She's changing her name from Kitty to Karen
I record-scratched out of this article on the signaling of political vibes early on with the assertion:
And in the 2010s, in online forums, fans of the TV show "Steven Universe" gave the word "coded" its modern meaning, talking about how cartoon characters could be "coded" as gay.
What modern meaning? "Queer-coded" as a phrase as well as a concept goes back to the '90's off the top of my head, meaning it's almost certainly older and predates by decades no matter what the internet fandom of Steven Universe (2013–20), which may have popularized the academic usage but cannot have invented it. I'd have to check if it was part of Vito Russo's vocabulary, but Richard Barrios and Alexander Doty certainly used it. So did people I know. I am aware that shallow etymologies are least of the problems of the New York Times, but it is the sort of thing that I complain about on the internet because it is the sort of thing that will cause me to distrust the rest of the sourcing. More pleasant features of my evening included the first two episodes of Murderbot (2025–) which![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spatch and I watched in a rare moment of synchronization with pop culture. I am also enjoying Elleston Trevor's The Big Pick-Up (1955) even though every time one of its soldier characters swears, I keep thinking the printable profanity of the '50's can't hold a candle to Her Privates We (1929).
And in the 2010s, in online forums, fans of the TV show "Steven Universe" gave the word "coded" its modern meaning, talking about how cartoon characters could be "coded" as gay.
What modern meaning? "Queer-coded" as a phrase as well as a concept goes back to the '90's off the top of my head, meaning it's almost certainly older and predates by decades no matter what the internet fandom of Steven Universe (2013–20), which may have popularized the academic usage but cannot have invented it. I'd have to check if it was part of Vito Russo's vocabulary, but Richard Barrios and Alexander Doty certainly used it. So did people I know. I am aware that shallow etymologies are least of the problems of the New York Times, but it is the sort of thing that I complain about on the internet because it is the sort of thing that will cause me to distrust the rest of the sourcing. More pleasant features of my evening included the first two episodes of Murderbot (2025–) which
spatch and I watched in a rare moment of synchronization with pop culture. I am also enjoying Elleston Trevor's The Big Pick-Up (1955) even though every time one of its soldier characters swears, I keep thinking the printable profanity of the '50's can't hold a candle to Her Privates We (1929).
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(Russo used "coded references to [homosexuality] in The Celluloid Closet, bless OCR.)
Those books 👀
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An instant speedbump! I was thrown from the moving argument!
(Russo used "coded references to [homosexuality] in The Celluloid Closet, bless OCR.)
Thank you! I thought he might have: I am confident that the term even predates him, thanks to the necessity of finding some way to talk about the sieve of the Production Code.
[edit] Bingo: "As over and over again we may notice in films, this homosexuality in code (because partly under wraps) is but another facet of life itself." Parker Tyler, Screening the Sexes: Homosexuality in Movies (1972). Ten minutes with Google Books and the Internet Archive, New York Times!
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That book is even referenced in Wikipedia! They could've gone to Wikipedia to get actual sources!
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Willing to believe in even earlier attestations, that's just the one I pulled out of the Internet Archive. Also now I should read a lot more Parker Tyler.
Your icon, by the way, is magnificent.