What Actually Is Queerbaiting? And Why Is Everyone Suddenly Misusing the Word?
Sometimes when niche words or phrases enter the general lexicon, they lose all previous meaning. Oftentimes, they’ll adopt a new meaning. In this case, it seems that the meaning has become so watered-down that people have forgotten its origin.
The term “queerbaiting” arose in 2010s fandom, gaining traction in discussion spaces. So what exactly is it? Queerbaiting is the media practice of teasing, but never delivering, queer relationships to attract LGBTQ+ viewers while avoiding alienating others. Take, for example, Sherlock and Supernatural. Both had popular fan ships that the creators used to their advantage, endlessly teasing romance but never actually intending to deliver on it.
Recently, though, queerbaiting has been skewed by people criticizing shows with queer relationships. It has, in essence, become an internet buzzword weaponized for clicks. On X, a user posted a screenshot of an article from Cosmopolitan, with the headline “Bridgerton, Please Stop Queerbaiting Us.” Though the actual article itself does not misuse the term, the clickbait title is deceptive, and either intentionally so or erroneously done by somebody who is unfamiliar with the real origin of queerbaiting.
In the case of Bridgerton, Francesca and Michaela are already confirmed to be together. Each season follows one of the siblings, much like the format of the books. In the books, Michaela is actually Michael. Though gender-swapped for the show, that does not mean that they ultimately would not end up together. That’s a deliberate choice, and not one to be thrown away.
“Michaela is a gender swapped version of her end game, Michael, there’s no reason to believe they will suddenly make her end up with someone else, whether it’s next season or the following season. And there’s no reason to believe they’ll give every sibling a season except her,” a user on X pointed out.
The misuse cheapens the meaning
The misuse of a term like queerbaiting is actively harmful. It takes away from what is a very serious issue that was a true problem until queer media became more acceptably mainstream. Queerbaiting is an active erasure and mockery of queer relationships, a ratings ploy. Teasing the setup for a relationship that canonically will happen is not queerbaiting.
Media in the early 2000s and even into the 2010s was still steeped in homophobia. That Glee was a trailblazer for mainstream queer relationships is a testament to just how little queerness has been accepted into mainstream media.
Bridgerton is certainly not a show that seems to fall under those using queer relationships as bait, only to pull it back at the last minute. That honor is always going to go to the aforementioned Sherlock and Supernatural.
(featured image: Cate Cameron/The CW)
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