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wethesoc-i-ety-blog · 4 years

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List of LGBTQ+ Media

Feel free to add on to this! Please, if you do, put the name of the source down, and if you want, where you can find it, and some thoughts on it! To clarify, I’m listing pieces of media with:

- Healthy representation - please, no 2018 LeFou. No-one needs that. - ‘Real’ representation - i.e. not queer-baiting (which is why Voltron should not be added to this list) - Present representation - no gay side characters who are solely present for the purpose of being gay and providing writers with a chance to look diverse, in hard quotations.

Video:

The Politician (2019)

I binged this on a Tuesday, and I’m an IB Student, so you know it’s gotta be good.

Starring Ben Platt, the former star of the revolt of a musical Dear Evan Hansen, and his co-star Laura Dreyfuss, this show is absolutely magnificent representation in the sense that it is completely normalising, in a way that made me tear up and laugh and feel deeply inspired throughout and after I was done with it. This show is gorgeous, with a rich colour pallet and a deeply intense sense of fashion; if that’s not enough to make you watch it, it’s basically a run of a US election scaled down to a high school, and at this point (October 26th, 2019) scaled up to a localised senate election, which it does hugely well at representing.

When I talk about the show being normalising, I mean this: you know character tropes? Twisting, turning plot lines of romances that are usually confined to straight folks? This show throws forth multiple fleshed-out, informed, refined romantic and non-romantic relationships between queer characters, never parading its LGBTQ+ themes for the media but nonetheless including them in a way that I have never seen so whole-heartedly done before and I was deeply impressed by. I won’t spoil too much, but here’s the thing: a wlw relationship, a mlm relationship and a relationship between a non-binary character and female character are all included, and all of them are well fleshed out, meshing well with the story and not just ‘there for the sake of it’, as I know can become an issue. There’s an LGBTQ+ person of colour, too. And I know this shouldn’t be something I have to say, but all the queer characters are played by queer people, and that’s pretty great for media repping.

I love this show, can you tell? No spoilers - but the first song is a miracle.

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Steven Universe (2013)

She says, running away.

Steven Universe follows, funnily enough, Steven Universe, on his quest to develop the powers he derives from the magical gem on his bellybutton, in order to become a better help to and eventual member of the Crystal Gems, a group of gems taking human forms who fight against the gems of Homeworld, the gem home planet, to defend the Earth, an organisation set up by Steven’s mother, Rose Quartz, whose gem he now possesses. Wild, I know. It gets wilder.

This show started airing in 2013, a relatively-early time for LGBTQ+ media with proper representation of healthy relationships as well as unhealthy ones. It is a kids’ show, fundamentally, so some issues are oversimplified, but in my experience, growing up with this show was fundamental not only to normalising my own sexuality for myself but to understanding what constitutes a healthy relationship. The show is very much central around this concept; what is ‘healthy’, and in turn, what represents ‘unhealthy’ relationship dynamics? On top of that, it also deals with a traditionally feminine protagonist who is male and, from what we understand, straight, combatting masculinity stereotypes which are particularly damaging. A great show to hand your kids or younger siblings, because it’s got a huge plot line, and now that the show’s finished, it lacks the issues of upload schedules which it had had before when new episodes were constantly being produced.

The gems are all ‘feminine’ (though they avoid some criticism, I think, because they’re literal rocks and therefore cannot be gendered) and are referred to as she/her for the length of the series; they undergo a process called fusion by which they can combine their bodies to create a product larger than both their parts, an oversimplified but useful framing of a relationship. These fusions can be forced - unhealthy - or desired - healthy. In this way, gems commonly match up, giving good representation, even if it is slightly forfeited by the fact that they’re not human, to wlw relationships, and in ways that address unhealthy dynamics as well as healthy ones that can also apply to straight relationships.

The show is heavily left-wing, so if that’s not exactly your thing, be wary. I’m not here to argue about what’s right and wrong about the show - just to say that it’s got good representation, and if you’re down for a little suspension of belief, this is the way to go.

