Queerbaiting

Queer baiting (or queerbaiting) is a term used to describe the perceived attempt by advertisers or canon creators to draw in a queer audience and/or slash fans by implying or hinting at a gay relationship that will never actually be depicted. "Queerbaiting" is most often — but not always — applied to television and film.
In films and television series, this is done either by introducing a character whose sexuality seems, early on, to be coded as something other than one hundred percent heterosexual, or by indicating -- be it ever so slightly -- that two same-sex characters might possibly be attracted to each other. 
Queer baiting may also involve the suggestion of a romantic or sexual interest between two characters of the same gender without making it outright canon. This can backfire against TPTB when queer baiting is paired with "no homo!" moments in canon, where a seemingly intimate exchange between characters is immediately followed by an "of course we're not gay" joke.("No homo" is a slang term used in hip-hop culture and is short for "No homosexual implications intended." Along with the word "pause", it is used to caution listeners that although the speaker may have just given the impression he is gay, he is not. In practice, it is employed almost like the Jewish phrase "God forbid".)
The term encompasses the disappointment and betrayal felt by fans when the canon retreats from that early perceived position of queer inclusion, and clearly marks the sexually ambiguous character as straight.
A fan describes the initial experience of the queer audience member this way:
==History==
"Queer baiting" was originally used by politicians and had a similar meaning to "race baiting", bringing up details of an opponent's orientation as a way of attacking them. The current meaning was created in 1990s academic queer theorists, and popularized by Tumblr users in the early 20-teens.
Coding, that is, behaviors intended to identify a character as being a particular type, is an integral part of theater worldwide. In Anglo-European drama it goes back to the ancient Greek theater. Nuances in costume, body positions and gestures, and vocal tone along with theatrical subtext serve to tell the audience a character's background and personality. By the late nineteenth century and into the 1920s and '30s, film acting techniques were being developed and what we think of as "homosexual" as a social identity continued to evolve. Male theatrical and film characters who were supposed to be gay were often campy or "flaming". Known as pansy types in those days, they might be fussy, effeminate, use limp-wristed gestures and lace handkerchiefs, and (as sound came in) speak in expressive, often high-pitched voices. Part of this was done so that the audience would understand a character was gay without running afoul of the Legion of Decency.The excellent documentary Before Stonewall begins with a look at "pansies" and other types of gay characters in film. See also Turner Classic Movies' Screened Out: Gay Images on Film.Jay Robinson played Troyian ambassador Petri as this character in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Elaan of Troyius". Franklin Pangborn often played this character. Edward Everett Horton played more low-key versions. Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon is a more extreme example as is Jack on Will and Grace. Ed Hibbert's Gil Chesterton on Frasier is a satirical take on "coded gays", as is Frasier himself.
Formerly, characters who seemed "queer" often proved to be straight as a way of sending a message to the audience not to judge queerness solely by appearance and behavior. Another character who seemed to fit all the stereotypes of a "straight" man might then turn out to be gay.The early All in the Family episode "Judging Books by Covers" is all about this: Archie's "manly" friend is gay, while Michael's girlish-seeming friend is straight. As the dominant American culture acknowledges that gay people exist, and with the changing cultural image of who a gay person is, sympathetic gay characters have become more numerous, and are often coded more realistically. Today's viewers have come to expect to see gay people actually having relationships, not merely being identified as gay.
==Fan Opinions==
===Queerbaiting Is Bad===
This practice also meets with strong objections from slash fans who are less interested in political/social justice issues than they are simply in a possible canonization of their favorite slash couple. There is a fine line between slashwink and ship teasing and serious storylines and dialogue indicating a possible homosexual relationship which is then pulled back or never consummated. It can also be argued that some fans see homosexual attraction in character interactions that were not intended that way. 
(One presumes Baumgartner is referring to the straight men, or those who are not interested in slash. See Male Writers Archive.)
