A monocolor illustration of a young Korean man and woman, smiling with their arms thrown over each others' shoulders. Handwriting in the top left corner reads "Love in the Big City"
Love in the Big City: Heterobaiting and Queering Relationships in Korean Media

Korean queer media and literature do not need to conform to Western definitions of queerness to be meaningful. As I write for an Anglophone queer audience, I am reminded that this dialogue is not about proving the queerness of Korean media, but about expanding the scope of queer representation to include its many forms and contexts. Perhaps, rather than queering Korean media for the West, we should allow its stories to challenge and reshape what we consider queer altogether.

A monocolor illustration of a young Korean man and woman, smiling with their arms thrown over each others' shoulders. Handwriting in the top left corner reads "Love in the Big City"
Love in the Big City: Heterobaiting and Queering Relationships in Korean Media

Korean queer media and literature do not need to conform to Western definitions of queerness to be meaningful. As I write for an Anglophone queer audience, I am reminded that this dialogue is not about proving the queerness of Korean media, but about expanding the scope of queer representation to include its many forms and contexts. Perhaps, rather than queering Korean media for the West, we should allow its stories to challenge and reshape what we consider queer altogether.

A black-and-white Victorian-era photograph of two white AMAB people dressed as women.
Misgendering the Misgendered

I first witnessed a transgender character misgendered by her own author in “The Man Who Thought Himself a Woman,” a short story published anonymously in 1857. The text was assigned for a queer short stories course at UCLA, and while I wasn’t surprised that a transgender character was misgendered by a writer in 1857, I was surprised that a professor of queer studies in 2023 would as well.

With Queer Wins this Election, What does this mean for Queer People?

Last updated on 5/2/22 at 4:36pm PT to update a broken hyperlink. Revolutionary. Trailblazing. Tenacity. Coalition. Change. Hopeful. These are some words that were given to me by queer folks when asked for one word they think grasps how these…

What the Vice Presidential candidates didn’t say…

graphic by Martha Cabot Last night, Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris met at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to debate for the first and only time until Election Day. This debate was considerably more…

They: Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year

Graphic by Christopher Ikonomou “They” has been named the word of the year by Merriam-Webster! The online dictionary announced that lookups for the gender-neutral pronoun increased by 313% in 2019.  GLAAD’s Director of Transgender Representation, Nick Adams, celebrated the statement.…

Bernie Sanders Rallies with Striking UC Workers in Fight for Living Wages, End to Labor Outsourcing

Vermont Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined thousands of striking university and hospital employees at a rally at UCLA on Wednesday, March 20, to call for higher wages and an end to University of California’s increased use of…

Meet Matthew Gifford, the Youngest Openly Gay Candidate Running for Office in America

Photo courtesy of Matthew Gifford for Board of Education “We need to focus on the big picture and tackle the big problems we’re facing – for our schools and for our students – so that we don’t have the same…

Facing Expanding Class Sizes and Dwindling Resources, LA Teachers Go On Strike

Teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) continue to strike this week amidst increasing class sizes and insufficient support for low-income students across the city. Demonstrators cite a lack of school nurses, librarians, and counselors, as well as…

Democrats Take House, Governorships, State Legislatures in Blue Wave Election

Democrats swept up the majority in the US House and in several state legislative chambers in last night’s midterm election. In addition, Democrats flipped seven key governorships from red to blue in a massive rebuke to President Trump. In total…