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Love, Simon (2017)

One of the most mature pieces of coming-out story fiction I’ve ever seen. It gets flack because it’s popular, but it’s popular for a reason, and many many many of my friends have had a personal experience with themselves in watching this film. Simon is a teenager struggling with an undercover mlm relationship and with coming to terms with his sexuality while also being a high school student. When word gets out about his sexuality at school, he has to deal with that on top of everything else, too.

If you’re going to watch a teen movie, this is the one to take a stab at. The material is sensitively handed; the show deals with a troublesome parental situation in terms of Simon’s eventual coming out, as well, which is unusual for these types of movies. Usually it’s either radically ‘you’re gay so we want you out of our home’ or ‘you’re gay and we accept you’ but here there’s a good balance between the two that still resolves itself non-problematically, with a great conclusion to the undercover relationship that will appeal to theatrics. This movie also deals with the issue of outing, which is something that surprisingly few people understand well, in a context that is terrifying for the protagonist. He is not prepared to come out, and deals with positive and negative consequences; the movie does a good job at giving both sides equal time, and at producing resolutions to those situations that aren’t unbelievable.

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Adventure Time

I have to confess that I stopped watching AT in the same religious sense that I did as a child early on, but I resumed my watching when I reached that queer milestone of recognising characters as gay and seeing Marceline and Bubblegum, as I think they were always intended to be, as those two lesbians we can all relate to. I don’t feel like this is a spoiler because most people know already, and because there are hints from the beginning - it’s just a question of whether or not it’ll be properly fulfilled.I love how they finished the series, because it wasn’t a Voltron ending where the ‘will they or won’t they’ ends in ‘they won’t, because of our producers’, as opposed to ‘they will, because we’re finishing what we started’. No spoilers, but there’s gayPDA, which is important, especially in kids’ shows, because it shows that yes, we do kiss each other, and yes, it is possible. Our faces don’t repel like opposite sides of a magnet.The queer characters are archetyped stereotypically as goth and geek and not as the typical butch and prep thing you see with lesbian representation, which is great because the show is focusing on the people themselves and recognising the LGBTQ+ part of those characters as factions of their personalities, not the other way around, the best way to normalise. Great times.

Youtube:

Thomas Sanders

I, I think like many other older viewers, started watching Thomas Sanders because of his web series, Sanders Sides (which is a whole other boat of representation for mental health considerations, but we won’t get into that), and fell in to his other contact like a little queer magpie clicking on rainbows.

His video on Pride discusses a lot of useful stuff, in a lowkey fashion, for people all over the spectrum and for those not really sure what the spectrum is. How can I stress that he needs to be shown in schools to groups of young people? He’s all about positivity, respect and being openly proud, not just LGBTQ+-wise but also generally - and his channel features a very diverse group of invested people, so if you’re looking for down-to-earth, unstrained representation, this is where it is.

mackdoesit

Basically a big ???

Hosting such great video titles as REACTING TO ANTI-GAY COMMERCIALS BECAUSE I’M GAY, Mack is one of those Youtubers you watch when you’re comfortable with yourself and just want to enjoy some gay shit. You can’t go anywhere on his channel without seeing a rainbow flag. If nothing else, he’s great because he is so openly embracing of his sexuality without even needing to state that he is; it’s so evident in how often and how well he talks about it that he’s comfortable and it sets a great example of where you should want to be in terms of yourself, especially if you’re young and uncertain of where you are on the spectrum.

Miles McKenna

Ah!!!

Miles started his (now completed) transition (ftm) in early 2017, with a video entitled ‘So I’m Trans’, having previously identified as female and a lesbian. I started watching Miles, then Amanda, early on in 2015 because he was deeply constructive as an image of a lesbian role model for me, when I thought I identified the same way; since then, there have been a few changes and I now watch him as a queer icon and as an excellent educational tool.

