Dear whoever produces lesbian TV shows and movies,
Please, please, please produce something that isn’t heartbreak and tears and coming-of-age. Although I love all the movies that have come out in all of these categories, I think that we adult lesbian, smut-loving women want to see other versions of these relationships.
We don’t want to see the same storyline about the girl discovering that she likes another girl and then ending in a sad breakup. We want to see more of what lesbian relationships actually look like.
I don’t want to diminish the importance of the coming-of-age content that shows the process of coming out and how that might feel for younger people. However, the same storyline can get quite repetitive for those wanting to see another lens of lesbian relationships. Sapphic romance isn’t always about sadness or heartbreak. It’s like any other romance movie with a guy and girl as their protagonists!
Coming out stories still matter
Coming-of-age movies are important because they highlight feelings you might not be able to understand or process when you are just finding out this part of yourself. There are a lot of good coming-of-age movies and TV shows that I love, such as Girls like Girls, Atypical, and One Day at a Time. But they all usually follow the same storyline about coming to terms with your sexuality, dating a girl, and then breaking up with each other.
These productions can serve as reassurance or as relatable content when you might be in a confused moment. This is extremely important for someone—of any age—to relate to, to not feel so alone as they might’ve thought they were.
I know my high school self appreciated seeing content like this. Whenever I saw two girls developing a romance for one another, I thought that maybe I wasn’t crazy for wanting something like that as well. Or when I saw how some character’s parents reacted in a similar way to mine when I came out. Especially after my first breakup, I related to a lot of shows that validated how badly I felt during that moment.
But these stories need more variety, including age. Not all stories have to be set in high school; many people come out later in life.
These stories, filled with tragedy and heartbreak, are important to understand what it is to be a lesbian in society. Seeing representation in shows and movies can be life-changing for anyone, of any age, who may be confused about what they actually feel.
What happens after she comes out?
But what happens after you come out and move past this experience? Once the character has accepted that she definitely likes girls and grows older. How does she come into the world of dating?
We don’t always want to end the movie with a box of tissues and tears. We also want to see the exciting and funny parts of being in a relationship. Especially being in a relationship in your twenties or older. Not many shows or movies depict lesbian relationships in their older years (i.e., not in high school). And I’m not the only one who thinks this.
Plenty of friends of mine agree with me on this topic. They say that when there are lesbian storylines, they aren’t the protagonists, and we don’t get to see them enough on the screen. There are also plenty of videos and discussions online where people will complain about not seeing authentic lesbian relationships.
That’s why having a wider variety of storylines introduced in lesbian shows is important. Lesbian characters have lives other than their sexuality. They have lives like any other, and this is what we want to see: the other aspects of their lives paired with an exciting romance.
Lesbians should get to be cheesy and have casual hookups
There should be enemies-to-lovers plots, meet-cutes, and holiday romances. They should be like any other straight movie, where the characters can have romance and sex without it revolving around sexuality.
Mainly, we just want stories that aren’t all about sadness or traumatic experiences. We want to see sexual desire and stories that show this side of lesbian relationships. Especially for someone like me, who’s in their 20s, I want to see characters my age dating. I would like to see representation of how it feels to try and flirt with women because it is completely different to how it was during my teen years.
I want to see situationships and friends with benefits because that’s a super common thing for people my age. Lesbians deserve happy endings just like straight movies. I also want to see the woman get the girl she’s been chasing or wanting to go out with on a date. And I want to see it end on a good note, not a sad breakup!
For example, in a TV series that recently came out on Prime Video called Sterling Point, one of the protagonists is a lesbian. Two characters, Ramona and Oona, are friends who actually like each other. After the show ended, many people online started talking about how their storyline was actually a good representation of lesbian relationships. It was a story that wasn’t about their sexuality, but rather about their drama within their own lives and the romance that grew between them.
Though Ramona and Oona had such good chemistry during the show, the story wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. They had real drama. The series shows how relationships can have miscommunication through arguments. As a viewer, you can see how each character is affected by the different communication styles. But the series also shows the beauty that can be found in a lesbian relationship: the way they were gentle with each other in more intimate scenes.
let’s talk about this moment between Oona and Ramona because as sad and painful as it was… it was actually the perfect representation of miscommunication 💔#sterlingpoing#youngdrama#booktok#anniejacobson
This is what representation can look like
Now, there have been a lot of good TV shows that have come out that portray these lesbian relationships in a better light. Often, however, after the first season, we find out that they canceled the show. I loved watching the reality TV shows I Kissed A Girl and The Queer Ultimatum, but they both got canceled. It’s sad when this happens because people get hooked on the storylines and the characters, and for what—for us to never see how their story gets played out?
Here are some shows and movies that I would recommend if you are looking for a next sapphic watch.
The Sex Lives of College Girls
class is in session & these are the 11 wlw movies I think you need for a proper lesbian cinematic education 🫡🎬🏳️🌈 lmk how you scored & send this to a baby gay who needs to get cultured love u @Letterboxd #wlw#lesbian#sapphic#lesbianfilm#queerfilm
Some other great examples of sapphic romance that I’ve seen are from books. There are so many more books that have great storylines. Some of the books that I’ve read are listed below.
- Mistakes Were Made
- Cleat Cute
- A Game of Hearts and Heists
- Delilah Green Doesn’t Care
- One Last Stop
- I Really Do
- Our Wives Under The Sea
We need more stories like Sterling Point; the producers show us that other part of lesbian characters’ lives that I was talking about earlier.
Again, producers, please remember the older audience when making more sapphic romances as well as the younger audience.
But for those of you who love watching these sapphic romances, show up when there is representation in film! Support the producers who deliver their contribution to the community so that they can continue to make more seasons or movies.
