Queer Het

Queer het is a term used to describe het romances or fanworks that are considered to not adhere to heteronormative conventions. Fans have offered different etymologies for the term. Some queer het may be understood as a subversion or critique of heteronormativity in fiction, fandom, or fanworks. Queer het is a controversial term in fannish communities due to questions of how het, which is arguably by definition in opposition to queerness, can be called queer.
Some uses of "queer het" may be understood as related or similar to the nonfannish term queer heterosexuality, which has its own controversial history. It is unclear if the fannish term was originally derived from the nonfannish term, or if it originated distinctly. 
Fans have discussed the types of fic described as queer het since before the 2000s, sometimes describing it as "slashy het" or "het slash". Early X-Files fans did not specifically use the term "het slash" but instead simply called Mulder/Scully "slash." See The Topic of Slash As It Applied to Mulder/Scully, as well as many comments in 1994-1995 issues of Strange Bedfellows (APA).
Queer Het seems to have become popular in certain parts of LiveJournal fandom in the early to mid 2000s.
==Definitions==
Queer het has been defined in different ways and contexts over the course of its usage. In general, it can be characterized by the two following definitions. While there may certainly be overlap between these definitions, they can be considered as distinct usages of the same term.
#M/F works involving queer characters: Fanworks with a M/F pairing where one or both characters are bisexual, pansexual, trans, asexual, aromantic, closeted, or questioning (or are being headcanoned as such) can be considered "queer het".
#M/F works with a queer sensibility, involving queer themes, and/or challenging gender or heterosexual norms: Fanworks may be considered "queer het" when the focus is a het couple but it includes themes and activities that challenge the norms of cisheterosexuality, such as pegging, cross-dressing, genderswap/genderfuck, polyamory/moresomes, femdom, etc.
Queer het fic may also include elements of genderfuck.
==Example Ships==
Het ships that have been labeled "queer het" include John/Aeryn from Farscape, Tony/Pepper from Iron Man, Kara Thrace/Lee Adama from Battlestar Galactica, Buffy/Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Phryne Fisher/Jack Robinson from Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.
The post Some things about Korrasami and Makorra ... attempted to argue that Korrasami, the endgame femslash relationship of The Legend of Korra, was heteronormative and inferior to Makorra, a het ship which the OP considered queer. The post was widely mocked and spawned the Handmaiden and Feudal Lord meme based on the infamous line:
==Example Fanworks==
As of June 2018, there were 109 works tagged as "Queer Het" on the Archive of Our Own.Queer Het tag on Archive of Our Own. Retrieved on July 2, 2018.
* The Of Roses Unfurling series by Snowgrouse centers around Jaffar/Princess (The Thief of Bagdad (1940)), while branching into and accommodating period-typical sexual phenomena such as casual male bisexuality and the not-uncommon lesbian relationships in the larger harems. 
* The Devilry series by the same author (A Woman's Face (1941)/Original fic) features a BDSM-practicing, crossdressing, poly main pairing where both partners are bisexual and where the male half of the pairing is what we would today call genderqueer.
* this extra rib (2007), by femmenerd, is Supernatural erotica in which the OFC recounts a dream where she and Sam Winchester had swapped sexes. They then have sex, roleplaying this scenario. The author herself describes it as queer het.
==Discussion and Usage of the Term==
===Opposition===
The concept of "queer het" is opposed and mocked by some. Opposers are generally queer people.
===Fan Comments===
A 2005 discussion on Fanthropology prompted an extended discussion about the definition of queer het and other related terms."Terminologies In conflict," dragonscholar. Posted on April 16, 2005. Retrieved on July 2, 2018.
In a 2007 comment on alixtii's Livejournal post about the perceived absence of We're Not Gay; We Just Love Each Other trope in femslash, carenejeans wrote:
In a 2007 comment on melannen's meta Help! My slash goggles are stuck!, Livejournal user wychwood wrote:
A 2015 Tumblr post about the pairing Furiosa/Max in Mad Max fandom cited the Fanlore definition of queer het:
On a separate thread of posts, Tumblr user hauntedfalcon commented on thebyrchentwigges's analysis of the relationship between Furiosa and Max as "queer het":
In a 2017 response to adh2d's post "unpopular opinion: hating a ship because it’s “het” is petty and immature," Tumblr user rahirah wrote:
==References==
Category:Glossary
Category:Relationships Glossary
Category:Queer