Miles posted this great video in April of 2018, I AM MILES, showing snapshot clips of his transition over the year since he started T, and it’s honestly deeply emotional, personal and, critically, a great demonstration of transitioning, its struggles, and its benefits for the person going about it. I have learned a lot from Miles - generally and also about myself - and I would recommend his channel to anyone off the bat. There’s some good stuff in there - including a classic ‘things get better’ scenario, because his deeply religious mother, who had rejected him for years on the basis of his sexuality and then transition, has recently started participating in Miles’ videos.

Eugene Lee Yang (another Youtuber, attached to the Try Guys)

Watch I’m Gay by Eugene. I’m serious. That video didn’t change my life, but it changed my perception of what I needed from queer media icons, and this fulfilled some part of me never touched before.

Eugene is openly gay, and has been for some time; his videos have also centred around his experience as a drag queen, which is a very rarely well-represented field and should be exposed more by people accessing young audiences. Go, watch. He’s good for the soul.

Books:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Sáenz

My favourite book. I actually picked this up because a Youtuber I used to watch, John Green (who wrote Will Grayson, Will Grayson, another LGBTQ+ staple which I haven’t personally read yet but intend to) recommended it in a video list. It follows Aristotle (Ari) and his life in Mexico in friendship with a boy he meets at a swimming pool, Dante. They bond over their unusual names and Dante’s proclivity for reading, poetry and swimming; the book follows their friendship’s progress after he moves to Chicago and has to write rather than talk to Ari.

Without spoilers: Aristotle and Dante is this tremendous achievement because it describes a person’s struggle with their sexuality in the frame of international content and masculinity, two things which pose a huge threat in some circumstances to a person’s journey with their sexuality. Both of the titular characters witness a sharp, studied detailing of their progress into accepting themselves, in the context of their lives and stories, in a way that is deeply touching and, on your first time reading it, so cleverly executing that when the moment comes it’s genuinely surprising. I lay down and thought about my life for a few hours after finishing it in one go. It’s not a difficult read - Sáenz writes beautifully - but it is emotionally challenging, so watch yourself.

Please go read it!

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Simon versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Becky Albertalli

This is the origin story for Love, Simon, so everything I said about her applies the same for this one. I have to betray my book-loving instincts and say that I didn’t actually enjoy the book all that much, at least not as much as I adored the movie - by the time I finished this one, I had already read all the other books on this list and come to the conclusion that I was sated with representation for a while, so I wasn’t really wowed until the movie came out. That being said, if you’re not a fan of movies, the book is just as well-written as the others on here, and honestly provides you with a better-developed story just simply because of the fact that it’s a book.

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They Both Die at the End, Adam Silvera

Before Aristotle and Dante, this was my go-to recommendation for queer reading. Adam Silvera is a beautiful person and writes a lot of good LGBTQ+ stuff, but They Both Die in the End has that quality of life-ending-ness and inevitability about it that makes it devastating to you as you’re reading up to the end, because, obviously, you already know what’s going to happen.

How do I describe this book? Two boys meet each other on their death day, something predicted by a mysterious agency who can’t tell you when, where, or how, except that you will die within the next 24 hours, and it could be in 30 minutes or in 23.5 hours. It isn’t the type of book I’d normally read, and it also isn’t the type of book that has what I like to call ‘the queer outset’, which is nice, because Silvera isn’t baiting his readers. It was this pleasant surprise in the end when you uncover the LGBTQ+ part of it that justifies its classification under the LGBTQ+ shelf at Waterstones.

It changed my life completely outside the realm of LGBTQ+ stuff, just because I consider every moment more precious, now - but in truth the representation of a mlm relationship here is excellent, and I was and am struck to the core by it.

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* I want to put C. N. Adichie’s wonderful (hah) book, Americanah, down. The first use of LGBTQ+ characterisation is in a character from Nigeria connecting a gay man she meets at an event to witnessing the beating of a gay boy at her school in her youth. This is said in passing, but it can be triggering. There is more representation as the book goes on - I include it because it is one of those rare novels where LGBTQ+ people are side characters, but in a way that is incredibly normalising, and not for that ‘diversity’ factor.

