Queerbaiting and Fandom || An ARC review

Borrowed, Bought or ARC: This was an ARC granted to me through NetGalley and the publishers. I am very thankful for this opportunity. All thoughts published below are my honest and true opinion.

Where did I get it?: As stated above, I got this from NetGalley.

Author: by Joseph Brennan, editor

Publisher: University Of Iowa Press

Genre/s: LGBT+, nonfiction

Number of Pages: 296

Release Date: December 1st 2019

In this first-ever comprehensive examination of queerbaiting, fan studies scholar Joseph Brennan and his contributors examine cases that shed light on the sometimes exploitative industry practice of teasing homoerotic possibilities that, while hinted at, never materialize in the program narratives. Through a nuanced approach that accounts for both the history of queer representation and older fan traditions, these essayists examine the phenomenon of queerbaiting across popular TV, video games, children’s programs, and more.

Contributors: Evangeline Aguas, Christoffer Bagger, Bridget Blodgett, Cassie Brummitt, Leyre Carcas, Jessica Carniel, Jennifer Duggan, Monique Franklin, Divya Garg, Danielle S. Girard, Mary Ingram-Waters, Hannah McCann, Michael McDermott, E. J. Nielsen, Emma Nordin, Holly Eva Katherine Randell-Moon, Emily E. Roach, Anastasia Salter, Elisabeth Schneider, Kieran Sellars, Isabela Silva, Guillaume Sirois, Clare Southerton 

I don’t normally read nonfiction books and I especially try to stay away from LGBT+ based nonfiction books because I often have issues with how they talk about the community. However, when I saw this book I was automatically interested. I have heard the term queerbaiting often used while talking about shows that I love and wish had LGBT+ characters. I was interested mostly in seeing what shows/movies they would talk about and if any of the ones I had felt “queerbaited” would be included. They all were. As a lesbian, most of my interest lies with the sections of this book where they talk about Rizzoli and Isles, Once Upon A Time and Supergirl. I felt validated in my feelings of these shows as I read this book. They also included many other shows and popular fandoms.

I feel this is a good book to explain exactly what queerbaiting is and why it hurts/upsets so many people. That being said, it did take a while to read because of the style of book it is so I would break it into sections if you plan to read this.