representation?
this is strictly about wlw couples. i don’t want to alienate mlm couples but im going to simply because this is what my beef is at the moment.
one of my biggest issues with queer women who cry representation are the ones who don’t support representation when we get it because it’s not the representation that fits their narrative.
so many times we have these wlw couples who are completely ignored for reasons that are sad to admit. it’s so frustrating because there are beautiful stories being told or developing and before we can even get to the meat of a “ship” the shows are cancelled, the characters are killed off, put on the back burner or the same recycled played out story is told even worse than the last.
when that happens those same people crying for representation want to cry trope or they deserved better etc etc. why only then? why show “support” or act like you cared when in reality you contributed to literally shunning a couple but now that it’s another queer couple that is no more now you’re upset?
then we have the ones who ship straight women together whilst there is a wlw couple on the show.
supercorp is the perfect example. sanvers was the typical trope storyline but it was like well this is probably as good as it’s gonna get when it’s a cw show. still people trashed sanvers for everything but cried about supercorp “not happening” or writers are baiting lesbians. no.. they’re not. it isn’t the writers fault that the audience feels supercorp should happen. at the end of the day it was never put out there that kara and lena would happen.
the saddest part about this is queer women were more upset about two straight women who are written as friends not being a couple than the actual wlw couple who literally got treated poorly.
sanvers was representation as terrible as they were written SOME of our stories were still in there somewhat. the actors playing those roles cared more about our community than a lot of queer women did. so is it representation that you really want or only when it’s convenient? because representation definitely is not forcing showrunners to put two straight women together for no reason other than to shut people up.
as a lesbian that isn’t the type of story that i would want as a way for people to understand our struggles. do straight women fall in love with each other? probably. so to each their own if that’s the kind of representation you’re looking for but it’s just sad when there are actual wlw couples on shows and queer women choose to be unsupportive for the pettiest reasons.
onto the color aspect. for years and even now i hate ever using color race or anything outside of facts to form an argument. but it’s so hard to not stoop to that level because it’s so obvious. interracial wlw couples are constantly ignored and i mean i don’t even think it’s intentional or think that queer women realize they do it but then on the other hand it is and they do.
too many times we have women of color who don’t care for wlw couples if the woman of color isn’t with a woman of color and too many times caucasian women who do the same. why is that? i personally just don’t understand it. i have heard people that i am ashamed to have been friends with now actually recently a “friend” of mine said she can’t support thundergrace because anissa isn’t with a black woman.
i literally asked her what that has to do with anything and her answer... representation. i laughed and said this is why it’s okay for showrunners to not give a shit about representation. this is why it’s okay for showrunners to use the community by baiting gays into watching their shows because it’s not about representation. it’s about literally that glimmer of hope that your fave might end up with someone that you feel represents you when it’s so much bigger than you. and she called me a sell out 🤣 why? cause apparently im “shaming black women”. needless to say we are no longer friends because she didn’t want to associate with a sellout.
i understand wanting to see yourself representated through a character or couple etc. but it can be done without people of the same color and background being together. at the end of the day it has been done. couples of all sorts. but the issue here is blatant disregard of a couple for reasons like well whites should be with whitesand blacks should be with blacks or another woman of color.
if you do that it alienates other members of the community who are in an interracial relationship or maybe a lesbian dating a bisexual or bisexual dating a transsexual, pansexual, asexual the list goes on. when people live inside this box where it’s only about the representation that they care about or want to see they’re no better than the people who don’t give a damn about our stories and the representation we’re fighting for.
it isn’t about you. it’s about the members in our community. it’s about all of our stories. whether you can relate or not because you don’t identify as whatever or find whoever attractive okay that’s fine. but don’t cry representation if you’re only crying because it’s not the representation that you want to see.
at the end of the day if we don’t care enough about each other, our stories and our commmunitiy outside of ourselves then we are contributing to a world that doesn’t care if our stories are told or how they’re told. it is entertainment of course but we still deserve to be portrayed in media just like heterosexuals are.
it starts with us. we can’t expect showrunners or writers to get it right when they don’t live this life. we can’t expect them to care when we’re complaining about straight women or being together because “they have chemistry”. that isn’t the point. the point is if we want representation, we need to show that by supporting wlw couples and pushing for these wlw couples stories to develop the characters to develop outside relationships as well. it’s hard cause most shows just don’t care but at least we’re putting it out there in hopes that someone else may see it and understand why this is so important to us as queer women. there’s so much more i want to say but this is long enough already.
idk i just wish it was simple which it is but obviously not for others.