Shows and Theatre:

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

I have to confess, I haven’t seen this show. I’m asking for tickets for my eighteenth.

That aside, I heard from my friend, who recently transitioned, that it was great. The show follows an aspiring drag queen, Jamie, in a British state school - that in itself is great for us Brits, who don’t often have that LGBTQ+ representation in our media except for if its transitioned over from the States, but drag queens don’t get much representation in the media either, especially few cases that are healthy and constructive.

History Boys, Alan Bennett

I put this play on last year with a group of English Literature students who read the play and loved it; unsurprisingly, all those students are now a part of SOC(I)ETY, my school’s GSA, which speaks to the nature of the text. It follows a group of state school students in the UK (again, go Brit representation!) who are applying to Oxbridge for History and return to school for a seventh term after their A-Levels to be coached on how to pass the exams. The boys are strung between the new substitute Oxbridge tutor, Irwin, who is regimentally focused on pass marks, and Hector, their longtime English teacher, with a more nebulous style of teaching. The boys progress through the preparation time taking sides with these teachers.

Here’s the thing. There are four queer characters in this play: Posner, a young Jewish (!) boy who is openly gay for Dakin; Dakin, another student, arrogant and who is later revealed to be attracted to (although this can be challenged) Irwin; Irwin, who exhibits a level of attraction towards Dakin but is morally resolute-ish; and Hector, a homosexual and arguably a paedophile, who gropes the boys when he brings them home on his motorcycle, which they take with a good-natured grain of salt.

These characters are not necessarily healthy characters in terms of representation. Dakin represents at least a bisexual character, which is great, and Posner a relatively unproblematic Jewish LGBTQ+ figurehead; but Irwin and Hector openly discuss potential relations with the boys in one of the final scenes, and although nothing ever happens, there is the sense that it would have done had it not been for a major event in the play.

Read it if you can stomach the material. It never gets explicit physically; but there are a lot of swear words, so if that’s not your thing, be careful.

Some further ones that aren’t really great for representation, but for one reason or another deserve a spot:

High School Musical

I know this is meme’d to high hell at this point, but Chad and Ryan and I Don’t Dance are seminal moments in LGBTQ+ media representation, and quite frankly, at least in my opinion, considering when it was made, one of the best shots at introducing LGBTQ+ related concepts to young children that didn’t threaten its widespread takedown in the early days of the 2000s. As a young queer I watched every High School Musical movie the week it came out, once on the actual day and once on the weekend with my family. Looking back on it, it’s pretty insane to see how we all missed that one and yet still learned a lesson from it.

For those who haven’t heard, the song I Don’t Dance has been reconsidered recently because it hints heavily at something (loosely-defined) going on between Ryan and Chad. The main thesis of the song is this: Chad, a stereotypical high school basketball player, wreathed in typical attitudes, is confronted with Ryan, one of those early ‘meant to be LGBTQ+ characters’ from a time when it was more acceptable to represent gay men as pink-wearing, song-singing musical theatre people, and assumes that Ryan is not able to play baseball, his sport of choice at this time. Ryan smashes it, of course (we stan a queen), over the course of the song, proving him wrong while also doubling back on the idea that Chad himself says that he doesn’t dance.

Note the wording here: not I Can’t Dance, it’s I Don’t Dance. The implications here are clear. The song, at the very least, works with defeating stereotypes associated with masculinity, which is a hugely-pressing issue to this day and deserves more appreciation like this in the media; but the undertones of LGBTQ+ presence in both of these characters is there and important. Ryan himself is one of the less offensive, at least in my opinion, versions of this ‘flamboyant man’ archetype and therefore has some credit as a character for introducing that concept to young kids anyway, but Chad hits differently. Because he’s a jock. Because he’s a high schooler, a sports player, and, clearly, was intended to be LGBTQ+. And don’t we need more representation like that?

