actor cannot exclude himself from his sexual which already limits the amount of roles he can get
.تعيين رئيس حكومة جديد من طرف رئيس الجمهورية عبد المجيد تبون
“POSE” a show which highlights the ballroom community in the 80s, dealings with heavy topics such as aids, transition, homosexuality, drugs and sex work with the main characters been actual trans women is revolutionary.
After having biological male born celebrities take queer roles to challenge their abilities and skills.
A show that finally delivers what it promised with rawness and edge secured an Emmy nomination for it’s amazing performance and relatability to the people.
This has given queer artists more space to develop, grow and prosper in their own element without having to hide or cover up their reality as the western society seems more accepting than it used to be.