Viewers become frustrated when producers and showrunners drop hints in interviews that they will portray two male characters as getting together, but don't actually do it. Slash fans as well as those who just want to see realistic depictions of gay relationships view this practice as a cynical exploitation of their interest in order to get ratings."Both shows [Supernatural and Teen Wolf] have courted slash fans in different ways. Supernatural does it through the actual text – including mentions of Wincest (Sam/Dean), having other characters suggest that Dean and Castiel are a couple and employing established romantic tropes. Teen Wolf does this via Social Media – encouraging fans to vote for Teen Wolf with shippy vids and Jeff Davis suggesting that if enough fans demand it he could be persuaded (which should just be no.1 on the list of things showrunners should NEVER say)." UndieGirl, "Baiting the Fandom That Feeds You", The Geekiary, November 6, 2013." They are mistaken for gay lovers; they stare longingly into each others eyes for seasons at a time; they are deeply, inescapably important to each other. Yet the audience is never allowed to forget for long that these characters are also deeply, inescapably heterosexual." Emmett Scout, Please Do Not Bait The Queers. In The Next, June 19, 2013.
===Queerbaiting Is Better Than Nothing===
Fans are divided as to whether queer baiting is better than nothing, as discussed on this FFA thread: 
===Queerbaiting Is Good===
The hosts of BAIT: A Queerbaiting Podcast take a much more optimistic view on the existence of queerbait.
===What Counts As Queerbait?===
Other fans distinguish between queerbaiting and what they call "slashwink" (also referred to as a Ship Tease at TVTropes):
Certain shows attract heavy fan lobbying for canon relationships between male characters. Many of today's fans want to be seen as requesting progressive media portrayals of homosexuals, rather than demanding satisfaction of their personal obsession or kink.
Queer baiting, like Mary Sue, is an extremely subjective and personal experience, and fans may perceive it even within very inclusive media. Such as when Steven Universe artist Jesse Zuke deleted their Twitter account after suffering massive amounts of harassment from tinhat fans over Peridot and Lapis living together.
Gay fans have come to resent the insertion of "subtext" or appealing to fans' Slash goggles without ever presenting an actual gay relationship. We may be told that a supporting character is gay, but we never actually see him with a husband or boyfriend. (Lesbian couples are portrayed even less often.) Slash fans may zerg tumblr threads and forums merely to speculate on "pairings", while ignoring the fact that television and film still have no definitively gay lead characters, or gay relationships between lead characters. 
The Freedom of Fanfic Tumblr blog entry "Why Shipping Isn't Activism" further explains these points:
==Queerbaiting in Different Fandoms==
In Sherlock and Supernatural fandom, fans have deluged the showrunners with appeals for express, unambiguous portrayals of sexual love between the characters.
===Sherlock===
Steven Moffat, producer of Sherlock, has stated he has no intention of catering to this demand, remarking that even if the two men love one another, it's only in today's "weirdly sexualized world" that we must insist they're having sex as well.Alyssa Rosenberg, Steven Moffat on ‘Sherlock’s Return, the Holmes-Watson Love Story, and Updating the First Supervillain. Think Progress, 2012-05-17. In fact, he explained in 2012 that he deliberately chose to retain Holmes' canonical celibacy (not asexuality) from Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories."There's no indication in the original stories that he was asexual or gay. He actually says he declines the attention of women because he doesn't want the distraction. What does that tell you about him? Straightforward deduction. He wouldn't be living with a man if he thought men were interesting.... It's the choice of a monk, not the choice of an asexual. If he was asexual, there would be no tension in that, no fun in that – it's someone who abstains who's interesting. There's no guarantee that he'll stay that way in the end – maybe he marries Mrs Hudson. I don't know!" There is a clue everybody's missed, interview with Moffat in The Guardian, 2012-01-20. Moffat has been accused of queerbaiting by various reviewers during his time on Doctor Who as well as Sherlock. by Kerishma (2012) Blogging for HONS 201, 2012-12-03.