Lil Nas X

Please follow this man’s Twitter. That is all.

As I said, please do add to this! I hope you all indulge.

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tigertanyx · 4 years

Text

According to Goodreads, my average rating is 3.8, which doesn’t feel quite right, but who am I to argue with data. As of now, I am 98 books in, but I fully intend to finish a short book and manga before midnight. it’ll be my first recorded year of reaching 100 books a year, but as I explained earlier, I feel like it made me bypass longer books. My longest book was On A Sunbeam, at 533 pages. That’s weak.

Read Bricks: My 2020 Reading Goal

This isn’t exactly a top books of 2019 post, because there are 2nd or 3rd choices of some months that are better than the #1s of other months. But I did notice a trend (3 months) where I would read the best book of the month as the first book of the month, and those were also the best books of the year.

January

Stats: 6 books, 2 contemporary, 1 fantasy, 1 classic, 1 manga, 1 mystery

Rep:

And the best book:

If We Were Villains, ML Rio

I love this book, it was my favourite of 2019 and I still think about it. I found it on a whim, while I was aimlessly browsing the library. It’s about a Shakespeare group in college a cult, where one of their members were murdered and they all have something to hide. There’s a slow-burn m/m romance tragedy that was painfully simar to my own gay awakening. But alas, I don’t own it, so if you guys want to gift it to me…

February

Stats: 7 books, 3 Contemporary, 1 horror, 1 manga, 1 historical fiction, 1 mystery

Rep:

The best book:

Darius The Great is Not Ok, Adib Khorram

This follows an Iranan-american boy whose granddad in Iran is ill, so his family is going to visit them so Darius can know him before he dies. It isn’t about the granddad though: it’s about Iranian culture, soccer, and a boy. Being gay can be a death sentence in Iran, so while there’s definite gay undertones, they never actually do or say anything. Their friendship is the purest thing, some hope while Darius is struggling with depression.

March

Stats: 6 books, 3 manga, 2 horror, 1 contemporary

Rep:

The best book:

Autoboyography Christina Lauren

This book made me upset. It’s about 2 boys, one who’s at peace with his bisexuality, and the other who’s a mormon. It deals with his struggle to love someone and go against his family and community. There’s also a writing seminar, where one has to write a book with the other coaching him. I thought that part could’ve been expanded more. There’s secret hikes and secret gay moments.

April

Stats: 8 books, 5 Contemporary, 1 satire, 1 horror, 1 manga

Rep:

Best book:

View this post on Instagram

#currentlyreading Radio Silence! The voice is easy to drown in, I love the casual but unsubtle rep, and the artsy. #amreading #bookstagram #booknerd #lgbtpride🌈

A post shared by BrittainX (@killedbyabook) on Apr 29, 2019 at 10:24am PDT

Radio Silence, Alice Oseman

Kat @ paperback dreams loves this book so much, if you didn’t know. I was expecting some letdown, but I still love it. It’s about a gang that produces a sci-fi podcast called Universe City while they muse about what they’re going to do after high school. It’s an exploration of why college isn’t for everyone.

May

Stats: 8 books, 4 contemporary, 2 satire, 1 manga, 1 fantasy

Rep:

Best book:

I Wish You All The Best, Mason Deaver

I hope you know what this is. I hope you read it. I will disown you if you haven’t.

Dear Ben De Backer/ I Wish You All The Best

June

Stats: 6 books, 4 Contemporary (1 manga), 2 romance

Rep:

The Best Book:

View this post on Instagram

Important and real. Toxic relationships can be impossible to get out of and I don't think I've ever seen a more realistic f/f in fiction. Also, is Doodle non-binary? #amreading Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me #bookdragon #booknerd #bookstagram

A post shared by BrittainX (@killedbyabook) on Jun 25, 2019 at 10:41am PDT

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, Mariko Tamaki , Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

Ahh, yes. The graphic novel about an emotional abusive teen f/f romance that explores what happens when you let yourself and neglect your friends with beautiful art.

