Unclear Description: Queer Media

Queer Media is an index page.

The current description is: "An index for media produced by LGBTQ artists, (primarily) for queer audiences. This is not an index for just any media that features a gay/transgender/non-straight/non-cis identified character of any sort (see Gay and Lesbian Fiction), but works that are produced with a predominantly queer demographic in mind."

The problem here is that it's hard to tell if the artist is LGBTQ and whether it's aimed at a LGBTQ audience. Looking at the index, it includes works like Wandering Son, DC Comics Bombshells, Boys Don't Cry, and The Crying Game that don't fit both criteria.

I brought up Queer Media in Trope Talk last month. It was suggested that either Gay And Lesbian Fiction should be renamed "Queer Media" or the index should be defined by the content of the work rather than its creator.

Just "any work whose creator is LGBT" sounds like People Sit on Chairs to me, especially if it isn't relevant to the work itself. The other definition sounds better, although it may be the same as Gay And Lesbian Fiction.

Queer Media would make a much better name for what is now Gay And Lesbian Fiction, because that name makes it sound more narrow than it is.

Edited by TheMountainKing on Jan 9th 2019 at 8:33:51 AM

Completely agree, the genre would be meaningless if every work made by an LGBT creator counted. It should be about LGBT subject matter aimed at an LGBT audience, regardless of who the creator is.

Queer Media isn't a genre or trope, it's an index. I don't see much difference between indexing works with LGBT creators and indexing works made in a specific country, which we have plenty of.

If we restrict the page to be about content, it seems largely redundant with Gay And Lesbian Fiction.

It's really hard to tell these days what it means to be aimed at a LGBT audience, and I don't support this criterion.

So would this be an index based solely on creators, regardless of subject matter. Would something like Fight Club be listed, as it was written by a gay man but contains no overt queer themes?

Regardless, how about this: what is now Queer Media is renamed to "Works by Queer Creators" or some such and what is now Gay And Lesbian Fiction is renamed "Queer Media".

Edited by TheMountainKing on Jan 9th 2019 at 1:20:54 PM

I wouldn't mind that; more so than keeping the title "Queer Media" as an index for Queer Writers, because not every Queer Writer writers for LGBT people.

Queer Media isn't about any work by a queer creator. It's specifically about "media produced by LGBTQ artists, (primarily) for queer audiences." But, not all the works under Queer Media fit that criteria. Either the author isn't out as LGBTQ or the work isn't primarily geared at LGBTQ audiences.

I'd go with merging it with Gay And Lesbian Fiction. That page's title is too narrow and it's full of transgender-related examples as is.

This seems like the best option.

Repurpose the current Queer Media index to be about queer creators, and remove the bit about "(primarily) for queer audiences".

That's why we're saying to turn Gay And Lesbian Fiction into Queer Media, and make the current Queer Media an index of LGBT creators.

If it's a list of queer creators, why call it "Queer Media"? Would it be a list of all creators who are queer or just those who primarily write queer-themed works?

We're not.

The proposed solution was to rename Gay And Lesbian Fiction to Queer Media, and then turn the current Queer Media page into an index titled, like, Queer Creators or whatever.

Should we get a crowner going on the proposed changes?

I say so.

Yes.

Merge. There is no need for an index of LGBT creators. The useful page here is Gay And Lesbian Fiction.

Created a crowner. Not sure how to hook it.

Crowner hooked. Gotta holler a mod.

Gay and lesbian fiction sounds more accurate than queer media by far. Downvote.

But many examplea involve trans and ace characters.

So what about LGBT fiction then? Still more accurate than queer which only includes one. We are changing the name to include less?

I always just thought of Queer as a blanket term that can also be used as an identity.

Yes, "queer" is used as a blanket term for everything non-heterosexual and non-cisgender.

OK... but why does the acronym LGBTQ exist if the Q in that statement invalidates the LGBT part of it?