===Supernatural===
Many Supernatural fans believed that Dean/Castiel would become canon. The show's writer and actors writers engage in a certain amount of references, jokes and teasing about the characters' orientations and relationships.
===Harry Potter===
Also in 2016, fans of Harry Potter accused J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne of queerbaiting in the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by portraying a romantic friendship between two male characters, In an op-ed piece in the Guardian, Ilana Masad said that the play used "injections of homoeroticism and romance to draw an audience seeking LGBT+ representation, while not alienating a wider audience who may not want to see a gay relationship depicted". Ilana Masad, "Harry Potter and the Possible Queerbaiting: why fans are mad over a lack of gay romance". Guardian, August 16, 2016. Anthony Boyle, who had played Scorpius in The Cursed Child, subsequently played J.R.R. Tolkien's friend Geoffrey Bache Smith in the 2019 biopic Tolkien, and spoke in interviews about Smith's romantic friendship with Tolkien. In the film, their bond is "hinted to be something more" and Boyle says screenwriter Stephen Beresford told him "it’s not taking a liberty with this character, there’s no direct proof that he was in love with him, but if we don’t follow our nose when these clues are given to us then we’re writing these people out of history." Taking a conceptual approach, Boyle feels that each viewer brings his or her curiosity and interpretation to the work.Samuel Fishwick, "Tolkien star Anthony Boyle: If we don't follow the clues, we’re writing people out of history". Evening Standard, May 2, 2019. 
===Steven Universe===
In August 2016, Steven Universe artist Jesse Zuke deleted their Twitter account after suffering massive amounts of harassment from tinhat fans over Peridot and Lapis living together. This is despite there being several queer characters in the show and Zuke themselves being queer. Peridot and Lapis are not explicitly romantically involved in canon, nor is Peridot involved with Amethyst, who is also female; but a previous episode had shown interaction between Peridot and Amethyst that appeared to fans to have unresolved sexual tension. So, for those who were hoping these two would be together, the Peridot-Amethyst moment was construed as Queer baiting since nothing happened. Beth Elderkin, Steven Universe Artist Quits Twitter Over Fan Harassment. io9, August 13, 2016.Galveira, LAUREN ZUKE JUST DELETED HER TWITTER Reddit post dated August 12, 2016.
===Voltron: Legendary Defender===
In 2018, fans accused the showrunners of queerbaiting when Keith and Shiro did not end up together despite sharing many borderline romantic moments during the series. However, others were quick to point out that Shiro did get married to and kiss another man on-screen, which is still LGBT content even if it was rushed. Some Klance shippers also accused the writers of queerbaiting when Lance fell in love with Princess Allura, despite the many reminders that Keith and Lance were never meant to be viewed through a romantic lens and that Lance was straight.
== Queerbaiting in Advertising ==
Using LGBT and gender-fluidity themes in advertising, especially during June (Pride Month), has been criticized as a cynical queerbaiting and virtue-signalling commercial tactic. Amelia Abraham, "Why culture’s 'queerbaiting' leaves me cold". The Guardian, June 29, 2019.Victoria Brownworth, "Queerbaiting: TV’s trap to lure gay viewers." Philadelphia Gay News, December 6, 2018.
In May 2019, the fashion house Calvin Klein ran a series of commercials featuring LGBT and gender-fluid/nonbinary artists. However, they were accused of queerbaiting for casting straight actress Bella Hadid in a commercial where she kisses Miquela, a robot designed to look like a human female, rather than simply showing two Lesbian actresses in a relationship (as, say, Sasha Levinson's award-winning Now and Then commercial for Visit Las Vegas did). In their apology, Calvin Klein described the entire ad campaign was meant to "promote freedom of expression for a wide range of identities, including a spectrum of gender and sexual identities," and said they'd used Miquela to create a theme of blurring fantasy and reality.Rachel Kiley, Calvin Klein Apologizes for Queerbaiting After Same-Sex Robot Kiss. Pride, May 20, 2019."What is queerbaiting and why has Calvin Klein been accused of it?" Irish Times, May 20, 2019.
