User:T155Ram!!/Queerbaiting

Queerbaiting
Queerbaiting is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators and industries hint at, but then do not depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ+ representation. The purpose is to attract ("bait") queer folks, the LGBTQ+ community, or a straight ally audience with the suggestion or possibility of relationships or characters that appeal to them. While simultaneously attempting to avoid displeasing other consumers and, at times, allegiance to queer visibility. Queerbaiting does not focus on the concept of representation or LGBTQ+ inclusivity, but is a tactic that helps creators, a label, brand, business, company, form of media, person or persons, etc. draw in queer audiences to view, share, buy, and participate in making their work popular or successful.

Queerbaiting has been observed in popular culture such as the media, films, television series, books, music, ads and also in celebrities or people who convey an ambiguous sexual identity through their works and statements. The term arose in and has been popularized through discussions in Internet fandom since the early 2010s. It comes from a larger history of LGBTQ+ discourse in society and media representation dating back to the 1970s from subtle marketing to LGBTQ+ people through commercials and books.

(need to find more credible resources to add more on how the term arose both in society and through media usage)

Queer audience concerns on the harmful effects of Queerbaiting[edit]
Queer fans have reacted with concern and anger to an identity they consider defining being used as a mere marketing ploy, a plaything for creatives, a mark of "edginess", a form of social isolation, lack of proper representation, or a commodity. Representational debates form as queer folks, LGBTQ+ community, and straight allies face both positive and negative forms of representation through the tactic of queerbaiting.

Fans have derided, for instance, queer characters being used as plot devices rather than as characters for their own sake. For instance, Glee, a series with many queer series regulars, was criticized by fans for presenting "superficial stereotypes of queerness for dramatic effect". Another example of this would be '''the TV series, Supernatural. Throughout its longtime run fans became concerned and wanted answers on the relationship between Castiel and Dean. In hopes for a clear answer to their questions or hopes for a queer relationship between two main characters the show and its actors, cast, directors, and creators speak of the relationship between Castiel and Dean as unlabeled or unanswered. The possibility as Brennan states is, "Queerbaiting, like lip service, often takes the form of pledging an allegiance to issues of queer visibility without actually delivering on such an allegiance in any tangible way; both Supernatural actors’ comments and the show itself have included numerous cases where the possible queerness of the male characters has been suggested but has not been delivered in the fourteen years the series has been on air". '''

Queer fans consider queerbaiting as "a way to throw us a bone when we normally wouldn't have anything, to acknowledge that we're there in the audience when the powers that be would prefer to ignore us". Emmet Scout wrote that "queerbaiting works on its audience because it offers the suggestion that queer people do have a vital place in these stories, that they might even be the defining figures, the heroes. The suggestion—but not the reality." Rose Bridges summarized the practice's effect on queer fans as receiving "just enough [representation] to keep us interested, but not enough to satisfy us and make us truly represented."

On April Fool's Day 2020, content creators, who were mostly straight men, started to post short videos and challenges on social media, mostly TikTok and Instagram, lip-singing to will.i.am's "Boys & Girls" and pretending to come out as bisexual. In 2021, Alpha House influencers were accused of queerbaiting, while other straight web personalities received the same accusations. In 2022 Tik Tok creators and users started participating in "a kissing your bestfriend trend' as friends, who were mostly women, would kiss under the "two bestfriends in a room, they might kiss" sound and lip-sing to Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" song. Some influencers came out after being accused of queerbaiting and others deleted their posts or ignored concerned or angry comments surrounding the concept of queerbaiting for the views. Other content creators who were apart of the LGBTQ+ community and users on Tik Tok would accuse creators in participating in queerbaiting or having separate gay and straight profiles. Noah Beck was also accused of queerbaiting while he kept confirming his identity as straight.

Many "challenges" or "trends" on TikTok or Instagram were accused of queerbaiting. This includes kissing others of the same gender, posting false coming out narratives, discussing LGBTQ+ experiences or knowledge as if it was their own, claiming to "experiment" with others of the same gender, or falsely claiming to be in a same-sex relationship. Many celebrities, including Billie Eilish and Normani, were accused of queerbaiting for their posts on Instagram.

Although this has been criticized, others have argued that the popularity of this trend is an example of the growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and (among males) a homosocial embrace of a "softer" form of masculinity.

Film

·      The School For Good and Evil: Sophie and Agatha

·      Cruella: Artie

·      Raya and The Last Dragon: Raya and Namarri