I love that she has a blob fish friend just sitting there.
Kilroy the Blob Fish
I absolutely find it annoying when romance is prioritized over friendship but this isn't quite what queerbaiting is. At least, not on its own. Two same sex/gender people being very close and sharing a strong connection or even having some romantic undertones that never become "official" isn't automatically queerbaiting. Those things can happen in real life without those relationships being or becoming romantic. Queerbaiting is when the writers/showrunners purposefully insert romantic subtext into the story and advertise it as if it will become canonically romantic with the primary intention of gaining more lgbt viewership, while never actually following through on those implied (or even occasionally explicitly stated) promises. The way it is presented and marketed is an important part of what makes it a problem, hence the "baiting" part. There's nothing wrong with keeping a relationship ambiguous, or portraying a platonic relationship as being as deep, important, and emotionally intimate as romantic ones are typically portrayed without making them romantic, but if you try to manipulate or outright lie to viewers to make them think a relationship is going to be something it isn't in order to gain their viewership and support, only to pull the rug out from under them, then that's when it becomes sleazy, especially if you're taking advantage of the fact that they're a marginalized and under-represented group desperate to see more people like them in media.
I know this is just a joke comic so "it's not that deep" but I see a lot of people online who misunderstand what queerbaiting is and accuse shows/series of queerbaiting unfairly so I thought I'd bring it up.
The issue is that romance tends to be prioritized over friendship in media even for straight relationships, and so many romantic relationships are incredibly shallow or have very little reasoning behind them (the "I met this guy I have nothing in common with 2 days ago and we're so totally in love let's shoehorn in a sex scene" thing is played out so often for hetero romances) and LGBT relationships are so rare, that any subtext that even remotely hints at a queer romantic relationship has people grasping at straws. So companies use that to their advantage. They just dangle the barest hints of anything, because that's all they need to get people. And they dare not show anything more than the tiniest of subtext anyways, because anything LGBT is considered sexually explicit by default. Just look at how much the creators behind The Legend of Korra and Steven Universe had to fight for the queer romances in their respective shows. Both almost got cancelled because the writers wanted to show those relationships (and the Korra one was even completely unintentional, the writers just kinda realized it was developing over the course of the series and decided to go all in on it).
Edit: Forgot the part where they don't openly hint at or mention it because they don't want to piss off the homophobes. They want to straddle that line that let's them have their cake and eat it too.
That was a very interesting read. Do you have any examples of queerbaiting or portrayed relationships that are commonly mistaken for queerbaiting in shows? Being a very boring stereotypical heterosexual, I've never paid attention to that, and I admit I haven't heard the term before today.
I think the above comment was kind of blowing the comic out of proportion—I mean it’s a 4 panel comic it’s obviously not going to be able to give great nuance but I think it’s easy to read it as “proper” queerbaiting.
Anyway, the Wikipedia page has a good list of examples if you’re interested in mainstream examples.
Ones that stick out off the top of my head I’ve personally watched were Sherlock, and Teen Wolf and Rizzoli & Isles to a lesser extent.
My bi partner is still slightly annoyed that she's had to settle for a man because none of the lesbians wanted to be with a bi girl.
That's kind of sad.
For both parties.
Right?
I had to settle for you because nobody else wanted me
Gee I love you two.
Obviously I know nothing about the guy's relationship, but that's a huge red flag to me. That said, who knows, they may have a very loving, healthy and stable relationship, and this is just a jokey gripe she makes for funsies.
We do have a loving and stable relationship. Complete with kids and a mortgage! And we still fuck like rabid apes.
fuck like rabid apes
You mean painfully, with jerky twitches, difficulty swallowing and ultimate brain death?
as long as you're feeling settled-for, that's what counts
My aunt once told my (then) 10 year old sister to "just marry a man you can stand". We keep wondering when aunt Wendy is going to kill her husband. He's a dick.
"just marry a man you can stand"
My uncle in law married the first woman who would have him. He didn’t think long or hard about it, just thought that to be the most expedient and simple. Thought that all women were good and kind and reasonable people like his mother and sisters.
She’s been a complete demon to him, totally solipsistic and money-obsessed, and is not only working him into an early grave but is also stressing him out such that he looks like he’s in his late-eighties. He’s only 64.
Never took to the idea of sex outside of marriage or an LTR (= min. 6 months, usually 12 or more), but daaaaaang… people need to percolate more before filtering down into a cup.
I have a bi ex who broke up with me because she knew her lesbian friend group would ostracize her for dating a man. The queer community can be incredibly discriminatory against the bi part of itself
settle
Uh. I hope she isn't using that particular word when talking about you friend.
I can't believe the amount of people in the comments that have never seen queerbaiting, I guess none of them watched Supernatural
You can’t convince me that Naruto and Sasuke were not meant for each other. Hinata and Sakura have like 0 chemistry with them.
You me an everything to me.
Keming is hard.
Do you mean Kerning?
But by spelling it Keming you’re making a meta joke?
This is some level of obscure typographical humour that I’m surprised so many people get.
Am I just a word format humour Luddite?
I don't know why, but I read her voice the same as the hydraulic press guy saying "what ze fuck"
"with whom I have no meaningful connection with"
Oh it hurts to read.
It would be nice if the people who post these comics would give credit to the artist.
What kind of top is the one our blue girl is wearing?
probably layering a spaghetti strap cami over a tshirt
edit: if you’re also curious about the necklines, the tshirt is crew and the cami is sweetheart
Username checks out
Idk if you guys know this but you can have a best friend without FUCKING THEM, YOU FILTHY FUCKING ANIMALS
A real friend wants their friends to be happy. Maybe think about that next time you selfishly decide not to go down on them.
what is this thing next to her on the couch? I want it.
Hey op, who is the comic author ?
Blobby and Friends :)
Blue Eye Samurai, where the mc binds her chest and hides her neck, talks about being born different from everyone else, and insists on he/him pronouns. Then the producers are like "yeah she just pretends to be a guy because it makes her life easier".
Ah It doesn't matter what gender any person is, but if two people have a strong bond, and one of those people has a strong bond with someone else too, an unfortunate part of being human is that there's only so much of one person to go around. Can't spend all your time with everyone. You have to pick someone. I know a magical man like that, there's not enough of him to go around. Everybody wants him. He has to pick someone. Otherwise the best he can do is have parties all the time so everybody can be around him all the time.
Girl is developing a very clear relationship with another girl, building over multiple arcs. And then a different author gets to write a book and instead of even trying to be subtle he just has the characters up on stage, announcing how they feel (it makes me feel angry):
Chandra had never been into girls. Her crushes — and she’d had her fair share — were mostly the brawny (and decidedly male) types like Gids.
I also hate the ones where they develop a chemistry but then never go anywhere besides being friends and the story ends when its so clear they are developing to be more than friends
Hey, save some representation for us ace folks. Not every show/movie needs to have the main character smashing pissers with someone. Let close queer platonic friends just be what they are.
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Rule: You must post before you leave.
