#I’m watching teen wolf if that adds any context lol

[lycheedr3ams]

Sorry but in the most feminist way, König is an alpha male. I can’t help myself

[guccifloralsuits]

Hey! Sorry if this is rude or dumb but I keep seeing the word queer-baiting used on twitter about Harry and I know you don’t think that’s true but I’m confused about what actually is supposed to mean? no one can seem to agree what it is and you seem like you know it so yeah sorry if this isn’t okay to ask I know it’s not your job to educate me

happy to help!!!! Queerbaiting is widely misused as a term, & doing so can be really harmful. It’s not dumb or rude at all to ask!

By definition, queerbaiting is when entertainment content intentionally leads on LGBT+ audiences with the promise of representation w/out delivering, or by doing so in a dismissive & harmful way. There are a few main components for what qualifies (& doesn’t qualify) as queerbaiting:

Queerbaiting happens only in a fictional context.

Queerbaiting is explicit and intentional. 

Queerbaiting is when audiences are led on to genuinely believe that the non-straight/non-cis aspect of a character is being set up to get canon-recognized, only for writers to dismiss or leave these claims unacknowledged

Queerbaiting also includes (but is not limited to): only canon-confirming lgbt+ ships w/in the last few episodes of a series, the “bury your gays” trope, & tokenizing lgbt+ characters & reducing them to plot-devices or shallow stereotypes. 

Let’s break each bullet down further: 

A. Queerbaiting happens only in a fictional context. Real people can’t queerbait because 1) it’s really harmful to label certain clothes, mannerisms, physical traits, or mediums of self-expression as gay & 2) we should not be forcing people to out-themselves or prove their level of queerness to us before they are ready just so they can be #allowed to express their identity.

B. Queerbaiting is explicit and intentional. This is where a lot of people get confused. What this means is that queerbaiting is when hinting at sexuality is physically in the script or description of the dialogue.

Implicit gestures or the onscreen sexual chemistry between two characters is not enough to call queer-baiting (actor chemistry is implicit & often unplanned). complimenting a same-sex character on their appearance/clothes/character is also not not enough to call something queerbaiting (it’s not an explicitly queer overture).

C. Queerbaiting is when audiences are led on to genuinely believe in the possibility of canon leading towards confirmation of a non-straight/cis aspect of a character by their dialogue and by script-written action. It’s a whole different ballpark to HC a character as gay (cus #vibez) vs. to have a character go on a storyline arc about their romantic attachment to a same-sex character only for them to later dismiss it as “I was just experimenting lol.” (I’m looking @ you, The Politician & Ryan Murphy).

Let’s look at 2 examples of what might and might not be considered queerbaiting. you don’t need to know the background context to understand these scenes for our purposes.

Exhibit A: Moreid & This Scene from CM (you can click to watch for full context, the relevant part starts at around 00:57). The Dialogue:

Reid: There's an old Buddhist saying that, when you meet your soulmate, remember that the act to bring you together was 500 years in the making. So always appreciate and be kind to each other.

Tara: That's lovely.

Reid: There's a corollary for friends. When you meet a true friend, you will be bound together though space and time for 500 years. Which means...in 2200, I’m gunna get Morgan back for that practical joke he played on me last week.

Morgan: bring it, Pretty Boy. I’ll be waiting for you.

Reid: I’ll be there.

So like. I choose to believe that was gay in my head ❤️. But I see some people in the cm fandom have called this Queerbaiting before, when it actually isn’t because writers took the time to add “corollary for friends.” (If that wasn’t there it’d be different, but...) It was playing on fans love of Moreid’s dynamic, sure, but I did not leave that scene thinking “oh my god, the writers are going to make moreid canon holy shit!” I left it thinking “wow I can’t wait to read fanfic about this 👀.” The show-writers weren’t honestly leading me on to believe that this was a relationship which was going to play out. There was no direct sexual ambiguity here. There’s absolutely a different convo to be had about inclusive representation but. This is ship-teasing at best

In contrast, let’s look at this scene where Stiles goes to a club in Teen Wolf. You can watch it here (but honestly? You don’t need to see the video to see the baiting and that’s a key difference, too). Dialogue:

[A girl pulls at Stiles to start kissing in the club. He stops, for a moment]

Stiles: I...thought you liked girls?

Girl: I do like girls. Do you?

Stiles: yeah. Absolutely.

Girl: great!

Stiles: so you also like boys?

Girl: Absolutely! Do you?

Stiles: [looks off in contemplation, as if he’s never considered the possibility before].

AND THEN THE SCENE JUST ENDS. ITS NEVER ADDRESSED AGAIN. JUST DROPPED.

This scene was both intentionally written and explicitly leading when Stiles looks off and they end the scene before he answers. I did leave that scene thinking “wait oh my god....they’re going to let stiles be canon bi, holy sHIT—“ and then they didn’t. And they had explicitly alluded to Stiles attraction to guys before this too, like asking if gay guys would find him attractive, or responding “I could be!!” When his dad tells him “you’re not gay.”

Do you see the difference between these examples? Implied subtext alone doesn’t fall within the confines of baiting, and queerbaiting is baiting fans, at its core, about a character’s ambiguous sexuality.

D) other forms of queerbaiting: only giving fans a canon lgbt+ relationship within the last 3 episodes of a series, making a queer couple canon only for one or both characters to immediately get killed off, tokenizing lgbt+ characters & reducing them to plot-devices or shallow stereotypes. This is an attempt to get “hey look!!! We’re so inclusive!!!” points without doing literally any of the work.

E) further reading:

Fandom: Please stop Misusing the term Querbaiting (also a good guide on the difference between ship-teasing & queerbaiting)

Iowa State Professor explains the ins & outs of queerbaiting

hope this helps!