Queer In Pop Culture

The word queer has its origin from the Proto-Indo-European word twerk. The word later turned into the word “quer” and picked up the meaning of weirdness and unconventionality. By 1500, it led to the word queer and was widely used in Scotland. The other theory for how queer came about was by William Sayers. He said its origin was from the word kue meaning a twisted thing, implicating not straight. Queer first appeared on paper in 1508 in the transcription of “The Flyting of Dumbar and Kennedie”. The “ Chronological lists of the word in context show it evolving over the course of the next few centuries, modifying concrete and abstract nouns (“queer pranks”; “queer substance”; “a queer lot”)” (Cara, 2013). As history went on, it started to get …show more content…
People who identify as queer are being brought into the media much more. The Vampire Diaries, Masters of None, Scream Queens and Empire all have queer female characters, as do many other TV shows. The queer male and female is becoming widely accepted in popular TV culture and in shows dominated by heterosexual characters (Allen, 2015)
Queer doesn’t have a strong race association. Multiple races use queer to define their sexuality and don’t associate it with their race. Denise from Masters of None, is a queer black woman both in the show and in real life. Her queer identity strengthens her identity and she proudly talks about her sexuality in the show. Her all male co-stars treat her equally to them and never look down on her sexuality, instead they support …show more content…
Often queer people are associated with the lower class. The character Sam from the show Scream Queens embodies how the queer identity is associated with the lower class and not with a particular race. She is Asian, which is never commented on the show regardless of the fact that she defies the Dragon Lady and China Doll stereotypes. However, her lower class compared to the very wealthy girls around her is apparent. She is not dressed in designer clothes and is covered in tattoos. She also doesn’t talk about consumer items like the rest of the girls. More and more shows however are having wealthy queer characters. The show Jane the Virgin, stars a queer female character who is one of the richest in the show. In the show Pretty Little Liars, one of the main characters is queer but has the same economic status as the rest of the main characters on the show. Class does come into play in relation to the queer identity but it isn’t that prominent as it once