kae

harrow the ninth

namely, the fact that shows highlighting white gay/bisexual men are renewed AND consumed much more than shows highlighting bipoc lesbians/bisexuals. and even then, the shows with white queer women dont get renewed either. its valid to argue that it shouldnt be a “competition” and ultimately i agree— but its extremely ignorant to not acknowledge societies preference towards gay men over lesbians. gay men have a step above lesbians in that men, the driving patriarchal force, arent being ignored: they are crucial to the love story. something that makes people alienate lesbians so much is the sheer fact that by our very existence we are excluding and decentering men in our lives, thus living an “abnormal” life by patriarchal standards. but its not even just the production companies— its consumers, too. you see it in fiction as well: the song of achilles being acclaimed for a book that will make you sob while gideon the ninth and books like it are barely ever acknowledged nor recommended. straight women, a vast majority of the population (duh) and thus media consumers, inherently lean towards gay men because they are similar. they both like men— thus, more media with gay love stories is renewed and consumed and recommended and acclaimed, while lesbian love stories are left in the dust— unrecommended and unacknowledged due to their inherently alienating lifestyle and plot. this is an issue of companies’ refusal to renew shows with queer women in them, but its also an issue of consumers refusing to read, watch, or recommend media that is of the “out group”. i am so tired of this!!!!!!!!!!!!