I think we can all agree that if there was a Universal Declaration of অনুরাগী Rights, the right to ship whomever and whatever we want, no matter how strange, disturbing and/or ridiculously adorable the pairing, would be at the very শীর্ষ of that list. Shipping, especially when in regards to non-canonical couples, often reflects what we as individuals desire in relationships, and our own subjective মতামত of what would be cute, sexy অথবা funny to see in a romantic pairing. However, shipping isn’t something that is simply based on our own individual মতামত and desires alone. Fandoms are essentially interactive communities among which ships are professed and shared via fanart, fanfiction, gifs, blog posts and videos. অনুরাগী who are engaged in these wider community discussions are therefore subject not only to the influence of their own preferences and expectations, but to those of the wider fandom community. This is not necessarily a bad thing. There isn’t a অনুরাগী on earth who can claim they haven’t once been swayed to ship a pair due to the content produced অথবা arguments levelled দ্বারা fellow fans, and haven’t enjoyed the thrill of converting others to their ships in turn. However, in this collective behaviour there resides an inherently sinister side of shipping, and that is how it creates an echo chamber which furthers the societal expectations of the larger community with no room for fresh অথবা different practises, as is seen with any community of like-minded people.
Many an প্রবন্ধ has been written and examination conducted as to the fetishisation of gay couples in জনপ্রিয় culture, and so this is not an issue I will exhume in this post. Instead, I believe there is another, largely ignored projection of societal expectations and stereotyping in shipping that needs to be addressed, and that is the stereotyping of male behaviours and relationships.
Before we get into some statistics and analysis, I feel I should take a moment to discuss my inspiration for this post, so as to vividly portray the kind of stereotyping I intend this প্রবন্ধ to draw attention to.
(Warning for spoilers of the 2008 TV series The Adventures of Merlin)
“I think Merlin was one of the worst examples of queerbaiting I’ve ever seen. Just look at how Merlin held male Arthur as he died, and like, how he cried and screamed over him. I mean – if they weren’t going to be gay then shouldn’t Arthur’s wife have been there for him as he died? Total queerbaiting.”
These words were my inspiration, shared with me দ্বারা a girl with some very passionate মতামত on the issue of queerbaiting. They bothered me for weeks as I attempted to unpack the implications of them. The suggestion that men could not be sad for the loss of each other, অথবা even touch affectionately in such a moment of devastation without the necessity of a romantic inclination, in all honestly, appalled me. But it got me thinking. She did not state this assumption in regards to the genders of the characters outright, but I began to wonder if she would harbour the same thoughts had the characters been female. I acknowledge of course that her view was a somewhat extreme one that not all অথবা hopefully many gay shippers hold, but these thoughts led me to thinking of shipping and accusations of queerbaiting as a whole, and whether অথবা not this same thinking was, in essence, at play in the majority of cases. So I did some research, and it yielded the following results:
Among the ships that produced the most fanfic in 2017 on জনপ্রিয় fanfiction website Archive of Our Own, there are seventeen M/M ships, one F/M ship, one gen pairing and two F/F ships. Five of the M/M ships involve celebrities. Of the M/M couples, only two of the eighteen involves canonically gay characters, whereas both of the two F/F ships, (both of which are from CW’s Supergirl) involve at least one canonically gay character.
Statistics provided দ্বারা Tumblr user Destination: Toast! of the modes of shipping again on Archive of Our Own in 2016 shows a whopping 46.2% of fanfiction is tagged as M/M, compared to roughly 3.8% which is tagged as F/F.
And finally, the Archive of Our Own 2017 census shows that of the Archive of Our Own users that chose to reveal their genders, 80% of respondents were female, compared to 4% that identified as male.
