The answer might be found in the Instagram followers of The Bachelor‘s season 24 “winner.” The last few years, The Bachelor has gradually cultivated a more modern image. Why, then, has the most dominant dating show franchise in history, a franchise clearly interested in spinoffs and airwaves domination, not pursued a queer series? They simply shrunk the cast size to address the exponentially higher number of possible outcomes when everyone is an option for everyone. (This is true of all representation.)īut what’s most striking about Are You the One? season 8 was how easy it was to adapt a premise designed around heterosexuality to be more inclusive. No one seriously stresses over The Bachelor reflecting poorly on heterosexuality and the more inclusive dating shows we have the less pressure there will be on each one.
There’s an argument to be made that this, too, is essential representation.
The AYTO season 8 cast weren’t exactly good role models, but then who is looking for role models on reality TV? They’re bombastic, hot messes and they’re almost certainly here for a good time, not a long time vis-a-vis relationships. A cookie for giving fans a queer cast for one season of one show. Now, to a certain extent, this is credit for the bare minimum. To be clear, it was an utterly sloppy trainwreck, just like every AYTO season, but it also resonated with a community who long wanted representation in the sloppy trainwreck genre. The season 8 “twist” was similarly simple: Everyone on the island identified as sexually fluid, meaning everyone was a potential match for everyone else.Īre You the One‘s queer season was a success, the must-watch show of late summer with viewing parties popping up at queer nightlife spots. In the summer of 2019, MTV aired the “Come One, Come All” season of Are You the One? The premise of the show was the same as the previous seven seasons: A collection of singles who are “bad at love” live on an island and try to determine, through competitions, light ceremonies and copious amounts of alcohol, whom MTV has identified as their “perfect match.” If everyone finds their perfect match by the end of 10 weeks, the house splits a cash prize. Madison’s 1.6 million followers underscore why The Bachelor never will. Ted Talk done.By Shea Corrigan 2 years ago Follow TweetĪre You the One? showed how easy it is to make an inclusive dating show. She is hysterical, one of the best people to come out of Disney Channel in a while, and was a scene stealer in Hubie Halloween last year. (This is also a complete side tangent unrelated to gay rights, but we as a society are sleeping on China Anne McClain (Lightning). Thunder is kicking ass with her titular father as a meteorological crime-fighting ensemble, and when she’s off duty she’s hanging out with her shapeshifting girlfriend.
Enter Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce, aka Thunder, the first Black lesbian superhero to make it to screen, because sorry to the Chrises, but not all superheroes are straight white guys. The CW, however, is having none of this in their DC shows, and specifically this Black-lead show helmed by Prison Break’s Cress Williams. So like, just go watch the show, OK?įor the superhero fans out there, while queers with superpowers may splash about on the comic book pages, they rarely make it to screen (just remember how long it took for gays to make it into the MCU and in what a meager role it was). Also Maeve (Emma Mackey, soon to be in Death on the Nile) is not gay but is a badass. Otis’s friendship with his gay bestie Eric (the LUMINOUS Ncuti Gatwa who should be the lead of at least 15 shows by now) is a beautiful depiction of allyship, and Eric’s relationship with Rahim (Sami Outalbali) in Season 2 is the freaking cutest. The British dramedy centers on Otis (Asa Butterfield, aka the boy in Hugo), a high school student who decides to make some extra cash working as a sex therapist for his fellow classmates, as his mom (played by The Crown’s ibble dibbleing Margaret Thatcher, Gillian Anderson) is an actual sex therapist.īetter than a thousand YouTube tutorials or Cosmo articles, this show dives into all of the nooks and crannies of sex, highlighting homosexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality, asexuality, douching, scissoring, masturbation, fellatio, crossdressing, erotica, roleplay, fetishes, vaginas with teeth, and yes, even heterosexuality (boring, I know). Okay, we’re starting with Sex Education, because it is my favorite show on this list (perhaps currently on TV) and if you get nothing else from this list it should be WATCH SEX EDUCATION.