What is a Queer Reading?

Scene from "Frozen"- Elsa looking nervous at her coronation. Image source.

Sometimes in progressive/feminist/queer circles, I happen upon someone doing some kind of "reading" of some media. "Here's a queer reading of [some movie]." "Here's a feminist reading of [something]." "Here's a reading of [something] through the lens of [some niche feminist topic]."

What does this mean? What is a "reading"?

I haven't seen anyone define it directly, but as best as I can tell, here's what it is: You take a piece of media, and you project your opinions about the experiences of some marginalized subgroup onto it. What, uh, is the point of this? If it's just your opinions about a queer/feminist/whatever topic, why does it matter that you're able to connect those opinions to things that happened in a work of fiction? When people do these "readings," they're not claiming that this is what the creators "really meant." So, what's the point?

I think the point is, people like stories. You can say "here are some facts about what it's like to be queer [or whatever identity group]." But it feels more powerful if you say "this experience that this fictional character had is similar to things that many queer people have experienced." Still, though, why should anyone take it seriously? These aren't even true stories! And your "reading" is not what the piece of media was really intended to mean. And also these "readings" aren't supposed to be vigorously fact-checked- ie, if you claim that some element of the story is a common thing that queer people have experienced, well, what do you mean by "common"?

What if you say "Here's a queer reading. This character is right-handed. That is similar to what queer people experience, because most queer people are right-handed." Your audience would be like "???" Like, okay so factually it's true that most queer people are right-handed, but that's not seen as like, a thing that's related to being queer. So that wouldn't be the proper way to do a queer reading.

What if you say "Here's a queer reading. This character has conflicts with their family members. That is a common thing that queer people experience." People will read your reading and nod along, because yes, that's something that is generally believed to be a common thing that queer people experience. But... I mean, a lot of groups of people have various reasons to have conflicts with their family. It doesn't have to be connected to being queer. 

What if you say "Here's a queer reading. This character has a certain hobby, and that hobby is more popular among queer people than among the general population." And also you are a researcher who has studied this- you have the statistics to back it up, though you haven't published it yet, so nobody else knows about this really interesting statistical connection between some certain hobby and being queer. Is this a valid queer reading? Well, your audience is just going to say "???" because they've never heard that there's any kind of significance related to this hobby and being queer. So it won't be viewed as a good queer reading, even though factually it is true.

So a queer reading is about taking concepts that, within the community of queer people and allies, are generally seen as being related to being queer, and then connecting them to things that happened in a piece of media. How on earth do you define "generally seen as being related", though? Also, how is this meaningful at all, if it's just based on what people generally believe is "common", rather than being based on some kind of objective standard?

Again, I think it's about the story. If you've experienced something, and you see a fictional character experiencing something similar, maybe you *feel* like you are understood, like you're not alone. On some level I want to say "this doesn't make any sense, because it's a fictional character," but I really think this is a powerful thing in human psychology.

Okay, here's another question: Is it possible for people to get mad at your "reading" of some story? Yes! What if some anti-trans person came along and gave their "reading" of a story, and they said something from the story is similar to how people are trying to coerce children into being trans, or some nonsense like that? We would be mad at them; we would find that really offensive. But why? They're just projecting their opinion onto the story. If they're claiming that's what the story "really means", well, no, it doesn't- in the same way that the story doesn't "really mean" the queer readings we like. Really, the reason their "reading" is offensive is because their anti-trans opinions themselves are offensive. Does their attempt to draw connections between those bad opinions and a piece of media make it worse?

Or, here's an example I actually saw: I read a blog post one time, from a conservative perspective, about the movie "Frozen" and how it could be interpreted as encouraging gay people to accept themselves. The way Elsa feels when she's in public and trying to hide her powers is similar to how gay people hope that they don't accidentally do any stereotypically-gay behaviors that would cause people to suspect that they're gay. And then, Elsa realizes she doesn't need to hide anymore and she should just accept herself. This blogger was really upset about the movie "Frozen" because they felt that this gay reading was so obvious, and that is was a harmful message to be sending. (Because they themself were anti-gay and did not agree that gay people should accept themselves.)

I found this really surprising, when I came across that blog post. So... the movie is about accepting yourself, and then *you're* the one who brought in the concept of being gay, which was not in the movie at all, and you're saying the movie is telling us that we should accept gay people's gayness, and then you're saying *actually that's bad* and therefore the movie is bad... it just felt so convoluted to me. If you're against the concept of "accepting yourself" because you think it secretly means "if you're gay, you should accept yourself" and you think that's a bad thing, well that sounds like a *you* problem, I don't know how to help you.

Just so odd, how this person did a queer reading of "Frozen", and then was like, mad about it.

Anyway, as I said in my post about "The Kingdom of Children," I never thought I could do a "reading" of some story, because I always supposed people need some kind of Official Feminist Qualifications before they're allowed to just put their opinions on the internet and call it A Feminist Reading Of [something]. But maybe it shouldn't really be taken that seriously. When we come across "a reading" of something, we should take it as, this is just someone's opinion, and if we think they have some good insights then we like it.