These statistics indicate a clear preference দ্বারা fanfiction writers, and clearly readers, for M/M shipping over F/F shipping – and that the vast majority of fanfiction authors are female. So why do so many women prefer M/M shipping over F/F shipping? Fetishisation has already enjoyed a good deal of attention and description, but I believe that it is not solely due to this predilection. I believe that women’s expectation of male behaviours and gender roles is a heavy factor in these shipping choices.
Female friendships are often depicted on screen as they are seen in real life – rife with hugs, hand holding, sleepovers, laughs and general physical and emotional intimacy, yet this seems to have produced little buzz in the shipping world unless one of the characters involved is in fact openly এলজিবিটি গোষ্ঠী themselves. This can be seen in the popularity of Alex Danvers-related ships from Supergirl, which managed to score the only F/F spots on Figure 1’s শীর্ষ 20 তালিকা in 2017. In comparison, when men do display intimacy for one another, be it emotional অথবা physical on screen, অনুরাগী rush not only to ship them together, but to posit theories as to the true sexualities of the characters, and even state point blank in some cases, that the characters must in fact be gay (Supernatural's Dean Winchester being perhaps the most notorious example). When these characters are not subsequently portrayed the way they have been lobbied for, is where the accusations of queerbaiting arise.
Queerbaiting is when a টেলিভিশন প্রদর্শনী uses the false implication of a gay relationship in order to attract এলজিবিটি গোষ্ঠী viewers and shippers. Any জনপ্রিয় প্রদর্শনী আপনি can think of involving two men in the main cast has likely been subjected to aspersions of queerbaiting. However, I would argue, upon review of the statistics, that the copious number of these accusations is not proof of queerbaiting’s ubiquity, but rather evidence of the term’s gross misuse and, dear I say it, abuse.
Merlin perfectly illustrates this. Both main characters Merlin and Arthur care deeply for one another, as exhibited দ্বারা their banter, trust, and willingness to die for one another. Despite Arthur being married and very much in প্রণয় with his wife, and neither character ever confessing feelings for অথবা suggesting they hold romantic interest in one another canononically, the প্রদর্শনী has faced multiple accusations of queerbaiting (a classic example of which being the aforementioned conversation). Some would, naturally, argue that Arthur and Merlin’s bantering is in fact flirting, that মতামত as to their care for one another is intended to be interpreted as romantic, and that their willingness to die for one another is evidence of their romantic interest and not platonic. I would certainly never argue that choosing to interpret these moments as such is wrong, অথবা therefore that shipping the characters together is wrong. Insisting however that the intimacy of their care for one another means that both characters must in fact be gay for one another, and it is therefore queerbaiting if they are not, is indicative of a very sinister and currently almost completely unaddressed form of stereotyping.
The assumption that two men cannot be intimate with one another physically অথবা emotionally, cannot be sad for one another when they die, অথবা even look at অথবা touch one another without being romantically inclined toward one another দ্বারা default, is in itself a discriminatory manner of thought, as evidenced দ্বারা how little accusations of queerbaiting arise over intimate female relationships in comparison with male. It proves an expectation as to the stereotypes and gender roles of men as macho and emotionally withdrawn, only able to প্রদর্শনী affection for those toward whom they are romantically inclined, and this is indeed a prejudice held mostly দ্বারা women, if the Archive of Our Own census is to be believed.
I do not deny the existence of queerbaiting. Actors and writers have a nasty habit of teasing অনুরাগী with such rhetoric in interviews and when taking অনুরাগী প্রশ্ন at panels and the like with the obvious intention to excite and essentially mislead their fanbases in order to maintain them. However, I am stating a belief, based on careful and for the most part unbiased analysis, that many accusations of queerbaiting are in fact invalid due to their root in inherently discriminatory behaviour from women as to the ludicrous expectations of male platonic and romantic relationships in society. And I do believe that there is a great danger in this that can be translated into the real world. Men are undoubtedly already challenged দ্বারা society’s expectations of them as stoic husks of machismo, and as the obsessive and aggressive nature of shipping culture is already growing to encompass real, celebrity men, we have to worry that it may inevitably sabotage male friendships as much off screen as it will the depictions of male friendship on screen.
