Queerbaiting

**Queerbaiting** is a term used to describe a manipulative marketing practice of using perceived or potential queerness for publicity. It has allegedly been used since the 1950s and has been used online, such as by users on the blogging platform Tumblr expressing anger over the treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals in media, and has since been expanded to include businesses and celebrities using queer imagery to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community for the sake of publicity, promotion, or capitalistic gain. Deliberate queerbaiting has a malicious element, often most-clearly seen through television media as writers and creators hint at queerness before "emphatically denying and laughing off the possibility".

Queerbaiting is not the same as queercoding, as queercoding occurs when there is "enough subtext available for an audience to read [characters] as queer", but is not necessarily manipulative, unlike queerbaiting. Joseph Brennan noted in his book that there is a distinction between "unintentional, or *genuine*, homoeroticism and queerbaiting" (emphasis original).

## Etymology

The term comes from the noun "queer" (*not-heterosexual, not-cisgender*) combined with the verb "to bait" (*the act of luring, as if into a trap*). It harkens from the political portmanteau of "race-baiting", which was used to bring up perceived negative details of an opponent to undermine them.

## History

Historically, there has been limited representation of queer people in mainstream media; the representation that did exist often painted gay male characters as villains or people with mental disorders, while women demonstrating lesbian traits were frequently killed off to suit a white heteronormative narrative - the 'tragic lesbian' theme.

While the practice of queerbaiting is often seen as a negative, some members of the LGBT+ community view it as an improvement in the representation of queer people and queer relationships. Conversely, some believe that queercoded characters who do not end up cementing that queerness (often by entering a canon relationship) amount to queerbaiting, regardless of extenuating contexts or circumstances, including the "queerness" of the creators themselves or the LGBT+ representation and diversity already contained within such media.

### Queerbaiting in celebrities

In 2022, eighteen-year-old actor Kit Connor was harassed over playing a gay character while not being explicitly out as queer. After being accused of being straight while playing a gay character, he attempted to quell the masses by releasing a statement that fans don't know his sexuality better than he does. The alleged fans continued to accuse him and the creatives behind *Heartstopper* for queerbaiting by not casting a queer actor to play the role. Kit ultimately was forced to come out as bisexual and expressed his disappointment over being forced to come out before he was ready. He follows several queer actors that have either been forced out of the closet after being accused of queerbaiting. Many celebrities have been forced to explicitly label themselves on social media to appease the masses. These celebrities include but are not limited to Cardi B only months prior, Rita Ora in 2018, and Halsey in 2017, for what she called her "celebrity coming out", after many accused her of faking her bisexuality to sell albums. For Halsey, she had already come out before becoming a celebrity, but was forced to come out again for the public eye.

An argument was made in an online article that an actor isn't their character, and to assume an actor is - or isn't - queer is harmful to the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole, as it falls into harmful stereotypes. The article further expressed how accusing an actor of queerbaiting without knowing their sexuality or labelling them is constricting for everyone. At the end of the day, it's not anyone's place to speculate about another human's sexual orientation.

## Media

***For more information regarding Queerbaiting in media, please see the queerbaiting trope page.***
When speaking from a strictly media perspective, queerbaiting refers to the usage of creating an illusion of queerness around a specific character or characters to lure in audiences. The creator or writers manipulatively use subtext to imply a romantic attraction but have no intention to ever make it canon. This includes the posture of characters, interactions, conversations, and even blatantly making one of the characters queer while refusing to acknowledge the other. It is a recurrent and still popular trope in media, with the most common version being a "dreamscape" where two characters are inherently queer in that world but not in the "canon" storyline.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mendes II, Moises: "Why Queerbaiting Matters More Than Ever" (2021-07-23). rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone.
2. ↑ Murphy, Colleen: "Queerbaiting: What it Looks Like and Why It's Harmful". health.com. Health.com.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "What Is Queerbaiting? - Meaning & Explanation" (2022). dictionary.com. Dictionary.com.
4. ↑ Lan: "An Explanation of Queer Baiting and Why It's a Problem" (2012-11-28). atlanxic.tumblr.com. Tumblr.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Queer Baiting - 21st-Century Interdisciplinary Dictionary" (2016-03-29). neologisms.blogs.wm.edu. Neologisms.
6. ↑ Fathallah, Judith. *Moritary's Ghost: Or the Queer Disruption of BBC's Sherlock*. Television News & Media, 2015.
7. ↑ Jaigirdar, Adiba: "What is Queerbaiting vs Queercoding?" (2021-07-09). bookriot.com. Book Riot.
8. ↑ *Queerbaiting and fandom : teasing fans through homoerotic possibilities*. Brennan, Joseph, University of Iowa Press, 2019. English.
9. ↑ Shannon, Rogan: "Queer Coding and Queer Baiting" (2018-05-15). roganshannon.com.
10. ↑ Framke, Caroline: "Queer women have been killed on television for decades. Now The 100's fans are fighting back" (2016-03-25). vox.com. Vox.
11. ↑ Honderich, Holly: "Queerbaiting - exploitation or a sign of progress?" (2019-04-08). bbc.com. BBC News.
12. ↑ Elderkin, Beth: "*Steven Universe* Artist Quits Twitter Over Fan Harassment" (2016-08-13). gizmodo.com. Gizmodo.
13. ↑ Susannah Alexander: "Heartstopper's Kit Connor calls out fans over sexuality speculation" (May 8, 2022). digitalspy.com. Digital Spy.
14. ↑ @kit\_connor: "congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself. i think some of you missed the point of the show." (November 11, 2022). twitter.com.
15. ↑ Donovan, Joshua: "Kit Connor Is Accused Of Queerbaiting – Is That A Fair Call?" (September 13, 2022). dnamagazine.com.au. DNA.
16. ↑ Matthew Rodriguez: "Cardi B Dunks on a Tweet Questioning Her Bisexuality" (September 19, 2022). them.us. Them.
17. ↑ @RitaOrta: "Rita Ora Defends Her Song 'Girls' By Outing Her Sexuality" (May 14, 2018). twitter.com.
18. ↑ Kirsten Stegemoeller: "Halsey Is Coming Through Loud and Queer" (June 19, 2017). papermag.com. Paper.
19. ↑ David Opie: "Doctor Who and Heartstopper share the same fan issue" (May 9, 2022). digitalspy.com. Digital Spy.
20. ↑ Leah Ronski: "Queerbaiting vs. Representation: Media Today" (October 14, 2020). pantherbanter.com.