5 queer female characters with positive representation
This post contains spoilers to every show/film/game mentioned
There are hoary queer tropes such as killing off the queers, making queer lives unbearable, the overly dramatic queer, and the nymphomaniac that just seem to persist in the western cultural narrative. Often good queer representation is shunted into explicitly queer content marketed at a queer audience, while the rest of the world consumes the tropes. This article looks at seven queer characters who pop up in ostensively straight coded and straight marketed media. This list is not meant as a “top 7 queers in media”, rather is based on my personal media consumption and characters who resonated with me. I use the binary term female to cover cis and trans characters and make no assumption of assigned gender at birth.
1) Ellen Waverly, For all Mankind — 2020 to present
Ellen’s narrative is one of not being able to publicly express her sexuality and dealing with her personal choices. As one of the first female astronauts she has to deal with all the sexist shenanigans NASA throw in her direction, as well as her sexual orientation. I feel the writers deftly handler her character arc, and the last episode of season one is wrenching due to the choices she makes with respect to her relationships.
Personally, I find it refreshing that the writers handle the historic anti-queerness with compassion, showing the consequences of such a work and cultural atmosphere in a high-pressure job. That they allowed Ellen the space to explore her feelings on screen and showed her female love interest having an active say in the relationship showed the complexities of the era the show is set in. It is not a perfect situation, and there is no rainbows and overt celebration of the relationship, but the show does not kill Ellen off or make her a tragic figure. Her struggles are grounded in the times and make her character arc all the more compelling.
2) Camina Drummer, The Expanse — 2015 to present
Camina is a complex character who winds slowly through the Expance’s narrative arc as an intriguing supporting character. Season 5’s arc explores her professional and personal relationships with her polyamorous crew. In particular, her relationship with Oksana is portrayed with empathy, compassion, and tension. Camina is shown to both be independent of mind and empathetic to those around her. Her arc across seasons two to five show her loyalty and integrity, which comes to a head in season five when it is simply not enough to stop those around her getting hurt.
For me, Camina represents a positive view of both queer identity and poly families, as the show allows her to explore both with any negative commentary from outsiders. The internal divisions within the ship’s family increase the tension, though with no queer baiting or last minute killing off the queers. The scenes that explore and develop Camina’s same-sex relationships are tender and have a purpose, and that the end of season five ends with heartbreak is due to her integrity rather than a renouncing of queerness.
3) Kassandra, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey — 2018
Kassandra is a romp to play, and prolifically queer if you choose. It is genuinely fun to explore her character arc, and all the little side relationships she develops along the way add to her verve. That the developers unashamedly made her muscular, toned, and Greek sounds like faint praise, but for me it is positive representation that a more butch woman is represented. Personally, the best bit about her queer arc is that the game allows the player to explore that side of her rather than forcing you to go down any explicit route. That you can play her as bi-sexual is also fun, and there are a couple of well-timed scenes that comment on this. The male version, Alexios, has the fame freedom when you play as him.
There was controversy over Kassandra’s presence in the game, and she could easily have ended up being a female imprint of the male main character. While you certainly share the same abilities and arc, I feel Kassandra is fleshed out in her own life without the need to compare her to her male alter ego. For all the sprawling wonderfulness of exploring Ancient Greece, it is to Ubisoft’s credit that they gave the same narrative structures to Kassandra as they did Alexios without worrying too much about historical gender accuracy.
4) Ana Bray — Destiny 2–2017 to present
Ana is a background character you interact with throughout Destiny 2’s narrative arc. Her primary function is to guide you through various tasks, provide quests, and give out rewards, while adding asides and layering the game’s narrative with her family’s story. Her queerness is not explicit, and players need to read her logs to discover her relationship with another woman. Her family’s story dominates the opening of Destiny 2’s third year saga, and the grown-up Frozen narrative is a blast to play through.
What I like most about Ana is she is both quietly competent and extremely kick-arse when she cuts loose. The writers also strove to make her fallible, and while she is certain on your side, her actions are undercut with her own ambition and drive. She is not beholden to the player, and while most of what she does clearly aligns with the player’s needs, Ana’s arc takes her in her own direction which the player helps facilitate. Her sexuality is never an issue, and while there is a lot to be said for overt representation in games, I think it is a nice balance highlighting the normalness of queer relationships.
5) Libby — Soulmates — Episode 3–2021
Libby’s arc is front and centre of episode 3, focused on her coming to terms with both her queerness and realisation that one person cannot simply provide all her emotional grounding. The episode sets up her poly relationship with her husband in the opening scene, and after she is matched soulmates with another woman the episode explores the fallout of her decision to be with this woman. Ultimately the resolution blends Libby, her husband, her soulmate and her husband’s soulmate as a pod in positive ending that does not go down in flames.
It is interesting watching the first three episodes of Soulmates. Due to their episodic nature each episode features different characters, and I feel these three act a trilogy that starts with a if only they were poly and ends with of course they could be poly. Libby’s lens mirrors Nikki’s from episode one, with a central theme that both women have seemingly empty lives and the soul matching will solve their problems. I am glad that Libby’s ending took you past happily every after, and for me episode three was the perfect coda on the themes presented in episode one. Libby’s queerness was not challenged by her husband, though it did play up the male trope of being relieved she was matched with a woman rather than a man. Soulmates is a complex series, and as a poly person myself I think episode three dealt with poly relationships in an even-handed manner.
Honourable mentions
There are a significant number of queer female characters who deserve a mention, though most have problematic representation either due to how they were written or how society has perceived them.
Ellie from The Last of Us series is great example in the first game of positive queer representation, especially when you get to play as her in the Left Behind DLC. I was genuinely moved by the story, and it is an absolute gut wrench at the end. However, Last of Us 2 is more problematic with its queer representation, and while it does a good job of exploring the complexities of relationships, I feel it missed its mark because it did not fully connect with the audience.
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are my go-to ship in comics. Yes, I was shipping them way too hard when Harley first crashed at Ivy’s in the comic, and now they are a confirmed couple I am really happy. But, for all the positive representation the pair have, for me it is complicated by the Joker’s presence in the background. Up until the recent cartoon series the writers were very coy about Harley’s motivations and feelings, seemingly wanting a get out of jail free card to insert the Joker back into Harley’s life, treating Ivy as essentially a rebound. Hopefully the writers will do Harley and Ivy justice so that if I do a similar piece in future, I can include them.
Jack from Mass Effect 2 & 3 is one of my favourite characters in the ME trilogy. I love her rawness, that you get to work with her through her issues without treating her as a broken doll, and that by the end of ME:3 she is this affirmed character charting her own course on her own terms without self-destructive impulses. That said, her background clearly states she is a queer woman, and while it is entirely within reason she would want to set aside female relationships, I feel that the writers simply block a Femshep from romancing her to exclude another bisexual character from the game. Bioware had a reputation around this time for making all companion NPCs seemingly bisexual, and while it is more than reasonable for characters to be straight or gay, when a character like Jack is explicitly queer coded and then played straight, I feel it sets back representation.
Korra and Asami from Legends of Korra in the TV show are shown as platonic friends right up until the last scene where they hold hands and enter a portal for a holiday. In the subsequent comics their relationship is explored and their queerness celebrated. For me, I went into watching the show knowing that their relationship would happen, but outside the last ten minutes of the last episode there was very little ground laid that suggested they would end up together. Yes, I know it was a Nickelodeon show from 2014, but for me it simply fell flat on the representative message the show runners wanted to present. That said, it did lay the groundwork for cartoons like Stephen Universe and She-Ra, so culturally it is more a marker than an absolute win.