So to conclude, if আপনি see two male characters on TV that আপনি think would make a cute romantic couple, দ্বারা all means, ship away. But if you’re going to accuse that প্রদর্শনী of queerbaiting when your ship doesn’t become a reality, I implore আপনি to take a moment to ask yourself whether what you're watching is actually queerbaiting, অথবা whether আপনি are merely guilty of furthering another, just as sinister form of discrimination.
Do আপনি agree with the মতামত expressed in this post? Be sure to leave a comment.
Many an প্রবন্ধ has been written and examination conducted as to the fetishisation of gay couples in জনপ্রিয় culture, and so this is not an issue I will exhume in this post. Instead, I believe there is another, largely ignored projection of societal expectations and stereotyping in shipping that needs to be addressed, and that is the stereotyping of male behaviours and relationships.
Before we get into some statistics and analysis, I feel I should take a moment to discuss my inspiration for this post, so as to vividly portray the kind of stereotyping I intend this প্রবন্ধ to draw attention to.
(Warning for spoilers of the 2008 TV series The Adventures of Merlin)
“I think Merlin was one of the worst examples of queerbaiting I’ve ever seen. Just look at how Merlin held male Arthur as he died, and like, how he cried and screamed over him. I mean – if they weren’t going to be gay then shouldn’t Arthur’s wife have been there for him as he died? Total queerbaiting.”
These words were my inspiration, shared with me দ্বারা a girl with some very passionate মতামত on the issue of queerbaiting. They bothered me for weeks as I attempted to unpack the implications of them. The suggestion that men could not be sad for the loss of each other, অথবা even touch affectionately in such a moment of devastation without the necessity of a romantic inclination, in all honestly, appalled me. But it got me thinking. She did not state this assumption in regards to the genders of the characters outright, but I began to wonder if she would harbour the same thoughts had the characters been female. I acknowledge of course that her view was a somewhat extreme one that not all অথবা hopefully many gay shippers hold, but these thoughts led me to thinking of shipping and accusations of queerbaiting as a whole, and whether অথবা not this same thinking was, in essence, at play in the majority of cases. So I did some research, and it yielded the following results:
Among the ships that produced the most fanfic in 2017 on জনপ্রিয় fanfiction website Archive of Our Own, there are seventeen M/M ships, one F/M ship, one gen pairing and two F/F ships. Five of the M/M ships involve celebrities. Of the M/M couples, only two of the eighteen involves canonically gay characters, whereas both of the two F/F ships, (both of which are from CW’s Supergirl) involve at least one canonically gay character.
Statistics provided দ্বারা Tumblr user Destination: Toast! of the modes of shipping again on Archive of Our Own in 2016 shows a whopping 46.2% of fanfiction is tagged as M/M, compared to roughly 3.8% which is tagged as F/F.
And finally, the Archive of Our Own 2017 census shows that of the Archive of Our Own users that chose to reveal their genders, 80% of respondents were female, compared to 4% that identified as male.
These statistics indicate a clear preference দ্বারা fanfiction writers, and clearly readers, for M/M shipping over F/F shipping – and that the vast majority of fanfiction authors are female. So why do so many women prefer M/M shipping over F/F shipping? Fetishisation has already enjoyed a good deal of attention and description, but I believe that it is not solely due to this predilection. I believe that women’s expectation of male behaviours and gender roles is a heavy factor in these shipping choices.
