fetishization and sexualization of LGBTQIA+ people

Last updated 09/04/2025


This is mostly regarding LGBTQI+ people being sexualized for the purposes of sexual gratification, rather than to depict us as objects of contempt.


Blanket warning for anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments and sexual harassment. Some links may also use slurs (reclaimed and otherwise), as well as discuss sexual abuse and assault, hate crimes, and other anti-LGBTQ+ violence.


1. various

Fetishization of the Queer Community by Ash Marquis | Youth OUTright (published in 2021, I think)


LGBT Fetishization: AreTheStraightsOK | Reddit (thread started in July 2020)


Your Assumptions About Black, Queer Masculinity Are Erasing My Asexual Identity by Timinepre Cole | Autostraddle (April 2022)


Prove that it's gay enough. | Jenny Trout (August 2023, discusses how straight people dismiss gay romance in fiction if it isn't sexual)


2.Women-loving-women portrayed as a fetish for men

The Fetishization of Lesbians and Bisexual Women by Morgan Paul | UMKC (April 2014)


The Fetishisation Of Lesbian Relationships In Cinema And Pop Culture by Rhea Gangavkar | Feminism In India (November 2020)


Not Yours | Robot Hugs (May 2015, contains mildly NSFW images)

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Porn Will Not Help You Understand Women In Same Sex Relationships by Mahika Banerji | Feminism In India (September 2017, addresses racism and harmful beauty standards, contains a mildly NSFW image)


The Fetishization of Lesbians and Modern Culture by Rose Chapman | Her Campus (September 2021, mentions sexual violence and specific abusive behavior by a male film director, uses a derogatory term for sex workers)


How Lesbian Artists Reclaim the Body in a World That Reduces Them to Sex by Marissa Higgins | Slate (December 2016)


OPINION: Stop sexualising queer women! by Charlotte Summers | DIVA (March 2019)


The fetishisation or hyper-sexualisation of lesbians and queer women by Rebecca Rogerson | The F- Word (March 2022, mentions racism and transantagonism, briefly talks about sexism in gay spaces)


The Problem With the Sexualization of Lesbians by Marissa Higgins | Huff Post (June 2013)


Fear or Fetish? The Fetishisation of Lesbians in Cold War America by Jamie Jenkins | History Matters (January 2021, discusses the idea of "turning" lesbians through heterosexual sex)


The #LforLove Project: The Lesbian Is Not Just A Body by Sneha Kumar | Feminism In India (May 2018)


The sexualization of queer women in media by Anya Josephs | Spark Movement (November 2012)


Minus the City: The Fetishization of Queer Sexuality by Graci Galvez | The Colgate Maroon-News (February 2020)


Why Liam Payne's Both Ways fetishises bisexual women by Meg Murphy | DIVA (December 2019, author does not appear to be the same person as the Meghan Murphy involved in TERF movements)


The Fetishization of Queer Women | EQUL (July 2021)


Fetishization: the unspoken terror faced by the queer community by Tristan Leach | The Rider News (April 2022)


The Fetishization of Queer Women in Modern Media by Hayley Morris | The REVIVAL Zine (February 2020)


[video] Performative Bisexuality: Y'all Not Tired? | Tee Noir (November 2020)


'Best friends 99% of the time': TikTok trend called out for fetishizing queer women by Tricia Crimmins | Daily Dot (April 2022)


Bisexual Women Are Not Your Fantasy by gabrielle.noel | INTO (July 2018)


3. Transgender people

See this page.


4. intersex people

Be aware many of these entries contain explicit talk about genitals and how they show up in misconceptions about intersex bodies.


ALTERSEX: Sex/Gender Slurs And The Alternatives by farorenightclaw | FurAffinity (December 2019, discusses both trans and intersex fetishization)

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On Porn | An Intersex Blog (July 2024)


Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine by Amanda Lock Swarr (2023, discusses how scientific racism and colonialism intertwine with intersex-antagonism)


NieR Replicant Daredevil achievement grossly fetishizes one of its characters by Aimee Hart | Gayming Mag (April 2021)


Just a friendly note for people writing Omegaverse | roachliquid (August 2024)


with words like 'altersex' existing for fantasy bodies that are decidedly not intersex... | ancient-futch-painted-dog (February 2020)


Futanari is not intersex | An Intersex Blog (July 2024)


the itchio intersex tag | An Intersex Blog (March 2025)


Five Myths that Hurt Intersex People | The Intersex Roadshow (April 2010)


5. bisexuals

Separating The Bliss From The Bullshit: Myths About Non-Binary Bisexuals Common In Pornography by Kavz | Gaysi (April 2024, discusses both the lack of nonbinary people in mainstream porn and how bisexuals are frequently portrayed)


What I most dislike about representations of bisexuality through threesomes.... | BiDyke (January 2016)


Bisexual Women Are Not Your Fantasy by gabrielle.noel | INTO (July 2018)


6. asexuals

"You wouldn't care" | SwankIvy (October 2016, warns for "suicide, transphobia, trans fetishization, sexual harassment, sexual entitlement, gaslighting, swearing, [vomit mention], oral sex mention")


7. Men-loving-men portrayed as a fetish for women

Gay romance novels are not queer romance novels | Brandon Taylor (June 2016, discusses how M/M romance and erotica use sexual stereotypes, mentions racism, misogyny, and other prejudices)


Like, its [sic] not really rocket science. | bigskydreaming (January 2017)


this is so Bad that I had to comment | Tumblr thread (January 2017)


Pro-"Gay For You" Arguments In The Romance Genre (And Why They're All Still Bi/Pan Erasure) | Jenny Trout (September 2016)


...maybe gay, bisexual and queer men don't exist for the consumption of straight women????| gayserblast, with an add-on by turnabouttroubadour (July 2016)


Calling gay sex sinful is literally conservative rhetoric | CloudChild94 (posted in or before March 2016)


i dont [sic] want girls sexualising mlm relationships anymore. at all | Tumblr thread (February 2017)


Ladies, Is It Feminist To Mostly Write/Read About Men? | Stitch's Media Mix (October 2023, challenges the notion that M/M romance and erotica are uniquely feminist or progressive compared to any romance involving female characters)


Not just slash fandom, but the m/m romance market | bigskydreaming (August 2020, mentions racism)


On The Fetishisation Of Gay Men By Women In The Slash Community by Kiri Van Santen | The Mary Sue (January 2015)


Male on Male Fiction: Representation or Fetishization? by Alexis Garcia-Ruiz | Your Mag (August 2020)

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