(I mean, I absolutely do post my opinions about how various pieces of media connect to the experiences of some demographic group, but I have never called that "a reading." Maybe I should!)

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Related

"The Kingdom of Children" (a book about child liberation theology)

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. list animals until failure (via) A browser game where you have to write down as many animals as you can think of. I got 200.

2. Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights icon, dies at 84 (February 17) "Jackson, who was at the motel in Memphis, Tennessee, with King when he was assassinated in 1968, did not let up after King’s death. He took his vision for Black liberation even further by founding People United to Save Humanity, or PUSH, in 1971."

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. U.K.'s ex-Prince Andrew is released after his arrest over Epstein revelations (February 19) "Late Thursday, the police said they concluded the searches and released the suspect but he was still under investigation."

2. DHS Was Built to Come After People Like Me. Now, They Are After All of Us. (February 11) "After 9/11, fear changed the U.S. That fear was exploited by our government, fostering a culture of complacency and turning Americans against one another in pursuit of “securing the homeland.” As a first-generation Iraqi American, I understand that on a deeply personal level."

3. Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s sweeping tariffs, sparking fierce pushback and vow of new levies (February 21) "The Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs on Friday, handing him a stinging loss that sparked a furious attack on the court he helped shape."

4. Why CBS Didn't Broadcast Stephen Colbert's Interview With James Talarico (February 17) "And because my network clearly doesn't want us to talk about this, let's talk about this."

Basically the FCC says if a talk show interviews a political candidate, they have to give equal time to all the other candidates- which is a new rule that, uh, seems very politically motivated. So Colbert was not allowed to broadcast the interview with Talerico on tv, *but* he did put it on his youtube channel.

And here it is, this is what the FCC doesn't want you to watch: Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas  Legislature (February 17) Talerico is a Christian who says Christianity is about actually following the teachings of Jesus: love God and love your neighbor. And an important part of that is fighting back against Christian nationalism.

5. Citing Orwell's '1984,' judge orders Trump administration to restore slavery exhibit it removed in Philadelphia (February 17) "The Philadelphia exhibit, created two decades ago in a partnership between the city and federal officials, included biographical details about each of the nine people enslaved by the Washingtons at the home, including two who escaped."

6. Massive Dallas-area warehouse will not be used as an ICE detention center, developer says (February 16) Really good to see local people protesting against ICE centers being built.

7. Idaho House Votes, Passes Trans Bathroom Ban In Private Businesses As Bill Rockets Through Legislature (February 18) "The bill, which passed 56-13, would allow individuals to sue private businesses that fail to prevent transgender people from using restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Existing bathroom bans across the country have been limited to schools, some colleges, or government buildings. This bill goes much further, effectively requiring every restaurant, gas station, and retail store in the state to police their restrooms—or face legal liability."

8. The D.C. District Court strikes back (February 13) "Within a 24-hour period, three judges of the D.C. District Court pushed back against the executive overreach in a way that would be unthinkable in another era. In three totally separate cases where the Trump administration has ignored people’s fundamental constitutional rights to advance its program of cruelty and retaliation, judges said, essentially, “Not on my watch,” in the midst of continuing offenses by the Trump administration against the Constitution and the nation’s laws."

Chinese New Year Decorations (plus highlights from this year's 春晚)

Chinese door banners for Year of the Horse. Image source. 

Yesterday was Chinese New Year's Eve, and my husband went and bought decorations for our door. We took down last year's decorations from our door and put up the new ones. These decorations are called 对联 [duì lián]- it's a horizontal banner that goes across the top of the door, plus 2 vertical banners. They have Chinese phrases on them about having a prosperous year.

See, here's something that I didn't *get* until I'd already been in China for a while. The Chinese New Year decorations that people hang on their doors are not the same thing as the concept I have in my head of putting up decorations for various holidays. It's not like, say, Christmas decorations in the US, where you put them up in December and then take them down in January, and if you still haven't taken them down in February, people will start to judge you. Like Christmas is over, why haven't you put your decorations away yet?

The banners we have taped on our door are not like that. Personally, I find it makes more sense to think of them not as "Chinese New Year decorations" but "decorations that we have up all the time, and we replace them at Chinese New Year."

(I just asked my husband "so, this is different from Christmas decorations, where you take them down after a month, right?" and he said, "Why would we take them down? This is our wish for the year.")

There *are* Chinese New Year decorations that are temporary, like the red lanterns hanging outside our apartment building. Those will get taken down when the holiday is done. But the ones people hang on their doors are different. 

It's an example of a subtle cultural difference. How people from different cultures might think they're talking about the same thing- holiday decorations- but they're not.

