Straightwashing

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Straightwashing (also called hetwashing) is portraying LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual) or otherwise queer characters in fiction as heterosexual (straight), making LGB people appear heterosexual, or altering information about historical figures to make their representation comply with heteronormativity.^[1]

Straightwashing plays out through both historical revisionism and through works of fiction, especially television and cinema, whereby characters who were originally portrayed as homosexual, bisexual, or asexual are misrepresented as heterosexual.^[1][2]

Straightwashing is a relatively contemporary term which has increased in usage and acknowledgement in recent years.^[3] Despite an increasing presence of queer characters and storylines in U.S. television, concerns about the straightwashing of queer characters and storylines persist. Common justifications for straightwashing include "producers' concerns about audience reactions and social norms and stereotypes regarding acceptable forms of queerness."^[4]