Female friendships are often depicted on screen as they are seen in real life – rife with hugs, hand holding, sleepovers, laughs and general physical and emotional intimacy, yet this seems to have produced little buzz in the shipping world unless one of the characters involved is in fact openly এলজিবিটি গোষ্ঠী themselves. This can be seen in the popularity of Alex Danvers-related ships from Supergirl, which managed to score the only F/F spots on Figure 1’s শীর্ষ 20 তালিকা in 2017. In comparison, when men do display intimacy for one another, be it emotional অথবা physical on screen, অনুরাগী rush not only to ship them together, but to posit theories as to the true sexualities of the characters, and even state point blank in some cases, that the characters must in fact be gay (Supernatural's Dean Winchester being perhaps the most notorious example). When these characters are not subsequently portrayed the way they have been lobbied for, is where the accusations of queerbaiting arise.
Queerbaiting is when a টেলিভিশন প্রদর্শনী uses the false implication of a gay relationship in order to attract এলজিবিটি গোষ্ঠী viewers and shippers. Any জনপ্রিয় প্রদর্শনী আপনি can think of involving two men in the main cast has likely been subjected to aspersions of queerbaiting. However, I would argue, upon review of the statistics, that the copious number of these accusations is not proof of queerbaiting’s ubiquity, but rather evidence of the term’s gross misuse and, dear I say it, abuse.
Merlin perfectly illustrates this. Both main characters Merlin and Arthur care deeply for one another, as exhibited দ্বারা their banter, trust, and willingness to die for one another. Despite Arthur being married and very much in প্রণয় with his wife, and neither character ever confessing feelings for অথবা suggesting they hold romantic interest in one another canononically, the প্রদর্শনী has faced multiple accusations of queerbaiting (a classic example of which being the aforementioned conversation). Some would, naturally, argue that Arthur and Merlin’s bantering is in fact flirting, that মতামত as to their care for one another is intended to be interpreted as romantic, and that their willingness to die for one another is evidence of their romantic interest and not platonic. I would certainly never argue that choosing to interpret these moments as such is wrong, অথবা therefore that shipping the characters together is wrong. Insisting however that the intimacy of their care for one another means that both characters must in fact be gay for one another, and it is therefore queerbaiting if they are not, is indicative of a very sinister and currently almost completely unaddressed form of stereotyping.
The assumption that two men cannot be intimate with one another physically অথবা emotionally, cannot be sad for one another when they die, অথবা even look at অথবা touch one another without being romantically inclined toward one another দ্বারা default, is in itself a discriminatory manner of thought, as evidenced দ্বারা how little accusations of queerbaiting arise over intimate female relationships in comparison with male. It proves an expectation as to the stereotypes and gender roles of men as macho and emotionally withdrawn, only able to প্রদর্শনী affection for those toward whom they are romantically inclined, and this is indeed a prejudice held mostly দ্বারা women, if the Archive of Our Own census is to be believed.
I do not deny the existence of queerbaiting. Actors and writers have a nasty habit of teasing অনুরাগী with such rhetoric in interviews and when taking অনুরাগী প্রশ্ন at panels and the like with the obvious intention to excite and essentially mislead their fanbases in order to maintain them. However, I am stating a belief, based on careful and for the most part unbiased analysis, that many accusations of queerbaiting are in fact invalid due to their root in inherently discriminatory behaviour from women as to the ludicrous expectations of male platonic and romantic relationships in society. And I do believe that there is a great danger in this that can be translated into the real world. Men are undoubtedly already challenged দ্বারা society’s expectations of them as stoic husks of machismo, and as the obsessive and aggressive nature of shipping culture is already growing to encompass real, celebrity men, we have to worry that it may inevitably sabotage male friendships as much off screen as it will the depictions of male friendship on screen.
So to conclude, if আপনি see two male characters on TV that আপনি think would make a cute romantic couple, দ্বারা all means, ship away. But if you’re going to accuse that প্রদর্শনী of queerbaiting when your ship doesn’t become a reality, I implore আপনি to take a moment to ask yourself whether what you're watching is actually queerbaiting, অথবা whether আপনি are merely guilty of furthering another, just as sinister form of discrimination.
Do আপনি agree with the মতামত expressed in this post? Be sure to leave a comment.
