Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Queer-Baiting On The Bbc’S Sherlock: Addressing The Invalidation Of Queer Experience Through Online Fan Fiction Communities, Cassidy Sheehan

Undergraduate Research Posters

Fans of a particular media source often write fan fiction to build on, deviate from, and transform original source material. The BBC’s Sherlock is not exempt from this common practice; in fact, the homoerotic subtext which persistently endures within the show lends itself to the production of slash fan fiction. Many perceive this subtext as a method of queer-baiting, or an ultimately harmful tactic used by writers and producers to lure in queer viewers. In this paper, dialogue and scenes from the show itself are compared to excerpts from works of fan fiction in order to explore reactions to queer-baiting …