Sailor Moon is the Bi Icon We Need
As kids, many [immature] boys would try to avoid admitting they liked girly things like Sailor Moon by shouting “Oh, that girl cartoon is so gay! I wouldn’t watch it!”
We might’ve been onto something there.
The Importance of Representation
The topic of queer representation gets thrown around as a major point of discussion. Representation of LGBTQA folks is important for very good reasons. One article in the Huffington Post quoted Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, as saying the following:
“We’re pretty confident that, the more TV you watch, the more media you consume, the more likely it is that media ― almost like radiation ― builds up… And the accumulated effect is to make you feel that what you’re seeing is somewhat normal.”
In context, this was used to refer to PoC, but the same holds true in regards to LGBTQA folks. When dealing with queer individuals, representation of characters is important in normalizing LGBTQA folks in general. While representation will not stop hate crimes against the gays overnight, it can contribute to combating harmful stereotypes and beliefs. If a concept is normalized, it is far easier to deal with it.
