If "queer baiting" acts as a synonym for investigating actors for their queerness, then (I think, clearly) that's a big problem, particularly when the material itself is straightforward and very queer. I mean, nobody would think that Heartstopper was meant to flirt subliminally with a queer audience. And, of course, actors have the right to be in the closet, just like anyone else.
But what about a case like this? We published a story the other day by a young queer guy in Italy who objected to Katy Perry's performance at the VMAs, suggesting it should be labeled as queer baiting.
Perry was singing one of her signature numbers, which happens to have a completely heterosexual theme — about a woman being loyal to her man.
While she was singing that number at the VMAs, she danced very erotically with another woman, including scissoring with her for quite a while.
I watched the video, and the queer dancing really is anomalous. It's weird to hear her singing the words she's singing about heterosexuality and conventional heteronormativity, and then see her dance in a very queerly erotic way at the same time.
Maybe that's an artistic statement, but color me dubious. It feels much more like capitalistic marketing.
It feels kind of creepy, like projecting a queer sexuality to attract (bait?) a particular audience despite the fact that the art in question doesn't have any queer content.
Perry identifies as bisexual, so there's no question of investigating her identity. Criticism of that number (and there's been quite a lot of it) is more a matter of questioning the marketing and presentation.
Many women say they found it offensive because it's so clearly directed at the male gaze. It presents two women's bodies as something like sex toys, like mere decoration for art that has an entirely different theme.
I guess queer baiting might be the wrong term, because the people who planned that performance likely thought they would be appealing to straight men. I would sort of doubt they were hoping to attract an audience of lesbians. (Lesbians I know were deeply unimpressed with Perry's scissoring performance, to say the least.)
On the other hand, that number does feel like baiting. But maybe there's a better term for it than queer baiting. I don't know.
