Queer Representation In Media: Good and Bad

Queer media provides a representation of queer relationships of all kinds with all kinds of plotlines. Sarah Gomillion and Traci Giullano (2011) reinforce this necessity for queer media with two studies, both examining queer people’s feelings towards having representation in media, lack of representation, and trauma narratives. They found that having role models in happy relationships creates a sense of hope and comfort within queer people because they see healthy relationships of what they eventually want to achieve (Gomillion & Giuliano, 2011).

These storylines also give way to accepting different identities, especially ones not commonly talked about. For example, in the TV show Heartstopper (Oseman, 2022), we follow the storyline of Isaac, a teenager who attends secondary school, while he discovers that he is aromantic and asexual, also called aroace. This is when a person does not feel romantic or sexual attraction towards anyone. His storyline is so impactful because very few characters are aroace, and Alice Oseman brings special attention to this representation. Alice Oseman herself is aroace, which makes that storyline even more accurate to what others may experience.

So what happens if we do not have queer representation? Gomillion and Giuliano (2011) write that without representation, queer people tend to feel like they are being excluded from society because heteronormative narratives are common in not only T.V. and movies but also magazines and music, which is damaging to the psyche (p. 347). Without queer representation we are also missing the existence of queer people in society, and yes that includes side characters being queer but then it never being mentioned ever again.