== Queerbaiting Allegations Against Public Figures ==
While queerbaiting is generally understood as a narrative tool used in media, allegations of this behavior have been made towards real-life individuals, including actors, musicians, YouTubers, and really any public figure perceived as ambiguously queer. It is uncertain when this trend originated, but it appears to have risen to prominence around the mid-2010s. The rise of these allegations could be attached to a wave of disenchanted rpf-truthers as widespread conspiratorial theorizing in communities (ie Larries, Gaylors, and PhanniesIt should be noted that the queebaiting accusations levied against YouTubers Dan Howell and Phil Lester seem to have disappeared as both came out of the closet as gay in June of 2019. Though they have decided to leave their current relationship status ambiguous, Dan mentioned in his coming out video that he and Phil "obviously more than friends.") did proliferate around this time. Subjects of all three of these theories have, at one point of another, been accused of queerbaiting their audiences.https://lgbt.cornell.edu/news/taylor-swifts-midnights-album-release-prompts-more-tay-spiracies-social-media https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/taylor-swifts-midnights-album-release-prompts-tay-spiracies-social-med-rcna52772 https://www.them.us/story/harry-styles-addressed-the-queerbaiting-debate-surrounding-him https://www.salon.com/2023/10/27/taylor-swift-gaylor-rumors-queerbaited/ https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/11ea56p/youtubers_how_fans_kept_two_youtubers_in_the/?force_seo=1 https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-queerbaiting-became-weaponised-against-real-people/
By the early 2020s, public discourse around whether real people can queerbait had taken off to the point where various think-pieces were published commenting on the phenomenon. https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/11/internets-obsession-queerbaiting-gone-far/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/queerbaiting-lgbtq-community-1201273/ https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/11/internets-obsession-queerbaiting-gone-far/ https://www.pride.com/identities/what-is-queerbaiting#rebelltitem1 https://augsburgecho.com/2022/12/12/real-people-cant-queerbait/ The general consensus among commentators is that individuals cannot queerbait. There are many reasons why an individual may choose to remain closeted, and no one owes the world an explanation of their sexuality and/or gender identity. These types of accusations can also put public figures in uncomfortable positions where they might be forced to come out before they are ready. This occurred in 2022 to Heartstopper actor Kit Conner who was pushed to come out as bisexual publicly in response to a barrage of queerbaiting accusations. 
==Other Usages==
The term 'queerbaiting' is sometimes used in situations that do not necessarily fit within the traditional definition.
When Lexa was killed off in season 3 of The 100, one of the grievances of the resulting LGBT Fans Deserve Better movement was that many queer fans felt that they had been baited by the showrunner, Jason Rothenberg, into watching and promoting The 100. Because of this, Rothenberg has been accused of queerbaiting fans,Lexa, The 100 on LGBTFansDeserveBetter.com. "Lexa's death was labeled 'the most insidious use of queerbaiting in a generation'..."Maureen Ryan, What TV Can Learn From 'The 100' Mess. Variety. March 14, 2016. "How wrong we were to trust them. We were queerbaited in the most elaborate way imaginable. They made our pairing canon. They assured us not to worry, that they wouldn't take it in that worn-out direction, that they were progressive and cool." even though Lexa was a canonical lesbian character and the Clarke/Lexa (Clexa) f/f pairing had been canon since season 2.
Similarly, the creators of Voltron: Legendary Defender were accused of queerbaiting for the way they handled Shiro and Adam's canonical relationship in season 7.Farid-ul-Haq, Does Voltron Legendary Defender Season 7 Deserve The Queer Representation Points It Wants? The Geekiary. August 11, 2018. Some fans felt that the m/m relationship had been overhyped by the creators, "only to lead to disappoint in the series and a lack of reference to Shiro and Adam being in a relationship in the series."Palmer Haasch, Voltron creator addresses fans over season 7’s queerbaiting controversy. Polygon. August 16, 2018.
