u/legallyswift89

I know this is probably going to be controversial, but as someone who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, the way Heated Rivalry has been treated by parts of its audience has genuinely started making me uncomfortable.

First, the show itself is amazing. It’s beautifully written, the characters are compelling, and seeing queer relationships given this level of attention and popularity should feel like a win. But sometimes when I watch it now, I can’t separate the actual show from the incredibly weird discourse surrounding it.

And yes, I’m specifically talking about a certain section of the fans, straight women. Obviously this is not every straight woman who watches the show, and queer fans can absolutely cross boundaries too. But from what I’ve personally seen, a huge amount of the obsessive sexualisation is coming from straight women, including plenty who are middle-aged or older.

There’s a difference between appreciating a queer romance, finding the actors attractive etc. and turning two gay/bi men into objects for your own sexual entertainment. You can call it whatever you want, but at a certain point it starts looking like fetishisation.

What frustrates me even more is how defensive people become when that possibility is brought up. Fetishisation doesn’t suddenly become progressive because the people doing it are women or because they consider themselves allies. You might not intend to fetishise gay men and still participate in behaviour that feels fetishistic.

I genuinely wonder whether the reaction would have reached this level if the show centred two women, or if the male leads weren’t conventionally attractive. I really don’t think it would have.

Queer people have spent decades fighting to have our relationships portrayed as actual relationships rather than spectacles, fantasies or something inherently sexual. So watching another piece of queer representation become dominated by straight people loudly sexualising it feels incredibly strange.

And before someone says “men fetishise lesbians all the time”. exactly. That’s also gross. That behaviour doesn’t become okay when you reverse the genders. There is a point where obsessively sexualising two men together starts feeling uncomfortably similar to the way certain straight men treat relationships between women.

And please, stop shipping the actors together in real life. They are actors. Their characters being in love does not mean the people portraying them are secretly together. Analysing their interviews, touches, eye contact and friendships for “proof” of a relationship crosses a completely different boundary.

You can love Heated Rivalry. You can think the characters are hot. You can enjoy the romance and the intimate scenes. Straight women are absolutely allowed to connect with queer stories. Just please remember that queer relationships and queer people aren’t toys. You can be a fan of something without making it weird.

And lastly, I’m genuinely not posting this because I want to make anyone angry or start some argument. I’m talking about behaviour I’ve personally seen that makes me and others uncomfortable. Once again, straight women are not the only people doing this. Queer fans, men, women and people of any sexuality can cross these boundaries.

But if your immediate reaction to this is intense defensiveness rather than simply thinking, “I enjoy the show, but I don’t behave like that,” then maybe consider why it feels so personally targeted at you.

Because if none of this describes how you behave as a fan, then this post isn’t about you.

I don’t know if it’s just because I don’t want her to be but i genuinely believe she’s not a bad person she just wants to help Tyler and others like him. Like would that be so bad? I already feel like she’s gonna be bad or killed but like come on Tim don’t do that to another redhead 🥲

help tell me why I only just realised why it’s called a hyde in wednesday.
it’s because of dr jekyll & mr hyde.
IM SO DUMB
(I realised this whilst watching ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’)
im honestly so ashamed that it took me so long to realise this, im not normally this dumb 😆

As a Wednesday and a NFL fan, I’ve been thinking about what if the academy had a football team. What do you think they’d be called? Raves? Nightshades? Or something else? I’m also gonna make a concept of what the field and uniform would look like if anyone is interested in seeing the outcome.

Since the release of season 2, many have theoried that Ms Capri is the schizophrenic werewolf that Tyler’s cell was built for in willow hill. I know it might make sense due to her having a possible ulterior motive with being part Hyde and taking Tyler under her wing. But think about it, the werewolf went on a killing spree in 1992 and if we estimate Ms Capris age between 30-45, that would make her born at earliest 1979 meaning she would need to be at eldest, 12 when she went on the so called killing spree. And since she released her classical album at age 10, I highly doubt that the schizo was her but it was a good theory. Plus I don’t think they’d make it that easy to guess. I’m willing to be wrong though, there’s still a possibility.

Hi, im a huge fan of the series and have loved the movies growing up, its been a hyperfixation my whole life, the Addams family. I’m creating a file sort of story on each character from the movie versions to the series versions and im onto teachers. Does anyone know if it’s been answered where teachers and other faculty of the academy stay? Do they have local houses? Dormitories on site? Do they share?