“queerbaiting” Vs “straight-baiting”

“queerbaiting” vs “straight-baiting”

with all the recent “controversy” surrounding the whole “mike likes el” thing, i just want to say this so that people don’t get in over themselves. 

as others have said before, doubt is important for both sides to stay engaged. they need us to remain hooked in so we’ll watch s5 and generate revenue and blah blah blah. 

but just remember (looking at u heteros) queerbaiting is a very real thing, and “straight-baiting” does not exist. like at all. 

queerbaiting is a term used to describe our very real exclusion from mainstream media. it’s honestly quite malicious, because showrunners and filmmakers use queer audiences as a pawn. they never intend to represent us, they just want to lure us in so they can maximise their views and profits. 

which just means, yet again, that mainstream media will invariably pander to the GA, which is why “straight-baiting” can’t exist. ur already the majority, everything is already made for u. why would mainstream media need to hook u in, when u already make up a significant portion of their viewership anyway?

like lets not forget that stranger things currently has a 0:4 ratio of leading queer couples and leading het couples. they currently have a 2:12 ratio of explicitly leading queer characters and leading het characters. 

this means that yes, if byler doesn’t happen, it will be queerbaiting. why? queer audiences do not have rich, complex, fully developed relationships in this show otherwise. sure, we have will, who is indubitably a complex and rich character, with seasons-worth of development, but… 1:12? is this really the type of representation that queer audiences deserve? and if byler does happen, that’ll change the ratio to 1:3, which really isn’t that significant because yet again, u are the majority. 

u cannot be baited with rich, complex, fully developed representation pouring out the show for u. u cannot just use a term that is rooted in our historical prohibition from media, just because the ship u want isn’t canon. ur personal disappointment cannot even begin to mirror the collective betrayal and rejection that is felt when queer audiences are intentionally mislead and cast to the side.