The Problem of Genderqueer Representation

Queer representation has expanded onscreen quite a bit through the past few years – pansexuality on Schitt’s Creek, asexuality on Sex Education, lesbians in Booksmart. Representation has been praised online as important, especially positive representation that normalizes and actively includes queer people.

These representations are one way of making it easier for queer people to come out. Being able to point out characters that represent ourselves is important. Some shows even provide fantastic re-usable metaphors for the way we experience our sexuality – Schitt’s Creek provides a great metaphor for pansexuality: “I like the wine and not the label. Does that make sense?” But as great as some of these representations are, they often fall short when it comes to genders outside of the binary.

Despite great queer representation for sexualities, the representation for non-binary and genderqueer individuals is distinctly lacking. When they are portrayed, it is often by cisgender individuals, written badly, or both. In the few examples that it isn’t, the queerness of their character is often brushed aside or not acknowledged at all.

Before the third season of Star Trek: Discovery was released, Star Trek released a lot of press saying: “Discovery Introduces First Transgender and Non-Binary Characters”. This press release was very exciting, especially as it billed Blu del Barrio (a non-binary actor making their debut on Discovery) and Ian Alexander (a trans actor known for The OA and The Last of Us). But despite being hyped up online, the actual representation displayed in the characters was subpar at best.

Blu del Barrio’s character, Adira, gets a small coming-out speech: “They’re fast. Um, ‘they.’ Not… not ‘she.’ I’ve never felt like a ‘she’ or-or a ‘her,’ so… I would prefer ‘they’ or ‘them’ from now on.” Their speech is accepted, their pronouns are used throughout the show with no misgendering, and overall, it’s a nice ‘coming out.' Despite this, though, the actual issue of gender never comes up again, and although Ian Alexander’s character was billed as trans*, it is never acknowledged, and his character doesn’t get to interact with anyone other than Adira. As exciting as the first nonbinary and trans* characters in Star Trek were, the writing and portrayal fell short when it came to representing them onscreen.

Another show aiming high for representation was 2020’s Deputy. One character, Deputy Bishop, has a gender discovery journey throughout the first (and only) season. Bishop is played by Bex Taylor-Klaus, an out nonbinary actor. Bishop gets a few scenes throughout the show that alludes to a genderqueer identity – first, in episode 7, they say: “I need to be me. I’m getting closer, every day, to exactly what that is. But for now, I know, I’m not all woman.” Bishop uses the word nonbinary, has a few coming-out scenes, but perhaps the best one is to their boss.

Bishop shouts their coming out to their boss and the world on the side of the road: “It’s over, Sheriff. The veil has been lifted! Doc took a look, wrote a little F on my birth certificate, and ever since that moment the whole world has viewed me as a woman. … I’m not a woman, but I’m not a man, either. Something other than those two. My gender is non-binary. I’m not she or her, or even him. I’m they and them. Those are my pronouns.”

As great as Bishop’s coming out scene is, the unfortunate issue with these two issues of genderqueer representation are that they are both represented by thin assigned female at birth white people. While it’s great that these actors are actually nonbinary and representing themselves on screen, it’s unfortunate that the media is reinforcing the idea that nonbinary people are only AFAB and thin, white, with short hair and generally androgynous-looking. Representation is helpful for some, but for nonbinary people who don’t fit this mold, these representations are not enough to make genderqueer identities acceptable to the mainstream public.

Of course, we do have fantastic public figures that are working to change that image of the thin, white, AFAB nonbinary person. Alok Vaid-Menon, Jeffrey Marsh, and Jayy Dodd do a lot of activism, writing, and other work that shows that nonbinary people do not have to be androgynous, AFAB white people. But until media representation of genderqueer people catches up to the reality of actual nonbinary people across America and the world, we are stuck with good queer representation for sexualities, and mediocre representation for everyone else.