== Canon Examples ==
* House and Wilson from House, MD: "An episode of House has a neighbor assume that House and Wilson, who have just moved into a condo Wilson bought, are gay. This is rather disconcerting to Wilson, who was attempting to hit on her at the time. House camps it up (for example, he orders a huge A Chorus Line poster and opens it excitedly in the hallway when the neighbor is walking by) to screw with Wilson and also as part of a rather convoluted plot to have sex with the pretty neighbor himself."TVTropes, entry on Faux Yay, with many other examples.
* Rizzoli & Isles: "In Rizzoli & Isles the two main characters pretend to be more than friends to discourage an unwanted suitor of Maura's (he, of course, suggests a threesome). This was so popular with the show's fanbase that the man has since become a recurring character so that Maura and Jane have to pretend to be gay repeatedly."
* Xena and Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess are soul-mates destined to be together forever, even after death and reincarnation, but the show never admits whether their relationship has a sexual/romantic dimension.
*Sherlock and John from Sherlock: "Homoerotic Subtext: Ooohhhhh boy. Sherlock and John are constantly Mistaken for Gay, and even when they deny it (John isn't gay, Sherlock is Married to the Job and doesn't discuss his sexuality) it's absolutely through the roof in every single episode. Pretty much everyone involved in creating the show ships John/Sherlock. Moriarty also takes great delight in flirting with Sherlock, despite not being gay either — addressing him as "honey" and "sexy" and getting all up in his personal space."From the entry on Sherlock at TVTropes, under "Homoerotic Subtext".
* Remus Lupin from Harry Potter. David Thewlis has said that he deliberately played Lupin as a "gay junkie" and that this idea originally came from director Alfonso Cuarón. Creator J.K. Rowling said that she didn't envision Lupin as gay when she wrote about him.Stubby the Rocket, "Every So Often, Remus Lupin Is Gay." on 2011-04-06 at tor.com.
* In the wake of an ill-advised statement that the creators of Supernatural had not intended for Dean or Castiel to be bisexual, WB exec Chad Kennedy received tweets accusing the producers of queerbaiting.Regarding Chad Kennedy at The Fandom Debunker, October 23, 2013.
* A brief exchange between James Bond and Raoul Silva in Skyfall which seemed designed to appeal to slash fans. "We all know that all James Bond movies are deeply masculine movies, where chicks are things to be banged or killed. So, it should say something about the culture of romance in movies that all the fans attached themselves to the fact that the villain (a man) hits on Bond by caressing him, and suggesting he not knock having sex with a man until he tries it. To this, Bond responds with 'Who says this is my first time?'" Aside from the fact that this is obviously queer-baiting... the need for fans to hang onto this very short conversation and gif it within an hour of the premiere date means that relationships between women and James Bond don’t matter and this is the only possibly meaningful one they can find in the movie."
* Among sports anime fandoms, it is extremely common for the fandom to ship one or more M/M pairings who are portrayed as close friends on screen, though these relationships never become romantic or sexual in canon. However, there is debate as to whether this is deliberate queerbaiting versus just fans being overenthusiastic about what is clearly intended to be a simple friendship.Why are sports-anime queerbaiting? by yurikabluedemon via Tumblr. Published Nov 20, 2016 (Accessed Sept 01, 2017). That's fujoshi for you, they ruin everything by billionknives via Tumblr. Published Feb 05, 2017 (Accessed Sept 01, 2017). I agree, because we don't normally see those closer relationships... by Shoyo Is God via Tumblr. Published Nov 24, 2016 (Accessed Sept 01, 2017). sports animes queerbait for views full stop. by bokato via Tumblr. Published Nov 21, 2016 (Accessed Sept 01, 2017). Yuri!!! on Ice became notorious and beloved as the first sports anime to buck this trend, although it was (and still is) subjected to accusations of queerbaiting due to the fact that the main couple weren't shown kissing on-screen. See gay representation in Yuri!!! on Ice.
