Hi everyone! The Uncommon Senses Podcast is now collaborating with RainbowBird Chirps, a podcast from the Rainbow Bird Student Society in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology that advocates for diversity and inclusion. In this episode, we will be discussing the topic "on queerbaiting in media", from our favorite fictions and shows, movies, celebrities etc.

Episode hosted by Telia from the Uncommon Senses Podcast, Valarie and Vasudev from RainbowBird, and podcast cover art by Wai L. from Rainbowbird.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

01:28 What is queerbaiting?

02:30 fictional queerbaiting — Frozen, Fingersmith, Handmaiden, Wicked

10:25 celebrities & queerbaiting — Billie Eilish, Kit Connor, Cavetown, Sam Smith, David Bowie, Katy Perry, Harry Styles, Billy Potter

28:15 artistic work and queerbaiting 

35:15 Marketing & censorships — Herstory 好東西, Xena: Warrior Princess, 甄嬛傳

50:43 the irony of queerbaiting

59:12 Ending

References:

Riley, O. J. (2020). Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans through Homoerotic Possibilities ed. by Joseph Brennan (review). The Velvet Light Trap, 86(1), 60–62.

Dennin, K. (2024). “In this life or the next”: “Cancel Your Gays” and the Warrior Nun “Save Our Show” campaign. Popular Communication, 22(3), 165–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2024.2414115

Cover, R., & Milne, C. (2023). The “Bury your Gays” trope in contemporary television: Generational shifts in production responses to audience dissent. Journal of Popular Culture, 56(5–6), 810–823. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpcu.13255

Chairetis, S. (2021). Tracing the Ephemeral: ‘Lesbian’ Characters in Greek Television Comedies. View (Utrecht), 10(19), 89-. https://doi.org/10.18146/view.248

Huuki, T., & Kyrölä, K. (2023). “Show yourself”: Indigenous ethics, Sámi cosmologies and decolonial queer pedagogies of Frozen 2. Gender and Education, 35(2), 171–185. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2021.2023112

Llompart, A., & Brugué, L. (2020). The snow queer? Female characterization in walt disney’s frozen. Adaptation : The Journal of Literature on Screen Studies, 13(1), 98–112. https://doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apz019

Prosperi, C., & Martin, K., (2024). The walt disney company: Responding to “don’t say gay” legislation in Florida. In Sage Business Cases. SAGE Publications, Ltd., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071931721

Sarah Z. (2023, August 31). I Was Wrong About Queerbaiting [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7djba98-YkQ

Zhao, J. J. (2014). Fandom as a Middle Ground. Media Field Journal, 10.

Aalto, E. (2016). " She's straight, you delusional cunt!": a study on bullying and homophobia in online fandoms (Bachelor's thesis).

Corin, G. (2008). From ‘ambiguously gay duos’ to homosexual superheroes: the implications for media fandom practices (Thesis, Master of Arts (MA)). The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/2367

King, J. (2024, March 11). Inside out 2 and what it means to be Queerbaited. TheGamer. https://www.thegamer.com/inside-out-2-queerbaiting-lgbt-trailer-pixar-disney

ABC News. (2017, March 19). Katy Perry opens up about her sexuality, 'I was curious'. https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/katy-perry-opens-sexuality-curious/story?id=46238811#:~:text=The%20%22I%20Kissed%20a%20Girl,these%20bite%2Dsized%20pop%20songs