Ykw I realized is I donβt think Iβve ever seen a lesbian/sapphic show take over the internet in quite the same way that gay shows have (like heated rivalry and heartstopper for example). Thereβs been plenty of iconic sapphic couples in tv shows but theyβre only really talked about in sapphic circles (shera, the owl house, killing eve, yellowjackets, etc). The closest I can really think of is Arcane, but that was more so the show itself and not the lesbian relationship, not to mention how much hate said relationship got in s2. Maybe Iβm missing something but I feel like every prominent queer show that breaks into mainstream is mlm, and thatβs kinda sad. Not to say these mlm shows arenβt great (I love heartstopper), I just wish sapphics got more representation in the same way queer men do. I absolutely love and appreciate the rep we do have though, even if the general public doesnβt care about them.
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There aren't enough sapphic tv shows. And when we do get sapphic shows, they end in tragedy. Please give me a sapphic show that is super popular and has a happy ending.
We had Killing Eve, and Orange is the New Black, but those aren't exactly happy shows with brilliant endings. I love Yellowjackets, but again, the tragedy. The San Junipero episode of Black Mirror is one of my favourite pieces of sapphic media, but it's just one episode. We don't get enough time with the characters. One Day at a Time was a good show, but it was cancelled way too soon. The L Word is very sex-focused (which is fine, but not really what I'm looking for), and again, it's not exactly the happiest of shows.
When it comes to shows with queer rep, the most popular ships are achillean (think Heartstopper, Good Omens, Sex Education, Dead Boy Detectives, Our Flag Means Death, and so on) which is fine, but as a lesbian, I want more from queer media. Heartstopper literally has a lesbian couple, but they aren't given enough screen time (in my personal opinion).
If anyone knows of any sapphic shows that don't end tragically and actually have a fandom, please let me know.
We actually got to collaborate with the author and Left Unread to create the official soundtrack for it and one of our artists (@viinas) drew the three leads to celebrate!
Find it by searching Bookish Songs Collective on your preferred music service~
If you loved books like The Poppy War, The Fifth Season, The Jasmine Throne, etc, we really think this dark political fantasy is right up your alley.
This recommendations post for Trans Rights Readathon is brought to you by books we already had in our library and it got a little out of hand! We decided first to break things down by other rep in case that was helpful for folks. We have another post planned breaking things down by genre as well, so stay tuned! With series, we only include the first book in the series to keep our stacks slightly more manageable!
As far as we know, the authors here are out as trans / nonbinary / genderqueer. Please don't be a dick and try to force authors who happen to write trans characters to out themselves! We did our best on rep breakdowns, but please let us know if we misfiled anything since we haven't read everything yet.
Trans, Nonbinary & Genderqueer Rep
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
The Sacrifice by Rin Chupeco
An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows
Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White
Thicker Than Blood by Sera Quim
Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender
A Bone in His Teeth by Kellen Graves
The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Junker Seven by Olive J. Kelley
Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon
The Flowered Blade by Taylor Hubbard
You can find more recs for Polyamory Rep, Sapphic / wlw Rep, and Achillean / mlm Rep all written by trans authors under the cut!
Polyamory Rep
An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows (Poly-normative world build, though I'm not 100% sure if there are any major polyamorous relationships)
Thicker Than Blood by Sera Quim (MMM with a trans masc protagonist)
Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender (M/M/genderfluid? Trans masc main character and a love interest who regularly uses alchemy to change their gender)
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (MMF)
SPECTR by Jordan L. Hawk (Whole series is M/M/genderless demon sharing a body with the main character. Volume 1 is being rebound which is why Volume 2 is pictured)
Mistress of Lies by K. M. Enright (From what I can tell MMF, but this is one of the few we haven't read yet)
Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco (MMF but Gabe would like me to convey that the most important part of the dynamic is that it's dom/sub/dom)
Please feel free to ask for more info on these especially, at least one of us have read most of these (and the few we don't are high up on our reading list for the week.)
Sapphic / wlw Rep
We have been building our sapphic library but apparently need to focus on more sapphic romance written by trans authors specifically! Here's what we do have (with some real gems we love). We tried to aim for all of these having the main romance be sapphic!
Gwen & Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw & Richard Kadrey (Book 1 in a duology)
An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows (I think this is a completed duology!)
Junker Seven by Olive J. Kelley (This is getting a sequel!)
Achillean / mlm Rep
This category ended up being...quite large. It really goes to show you just how many more gay books by trans authors have come out in the last few years! Okay, strap in, here we go:
Captive Prince & Dark Rise by CS Pacat (Captive Prince is a completed triology and Dark Rise will be a trilogy)
Thicker Than Blood by Sera Quim
How to Bite Your Neighbor & Win a Wager by D. N. Bryn
Prince of Sorrows by Kellen Graves (Book 1 of the Rowan Blood series, which currently has 4/8 books out)
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows (Book 1 of the completed Tithenai Chronicles duology)
Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender (Book 1 of the Infinity Alchemist series)
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (Book 1 of a triology with 2/3 books currently out)
SPECTR by Jordan L. Hawk (18 connected novella length stories collected into what should soon be 6 volumes if you want them physically! Each novella is one case!)
So This Is Ever After, Spell Bound, Otherworldly, & In Deeper Waters by FT Lukens (Each is a complete stand alone romance!)
Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco (Book 1 of the completed Reaper duology)
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the thing that most frustrates me about thirteen (aside from her obvious suffering from poor pacing/writing) is the potential for a sapphic doctor was RIGHT THERE and instead we got some of the worst queerbait like... ever. like supernatural levels of queerbait.
and it would be one thing if censorship was an issue but its not!! doctor who is and always has been a historically queer show (it was created by a gay man) and has continued to raise the bar for representation in network television over the years. why could the doctor have a relationship with rose, river, missy etc, but as soon as its a queer ship she can't handle it anymore?? it doesnt even make sense in the canon of the show.
no fault to the actors, but yaz and 13 were incredibly bland characters that seemed to be smashed together as a last minute thought for queer rep brownie points. hell, steven moffat even depicted the majority of his main characters as bisexual or gay. if moffat is writing better queer/ female rep than you, youve got a problem.
and of course one could argue that every new who doctor has been fruity so whats the big deal?? captain jack, ten and the master, etc. but jodi being the first female doctor opened up so many new possibilities for sapphic rep that were squashed by overcomplicated, hollow plotlines and unlikeable characters. which is just such a damn shame.
i know nothing im saying here is a particularly hot take, the majority of the fandom feels this way. but having rtd back as showrunner (also a gay man!) and a fantastic m/m doctor in ncuti just really highlights how much we've been missing.
anyway, go watch torchwood and cry if you want proper queer rep in abundance. til then, jenny and vastra and bill and stargirl are about all we get.
I really need to read the second book to The Scorpion Rules.
Amazing YA dystopia (about an AI holding world leaders kids hostage to enforce peace) with the main character and her female best friend actually canonically becoming lovers.
Originally wanted to publish this for Pride Month but then it took longer than expected
I've decided that from now I'll hold every sapphic media to the A League of Their Own standard. Meaning that if it does not have AT LEAST a single butch and a single sapphic of color it is not good enough for me because it does not represent me.