* The Betty/Veronica kiss in the first episode of Riverdale. It was hyped up by the trailer to draw in LGBT viewers, but the episode itself acknowledged it as "faux lesbian kissing" and the show would go on to have both girls be unmistakably heterosexual (Veronica dated Archie and slept with him several times, while Betty pined for Archie and wound up in a relationship with Jughead). To make matters worse, the creators outright said the two would never be an item, basically admitting they used a lesbian kiss to draw in viewers. ‘Riverdale’ Star Shoots Down Betty &Veronica Romance: It’s Just Not Our Show
==Meta/Further Reading==
===2010===
* "i know you care for him as much as i do." meta by Aja (2010) - covers this topic but never uses the term 'queerbaiting'
===2012===
* by Saucery ("I’ve been in many fandoms, over the years. Many, many fandoms. And in many of them, I’ve been queer-baited, and in many others, my existence as a slash fan wasn’t acknowledged, at all. But this? Is the first time in my entire fannish life, in more than a decade, that I’ve actually felt my slash OTP might become canon. That it has a real shot at becoming canon.") (July 15, 2012) The author was referring to Teen Wolf: it never did. Colton Haynes, who played Jackson, came out in mid-2016.
* No Homo poster made by still-sophistory critiquing slash fandom's propensity to latch onto apparently homosocial "subtext" in television shows that are not actually very progressive. (2012)
* by Kerishma (2012)
*An explanation of queer baiting and why it's a problem by lan [atlanxic, zemmer, actualanimevillain] (November 2012); archive link
===2013===
*Fandom evolution and Slashwinking vs queerbaiting by fannishtalk (February 2013); archive link
*Dear "Slash" Fandom by effingdeixis
* Romano, Aja. 2013. How One Question Triggered a Supernatural Meltdown. The Daily Dot, May 6; archive link
*On Queerbaiting and Misha’s Comments at NJCon by t-eyla
*How Do We Solve A Problem Like “Queerbaiting”?: On TV’s Not-So-Subtle Gay Subtext by Rose
*Veronika K. 2013. "Supernatural -- 9.07 -- Dean and Castiel's Reunion and Queer-Baiting." SpoilerTV, September 20. archive link
===2014===
*Softly, Softly: The BBC's LGB Research Commission and The Johnlock Conspiracy on Fanlore
*Schrödinger's Queerbaiting by khaleesiofthegreatdairystate [amyrat151] (June 2014); archive link
*Cruz, Eliel. 2014. Fans take Supernatural to task for "Queer Baiting." Advocate, July 17. archive link
*Romano, Aja. 2014. How to kill your slash fandom in 5 steps. The Daily Dot, July 21. archive link
*Gennis, Sadie. 2014. "Supernatural Has a Queerbaiting Problem That Needs to Stop." TV Guide, November 17. archive link
===2015===
*Collier, Cassandra M. 2015. The Love That Refuses to Speak Its Name: Examining the Queerbaiting and Fan-Producer Interactions in Fan Cultures. Master's thesis, University of Louisville. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2204
*Fathallah, Judith. 2015. Moriarty's Ghost, or The Queer Disruption of the BBC's Sherlock. Television and New Media: 16:5. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476414543528
*Nordin, Emma. 2015. From Queer Reading to Queerbaiting: The Battle over the Polysemic Text and the Power of Hermeneutics. Master's thesis, Stockholm University. archive link
===2016===
*Minkel, Elizabeth. 2016. Star Wars, queer representation, and the mainstreaming of slash
*Campbell, Anna. 2016. Queerbaited: Homoeroticism & Homophobia in Supernatural in the Age of the Internet. Medium, February 20; archive link
*Langfelder, Natasia. 2016. Let's End Queerbaiting in 2016. AfterEllen, February 1; archive link
*Romano, Aja. 2016. The Harry Potter universe still can't translate its gay subtext to text. It's a problem. Vox, September 4; archive link
===2017===
*Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia. 2017. How 'Riverdale' shipping wars and queerbaiting led to Shannon Purser's coming out. The Daily Dot, April 19. archive link
*Brennan, Joseph. 2017. ‘Jensen Ackles is a (homophobic) douchebag’: the ‘politics of slash’ in debates on a TV star’s homophobia. Celebrity Studies, 8:2. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2016.1249897
*Ng, Eve. 2017. Between Text, Paratext, and Context: Queerbaiting and the Contemporary Media Landscape. In "Queer Female Fandom," edited by Julie Levin Russo and Eve Ng, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 24. http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.917.
