One of the hardest things to do in life is finding yourself, yet every adult I know seems to not understand that. Throughout high school, almost every adult in my life advised me not to worry about the future because I’ll “find myself and everything will work out!” But how am I supposed to find myself if I’ve never had a role model like me?

Disney princesses with their princes, not a single princess with another princess (Image source)

Growing up I had role models that had my hair and they liked to read and do math like I did, but at the conclusion of all of their stories, they ended up with a man. For years I thought something was wrong with me because I didn’t want that. I witnessed all my favorite Disney princesses and book characters fall in love with their prince charming, but never once did I see any of the princesses end up with another princess. If I never knew it was okay to want a princess, how could I “find myself” with ease. I thought one of the most fundamental pieces of my being was a sin or an illness for years, so it felt like a slap in the face every time a clueless teacher or family friend insinuated that discovering what I wanted would be a walk in the park.

What I learned from this, though, was that there wasn’t anything wrong with me – something was, and is, wrong with the world. The world just doesn’t seem to understand the need for people to watch shows and movies, read books, and listen to music that depicts people like them living a life like theirs. Maybe if I had gotten stories like that growing up, I wouldn’t have spent countless Sundays praying for God to let me be “normal”. Maybe it would have been easier to find myself and believe that everything was going to work out. This seems like a fairly straightforward idea – if people see themselves represented in their favorite media, they’ll be more comfortable with the things that make them different – but the entertainment industry is still severely lacking when it comes to representation, especially good representation.  In recent years, there have been many efforts to provide better representation, but pushback from the public and worry about losing profit has caused many networks to settle for the sub-par representation we currently have.

Queer characters that today’s kids can look up to (Image source)

This pushback from the public exemplifies exactly why I believe it is important for all types of media to have much better representation. Especially in the current political climate, representation is more necessary than ever before. With multiple states trying to pass bills like the one in Florida that the internet dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill and Justice Clarence Thomas mentioning that he believes the Supreme Court should revisit the decision made in Obergefell v. Hodges (which legalized same-sex marriage), it is more important than ever for people to have images of themselves to look to in the media. This kind of difference in the stories being told would make a huge difference in the way that the current LGBTQ+ youth would be able to find themselves. Seeing people like themselves would allow them to start out knowing that it is okay for girls to want a princess and boys to want their own knight in shining armor.

I want to change the world for the better, and right now that means securing a life that I wish I would have had for the children of the future. I intend to do this by taking a deep look into queer media and how the representation either fails drastically or lifts queer stories in a meaningful way. I hope you’ll join me on this journey and allow me to open your eyes to the world of queer representation.