queerbaiting means the practice of creating homoerotic tension between two characters in a narrative work (particularly a television series) without the intention of ever developing it into an actual same-sex relationship or explicitly addressing the question of either character's sexuality. It carries an Arena rating of 1370, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, queerbaiting ranks #594 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #2,028 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #4,700 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #5,842 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words.
Why “queerbaiting” is a great word
A marketing and narrative practice of implying non-heterosexual relationships or attraction between characters to attract a queer audience, without the intention of ever depicting them explicitly. From 'queer' (in the sense of non-heterosexual) + 'baiting' (the act of luring or tempting), the term in its current critical sense is first attested in online fan communities, particularly on Tumblr, in the early 2010s. Unlike subtext, which can be a legitimate and subtle artistic device, or queercoding, a nuanced character hint or historical artifact of censorship, queerbaiting is a calculated and often cynical commercial ploy. It is the lingering glance edited into a trailer, the wink-and-nudge interview that fuels speculation, the intimate scene that dissolves just before a kiss—a transaction of hope for profit that leaves only the bitter taste of a promise deliberately unkept.
Etymology
From queer + baiting.
noun
- The practice of creating homoerotic tension between two characters in a narrative work (particularly a television series) without the intention of ever developing it into an actual same-sex relationship or explicitly addressing the question of either character's sexuality.e.g.“Queerbaiting is erasure. It’s telling queer people that they don’t exist, or that our stories aren’t worth telling, and it’s harmful.” — 2013 October 7, Matthew Ellison, “Queerbaiting”, in Salient, volume 76, number 23, Victoria University of Wellington, page 39:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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