Actual footage of how fanfiction is made (Image Source)

For this blog post I’m going to switch things up a bit and talk about a more general avenue of queer representation. In most of my other blog posts I spoke on specific pieces of media that provided representation for the LGBTQ+ community, but I think it’s about time I show some love to the true hero when it comes to queer media: fanfiction. For those of you who are unfamiliar with fanfiction, allow me to enlighten you. Fanfiction is exactly what the name suggests – fans of a certain movie, tv show, book, etc. writing pieces of fiction about that subject. It is most often used as a method of exploring different headcanons that people have regarding their favorite pieces of media, but really you can find a story about quite literally anything. The world is your oyster when it comes to fanfiction, just make sure to always read the tags so you aren’t surprised by some very disturbing things.

From my description of fanfiction you might be wondering how it might relate to queer representation. The answer: it’s Gay™. I’m kidding; the answer is a little bit more involved than that. You see, when it comes to headcanons that audience members have regarding a piece of media an astounding amount of those headcanons are queer in some way, shape, or form. Now, that could be for a myriad of reasons ranging from gay people are annoying (I can say that, I have a gay friend) to the fact that there is a serious problem when it comes to the lack of confirmed queer characters in stories. Many stories will include characters that seem more queer than a bicycle with square wheels but they never actually confirm that the character is gay. In fact, some pieces of media will purposefully make two characters seem fruity without ever actually making them queer. This queerbaiting leaves a lot to be desired by fans who were hoping to see the characters’ queerness be confirmed, thus these disappointed fans turn to fanfiction so that they can get the endings they want to their favorite stories.

They’re literally gay. Like, they’re actively wearing each other’s clothes. There is no heterosexual explanation for this (Image Source)

I would like to take this moment to learn you, my dear readers, a thing or two about queerbaiting. Have you ever been watching a TV show or movie and thought to yourself “this is gay” (in a positive way only. No homophobia is allowed.) only to find out that it was, in fact, not gay? I have not the words to describe the unique genre of outrage that comes from finding out that the writers failed to do their job correctly and refused to just let the characters be gay. For instance, I’m sure everyone our age has watched the High School Musical movies. If you have, you would know that Ryan is gay. Is he confirmed to be gay? No. Does he have a girlfriend in the movies’ canon? Yes. Is he still incredibly gay and 100% in a committed relationship with Chad? Also Yes. I don’t make the rules, but I am right. This is a perfect example of what queer-baiting is. Everyone watching the show can tell that Ryan was written to resemble the stereotypical gay man, however the writers actively included storylines that went against the audience’s preconceived notions regarding the character.

This is a very silly example of queerbaiting, but the issue goes much further than pretending that the performance of “I Don’t Dance” in High School Musical 2 wasn’t the fruitiest thing to happen in 2007. Queerbaiting does actual harm to the LGBTQ+ community by making it seem acceptable to never provide confirmed queer storylines. This can be very invalidating for queer people and just goes to show that (in general) Hollywood doesn’t care about providing representation, they just want to capitalize off of the queer community’s desire to finally see themselves in stories. Rather than simply accepting the stories as they are, queer people take to various fanfiction websites so that they can write stories that actually allow characters to be gay. Hollywood may let us down, but fanfiction never does (as long as you read the tags).

Logo for archive of our own – the best source of fanfiction (Image Source)

However, that’s enough about Hollywood being a silly goose, it’s time to get back to the real reason you’re reading this blog post (besides the fact that you need to for class): fanfiction is Gay™ and we should talk about it. Even if you don’t care about the fact that fanfiction eases the pain of being queerbaited for the millionth time, you should still know and talk about fanfiction. Something I’ve noticed is that no one really talks openly about fanfiction – they treat it as if it’s some dirty little secret that they would rather die than have people discover. I, for one, don’t really understand that. I mean, sure, it depends on the kind of stuff you’re reading, but in general I think fanfiction deserves a lot more respect. Websites like Archive of Our Own, fanfiction.net, and even Wattpad all allow people to read and write the stories they want. In this blog post I focused on the way that fanfiction has aided in creating alternative forms of queer representation, but fanfiction is used for so much more than reading about characters that should have been gay. The writers may have created the characters, but that doesn’t mean they always know how their stories should go.