The "Predatory Lesbian" and More: Negative Tropes for LGBTQ+ Women

“Why was she staring at me, you don’t think she’s… is she a?”

“Listen I’m cool with it, just as long as you don’t have a crush on me.”

God forbid a woman loves a woman, or a non-male identifying person loves another non-male identifying person.

In the media, LGBTQ+ representation has come a long way. However, there were and still are so many issues when it comes to how the community is portrayed, especially when it comes to women or non-men.

For as long as we can remember, there have been lots of unfair portrayals of lesbians in the media. They have been called “gross”, “manly”, or “creepy” which all come into play with the “predatory lesbian” trope.

This trope consists of a lesbian character who preys on straight women. They either follow them around, beg them for affection, make advances even when knowing the other party isn’t interested, or display extremely jealous behavior and ruin relationships.

I remember this really unhinged Youtube comedy series The Most Popular Girls in School, which at times was borderline offensive. It’s a stop-motion series featuring dolls. The character of lunch lady Belinda was a creepy woman who had a crush on popular high school girl Cameron. It might not have been intentional for the creators, but this character falls right into the predatory lesbian trope.

There are so many examples of lesbian women being demonized in the media. There’s also the “mean lesbian” trope, which also plays into negative stereotypes that women who love other women cannot be nice, agreeable, feminine, etc.

Women who love other women are treated like it’s some weird thing.

Obviously, as most things do, this is a cause of patriarchy. The specific reasoning is that society cannot imagine a world where there is not a man involved in a relationship. Two women would be “breaking the rules" in a way. Men are centered in these conversations. That is why LGBTQ+ women might get more of a negative portrayal compared to LGBTQ+ men.

All of this just because there isn’t a man involved! It’s wild!

These tropes are extremely common in early to mid 2000s films and shows, especially in the ones we all know and love. Casual or not-so-casual homophobia was rampant.

Iconic movies, such as Mean Girls and Jennifer’s Body feature instances of this. The character of Janis in Mean Girls is treated like an outcast because she was deemed a lesbian, and was called a slur in the “burn book.” And the thing is she wasn’t even a lesbian to begin with. But once she was thought to be one, she was tortured.

In Jennifer’s Body, characters Jennifer and Needy have a very close friendship, which borders on homoerotic. There’s even a very iconic kissing scene between the two. In recent years, more media analysts and critics have thought about the possibility that Jennifer was a lesbian and in love with Needy. Despite a kissing scene, which was supposed to be seen as hot, there is still shame for lesbians at the same time! In the first few scenes, Needy watches with awe as Jennifer cheerleads, the two smile and wave to each other, and one classmate tells Needy "you are totally lesbi-gay.” This makes such an interesting case, because for 2009, there are still so many issues. This film somehow hates on queer women while at the same time having queer undertones.

Not only for lesbians, but for bisexual women, there are a whole lot of negative stereotypes. A lot of media has been or continues to be biphobic. They’ll have bisexual characters who are super sexual and always want to have threesomes or talk about sex 24/7, there will be “pick a side” or “greedy” jokes, or these character’s relationships will not be taken seriously. A lot of female characters have also been made to be bisexual as a joke or to be “quirky” or “different.”

These tropes are unfair and unrealistic, because you cannot define a whole community through these stereotypes. These tropes are hateful and representative of bigger problems: homophobia and misogyny. Although we’ve made waves, the media needs to be reminded to be respectful towards these groups, and see that LGBTQ+ women are nuanced.