Portraying Toxicity in F/F Relationships: Reading Jordi Perez And Laura Dean

July

(When booktubeathon happened) 13 books, 5 manga, 3 contemporary, 1 superhero, 1 Urban fantasy, 1 Poetry, 1 erotica

Rep:

Best Book:

Nimona, Noelle Stevenson

Two months with a top graphic novel, but that just shows how amazing they’ve gotten. Nimona is a shapeshifter determined to do evil for her master, unaware that his greatest rival used to be his greatest lover. Funny! Evil propo!

August

Stats: 8 books, 3 contemporary, 2 manga, 1 satire, 1 poetry, 1 spiritual

Rep:

Best Book:

Sappho Of Lesbos, painted by John William Godward

Sappho, the lesbian poet of Greece. Her poetry haunted the lesbian areas of Greece. Lesbian greek poetry. What Are you waiting for?

September

Stats: 6 books, 3 manga, 2 supernatural, 1 sick lit

Rep:

Big Sapphic Pie

Best book:

My beloved girlfriend Carmilla. Carmilla is a lesbian vampire in the classic, muddling girls’ minds with dreams and sex. It was adapted into a youtube series that I’m probably going to binge watch after I’ve read the two books I read to reach 100 this year (Bread and Roses, Too, The Fifth Beatle).

My Beloved Carmilla

October

Stats: 9 month, 5 fantasy, 2 manga, 2 contemporary

Rep:

Best Book:

View this post on Instagram

Everything Leads To You started slow but had me close to tears at the end. The best f/f I have read thus far! #bookstagram #bookish #lgbtpride🌈 #ffbooks

A post shared by BrittainX (@killedbyabook) on Oct 1, 2019 at 5:14pm PDT

Everything Leads To You, Nina LaCour

F/F in LA! i loved how ingrained movies were in their lives, how it was their jobs, their relatives’ jobs, their passions. There’s also a realllly slooow burn romance! If Nina wrote a how-to slow burn guide, it’d be the book on how to write relationships.

November

Stats; 9 books, 4 manga, 2 dystopia, 1 contemporary, 1 spiritual, 1 fantasy

Rep:

This best book was tough, since a few stand out, however Fence is rated highest! Contenders are Dragon Pearl, A Quick And Easy Guide To They/Them Pronouns, and Lizard Radio.

View this post on Instagram

My immediate TBR! Dragon Pearl is a MG Asian inspired Rick Riordan Imprint book with a non-binary character. Out Of Salem is about a non-binary zombie. I'm going into We Contain Multitudes blind, but it's gay. * What are your reading plans? How far in advance do you tend to plan them? #bookstagram #bookish #bookdragon #lgbtpride🌈

A post shared by BrittainX (@killedbyabook) on Nov 12, 2019 at 9:06am PST

December

This is a no-brainer. The Deep by Rivers Solomon is about merfolk descended from pregnant captives on slave ships that were thrown overboard. Their babies were born in the water, barely functioning merbabies. 100 years later, the society remembers three days a year, the memories too heavy and their capacity to short for them to be held by anyone other than the Historian. But now she’s sick of it and wants to find herself. Super gay, written by a nonbinary author.

View this post on Instagram

My December TBR plus #currentlyreading The Deep by Rivers Solomon and Tarnished Are The Stars by @rosieethor The Deep is about the decedents of the people captured on slave ships that jumped overboard, a society that can't bear to remember their past and gives all of the memories to one merperson a generation. Tarnished Are The Stars is set in a future where technology is banned, least humanity fall into the trap of destroying the planet- but our main queers use it to help people with medical problems. #amreading #bookstagram #ilovebooks #lgbt

A post shared by BrittainX (@killedbyabook) on Nov 30, 2019 at 8:56pm PST

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2019: Top Books of The Month According to Goodreads, my average rating is 3.8, which doesn't feel quite right, but who am I to argue with data.

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