===2018===
*Mitchell, Bea. 2018. Queerbaiting: What is it and why is it a problem PinkNews, February 26. archive link
* Brennan, Joseph. 2018. Queerbaiting: The 'playful' possibilities of homoeroticism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 21:2. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877916631050
*"Special Issue: Queerbaiting," edited by Joseph Brennan, Journal of Fandom Studies, 6:2.
**Brennan, Joseph. 2018. Introduction: Queerbaiting. Journal of Fandom Studies, 6:2. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.2.105_2.
**Bridges, Elizabeth. 2018. A genealogy of queerbaiting: Legal codes, production codes, "bury your gays", and "The 100 mess." Journal of Fandom Studies, 6:2. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.2.115_1
**McDermott, Michael. 2018. The contest of queerbaiting: Negotiating authenticity in fan-creator interactions. Journal of Fandom Studies, 6:2. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.2.133_1
**Elliott, Jaquelin and Fowler, Megan. 2018. "Smile, Derek. Why don't you smile more?" The objectification of Derek Hale and queerbaiting in MTV's 'Teen Wolf'. Journal of Fandom Studies, 6:2. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.2.145_1
**Roach, Emily E. 2018. The homoerotics of the boyband, queerbaiting and RPF in pop music fandoms. Journal of Fandom Studies, 6:2. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.2.167_1
**Brennan, Joseph. 2018. Slashbaiting, an alternative to queerbaiting. Journal of Fandom Studies, 6:2. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.2.187_1
* Emily Andras, Maureen Ryan, and Louisa Stein Discuss Fans, Producers, and Queer Baiting from the How Do You Like It So Far Podcast: "Emily Andras, the very fan friendly producer of Wynonna Earp; Maureen Ryan, the television critic who was fearless in her support for fans throughout a similar controversy surrounding The 100; and Louisa Stein, a key figure in Fandom Studies and co-editor with Kristina Busse of Sherlock and Transmedia Fandom. These three amazing women share their thoughts on the "Bury Your Gays" trope and why bad things happen to good fandoms in an age when show runners theoretically understand the value of audience engagement." (June 05, 2018)
*Graves, Stephanie A. "Put as much 'sub' into that 'text' as you possibly can": Supernatural, Representation, and Queerbaiting. Paper presented at the Popular Culture Association in the South, New Orleans, LA, 4-8 October 2018. Panel Chair.
*Slash and Canon: Do you ever just think about how much slash (and femslash) fandom has changed the last ~10 years? by comradegrantaire [punk-solas] (December 2018); archive link
* WHAT IS (AND ISN'T) QUEERBAITING?, video by SarahZ.
===2019===
* The Evolution of Queerbaiting: From Queercoding to Queercatching by Youtuber Rowan Ellis (January 30th, 2019)
*Queerbaiting and the blame ping-pong ball by chili-legilimens (March 2019); archive link
*Brennan, Joseph, editor. Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans through Homoerotic Possibilities. University of Iowa Press, 2019.
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