Oversexualization of queer people in media is ruining perceptions of queer relationships
Think of a movie or TV show with a queer couple. What’s their age difference? Are they respected by their peers? Are they having a lot of sex? While there’s nothing wrong with queer people having a lot of sex, often that’s what media focuses on. When queer people on screen are overportrayed having sex it can hurt perceptions of what queer relationships are. By Katherine Galland
T
he first time I was exposed to queer cinema was through “Blue is the Warmest Colour” at the ripe age of 14. I settled down in my bed to watch the French film on my mom’s laptop, using the family Netflix account. I stared wide-eyed at the first mainstream depiction of a queer female couple I had ever seen. At the start of the movie, I relished the idea that maybe someday I could find a nice blue-haired butch to take me in and show me the ropes. Then I was hit with a sex scene between the main couple. To many, including the cast, this scene became the focus of the movie. Not only is 14
COOGLIFE // February 2022
the scene over six minutes, making it almost absurdly long for a big-screen film, but the scene alone was filmed over 10 days, and directed by a man. It was a scene that informed young queer people like myself and heterosexual audiences what sapphic sex was like.
“Not only is the scene over six minutes, making it almost absurdly long for a bigscreen film, but the scene alone was filmed over 10 days, and directed by a man.” This specific scene, along with more sprinkled throughout
the film, made the bold claim that sex is the focus of queer relationships and that queer sex is an acceptable facet of relationships that are otherwise seen as perverse to society. But the depiction of queer sex in “Blue is the Warmest Colour” is not simply a bad egg from a good hen. It’s a bad egg, from a bad hen, in a bad coop, raised by a bad farmer. Oversexualization of queer folks in the media runs rampant and gives both LGBTQ+ and heterosexual people incorrect, damaging and confusing pictures of what the expectations of queer relationships are. Oversexualization
