For a fandom that likes to position itself as progressive, thereâs a concerning amount of heteronormative logic running through its discourse when discussing the actors. So letâs talk about it.
Itâs been said many times before, but in case you forgot, real people cannot queerbait their sexual orientation. Repeat it after me: Real. People. Cannot. Queerbait. And yet the fandom has a tendency to accuse Hudson of queerbaiting, particularly whenever heâs seen with his girlfriend. Why is that?
I genuinely wanted to know what evidence backed this up, so I did some sleuthing. What I found: the way he talks, the way he dresses, his public affection his male co-star/best friend, and not publicly labelling his sexuality (all while dating a woman) are treated as proof that heâs queerbaiting.
Is that a valid list of reasons? Well no!
What it actually demonstrates is how the fandom turns arbitrary traits into the sole signifiers of queerness. And this logic goes further than saying that âhe canât be queer because he has a girlfriendâ. Instead, it insists he must present himself according to heteronormative standards, because if he doesnât, the only acceptable explanation is that heâs queerbaiting. But remember: real people cannot queerbait. So what weâre seeing isnât queerbaiting at all â itâs the fandom perpetuating heteronormativity.
(To be clear: Iâm not saying those same traits prove he is queer, either. Thatâs exactly the point. They donât prove anything, in either direction. People in the fandom have decided they must mean something, and whichever conclusion you land on (bait or authentic), youâre still trapped in the same broken logic that treats mannerisms as confessions. His voice, his clothes, his friendships are not a code waiting to be cracked. Reading them as such, regardless of the verdict you reach, is the actual problem).
Anyway, if we go back to the discourse around him having a girlfriend we can also see that there is something sharper than heteronormativity at play. His relationship is treated as the default truth of his sexual orientation, like itâs hard evidence that literally overrides everything else. So any perceived queer-coded behaviour he displays is read as a performance. tl;dr: the fandom is enforcing a lot of bad-faith compulsory heterosexuality onto him, along with heteronormativity. Itâs all very jarring to witness given the fandomâs source material đ.
So yeah, youâre basically making an aesthetic out of sexual orientation â and that does more harm than Hudson wearing a backwards cap or drawing a heart around Connorâs face ever could.
This is absolutely spot on.
