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Recently, I saw the film 22 Jump Street and was very annoyed by all the, for lack of a better word, homoerotic (“why not heteroerotic?”) tension between some of the male characters. I was totally hoping for Channing Tatum’s character to get together with Zuke, the blond frat guy. The characters had total chemistry and whoever wrote that script clearly intended for there to be something more-than-friendship going on. Of course, to reinforce the heterosexuality of Tatum’s character, towards the end of the film he grabs and kisses a random girl (consent? nope) and then strides off to be manly and heroic.
This is something I’ve come to notice more and more in media. My cousin is a huge Supernatural fan, and she 100% worships Dean and Castiel. However, no matter how painfully clear the show writers make it to all of us that those two characters are in love, they’re never going to get together. This happens all over the place in movies and TV shows. It’s called queerbaiting. People in the media, usually in television or films, infuse "homoerotic" tension between two characters to attract more liberal and queer viewers. Except, this "homoerotic"suspense never amounts to anything. Instead, it is just a enticing decoy or "bait" to increase viewings while still keeping conservative fans happy. Queerbaiting also attempts to make the audience feel like they're getting adequate representation without actually providing any promised genuine depictions of these relationships. Tumblr user snuggydeamon made an excellent slideshow that explains queerbaiting and gives examples of it.
So, I’m really pissed off. I will no longer be supporting media that contributes to the erasure of LGBTQIAP+ characters, having learned of this very intentional phenomenon. I suggest that you, dear reader, abstain as well. They’re never going to give us the representation that we want, need or deserve. Don’t spend your time writing fan fiction that will never come to anything- write original stories and put your works with canon queer couples out there. Or if writing isn’t your thing, draw pictures that show someone different than the norm, or tell others about why this is a problem. Nothing will change if we don’t make it.
photos via Tumblr and Google Images
The opinions expressed on the BUST blog are those of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the position of BUST Magazine or its staff.


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      • Claire • 3 days ago
        Yes! Thanks for writing this! That annoyed me soo much in 22 jump street!
          see more
          • sylviadstrong > Claire • a day ago
            Josiah . although Jacqueline `s stori is surprising, last week I bought
            themselves a Chrysler from having made $5060 thiss month and-in excess of, 10/k
            last-month . it's realy the easiest-work I have ever done . I started this 4
            months ago and pretty much straight away was bringin in at least $78 per-hour .
            why not look here C­a­s­h­f­i­g­.­C­O­M­
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              fairisle-socks • 3 days ago
              Yes, but no: this really sounds like every slash fan ever screaming out "But it's right there!" For one thing, none of us can ever know writer's intentions unless they chose to tell us. What we do is interpret them and make them meaningful, however we can't ever say *for certain* what was meant when the line was written, performed or filmed. For another, why is the issue of queerbaiting so implicated in relationships involving hot white dudes banging? Nothing against that, but how about two guys of colour? Or one of colour, one not? (cf Teen Wolf fandom, where there is a canonically gay character but the fandom itself doesn't care because he's not a hot, white dude.) While I completely agree that not including LGBTQAP characters is as much of an erasure as not having POC, or those of different abilities, what I disagree with is that this is as much of an issue as erasure itself. I would rather have honest representation of my life and the world I live in than simply be offered what fandoms seem to want (back to the hot white dudes banging again.)
                see more
                • Hellboy > fairisle-socks • 2 days ago
                  And those "signs" people scream about amount to a handful (and I mean like 5) snarky jokes spread over 6 years. And that they look at each other, which if anyone has watched the show for a long time would know that that is how Jensen Ackles looks at people, especially the character that is supposed to be his brother, but no one is expecting them to start banging. It's making a mountain out of a mole hill.
                  I mean Jensen even said recently people (shippers) have taken things so out of context, and he was never playing his character as if he was in love. Misha Collins on the other hand, who knows. He loves baiting the fans, and I'd say if their was anyone doing any queerbaiting on Supernatural it's him.
                  Supernatural hasn't had too many LBGT characters, but the ones they have had were done in a pretty respectful manner. They felt like real human characters and not stereotypes.
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                      fairisle-socks > Hellboy • 2 days ago
                      I agree with you; what people are doing is making an interpretation based on what they want to see and doubtless Misha Collins plays into this need with his out of character comments and actions. So often what I hear when people call queerbaiting is 'the ship I wanted didn't come out so now I'm going to dress it in borrowed clothes, be they representation, bias or erasure and make accusations of all the above.' If you dare to challenge this mode of thought by pointing out it is interpretation, not canon, and that there are queer characters (although perhaps not as prominent as you might like) you are usually accused of homophobia.
                      Again, I would agree that there aren't enough characters representing the diversity of human experience in the media, but what I can't accept is that there is as much deliberate and forethought baiting as there is often said to be. If people want to see eros where I see filias or agape, that's fine. Go at it. The range of what human beings find arousing is truly staggering, and if this is what hits people's buttons then they should go right ahead. What isn't fine is attacking those who see filias or agape as crazy, ignorant, phobic or stupid.
                      I can't say that I'm thrilled this has appeared on BUST's blog, especially since this strand of fannish behavior seems to reinforce the idea that only male sexuality is interesting or arousing, and often walks hand in hand with erasing and abusing canonical female characters to boot. It's an argument that feels more driven by the desire to see something sexually arousing and to objectify queer sex rather than to truly strive towards genuine representation.
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                        • Hellboy > fairisle-socks • 2 days ago
                          Exactly, lord knows the writers have dealt with all that verbal abuse of being called homophobes and queerbaiters on Twitter, even one of the shows gay writers was called a homophobe (though for different, more ridiculous reason). Basically the only thing the writers have said about it is, they (the viewer) can have their own interpretation of the characters, but need to understand that the writers have their own views and plans for characters, which doesn't involve making them bi-sexual.
                          But it is a small percentage of the viewing audience, basically bullying people by playing those cards, because they felt "used" by their own interpenetration/fan fiction.
                          And Supernatural does have a recurring female lesbian character with Charlie, which I think is great bit of representation. She's smart and tough and not defined by her sexuality,
                            see more
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