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Also, last night was the big New Year gala/ Spring Festival gala on tv, which is called 春晚 [chūn wǎn]. I like to post the videos from my favorite performances every year, so here they are:

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Psychics in Silicon Valley (February 5) "While it’s incredibly easy to do this with a single believer and even more so with a crowd of believers like those in the audience at a show (because any “misses” might be “hits” for someone else in the crowd), I’ve actually managed to do this even for skeptics who KNEW I didn’t have magical powers, knew that there’s no such thing as magical powers, but were still choked up because suddenly they were envisioning their own dead father standing there saying that he’s proud of them. It’s really convincing."

2. This extremely useful chart about dinosaurs.

3. Chinese Scientists Save Patient Using Pig Liver Outside the Body (February 9)

Also from Sixth Tone: As Services Expand, More Foreigners Seek Treatment in China (February 13) "'This was his only chance but no hospital in Mongolia could perform the procedure on an infant,' his mother, Khurelbaatar Nasantogtokh, told Sixth Tone."

How Chinese Millennials Are Reimagining Weddings (February 13) "From mountaintop elopements to music festival photoshoots, young people in China are transforming weddings from family obligations into personal statements about values and autonomy."

4. A daughter reexamines her own family story in 'The Mixed Marriage Project' (February 10) "And so many of them would say, 'I found out that I had to live in a colored neighborhood. I had to leave my white neighbors. I had left my family in order to marry this Black man and move into the Black Belt. I now couldn't even tell my employer my address, because if they found out my address, they'd know I must be living with a Black man.' Why else would a white woman be living in the Black Belt?"

5. It's a dangerous complication of pregnancy — but a new drug holds promise (February 14) Hey this is really cool- a new drug that treats pre-eclampsia in pregnancy. I had pre-eclampsia during my 2nd pregnancy, and as I understood it, it's very dangerous and there's no cure except to not be pregnant- hopefully you are far enough along in the pregnancy that you can deliver the baby and the baby will survive. If this new drug is able to treat it, that would be great news! Still very early though, so we shouldn't get that excited yet.

6. Kansas City illustrator turns library checkout cards into tiny works of art. She only gets 'one shot' (February 13) "A few decades ago, checking out a library book meant writing your name on a lined, 3-by-5-inch card that a librarian then stamped the due date on."

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Image source.

Links related to the antichrist:

1. Kidney transplant recipient in ICE custody is finally getting meds, wife and attorney say (February 9) "A kidney transplant recipient from Minnesota now in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas is finally getting some of the his life-saving medications he needs to prevent his body from rejecting the donated kidney, according to the man’s wife and his attorney. But they say federal authorities still are not giving him the correct dosage and full regimen of the medications."

2. Hating the Game (February 8, via) "The Post's framing only makes sense if, as is often the case, the demand of white bigotry is being accommodated. You can be one of the most popular figures on the cultural landscape and it won't matter; if white racists don't like you, you're controversial and polarizing."

3. Former ICE Facility Worker 'saw people laying in feces' at Baltimore Detention Center (February 6, via)

4. 13 of the most questionable redactions from the Epstein files (February 10) "The draft indictment is particularly notable because it includes three co-conspirators that prosecutors apparently considered charging. The co-conspirators are described as being employed by Epstein, but their names are redacted."

5. DHS's investigation of a man who emailed a DHS lawyer is over — but not the concerns it raises (February 11) "This all began when Jon Doe, the pseudonym used to identify the man, wrote an email asking the DHS lawyer to “err on the side of caution” in addressing the asylum case described in The Washington Post article that Doe read."

6. The Children of Dilley (February 9) "Among them was a letter from a 9-year-old Venezuelan girl, named Susej Fernández, who had been living in Houston when she and her mother were detained. 'I have been 50 days in Dilley Immigration Processing Center,' she wrote. 'Seen how people like me, immigrants are been treated changes my perspective about the U.S. My mom and I came to The U.S looking for a good and safe place to live.'"

7. 5 things to know about the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security (February 14) "During two congressional hearings this week, the leaders of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection told lawmakers their agencies would likely not see significant impact on their enforcement operations since both agencies received more than $70 billion from Congress last summer as part of the GOP's massive tax and spending bill."

8. DHS says immigration agents appear to have lied about shooting in Minnesota (February 13)

9. Pride flag raised again at Stonewall National Monument in NYC after removal by Trump administration (February 13)

"The Kingdom of Children" (a book about child liberation theology)

Book cover for "The Kingdom of Children"

I've been reading The Kingdom of Children: A Liberation Theology by R. L. Stollar. This book is great; I'm so excited about it. 

I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I want to write down some of my thoughts about what I've read so far. And there will be more blog posts about this book, so stay tuned for that.

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Draco Malfoy becomes unlikely Lunar New Year mascot in China (February 4) Lol, this is very funny. So the Chinese translation of Malfoy's name is 马尔福 [mǎ ěr fú], where the 马 [mǎ] is the Chinese word for "horse" and the 福 [fú] means happiness and good fortune and is used all the time at Chinese New Year. So now, because it's about to be the Year of the Horse, apparently Malfoy is a Chinese New Year mascot.

Chinese culture is weirdly into puns, so I am not surprised that suddenly Malfoy is a thing for Chinese New Year. I haven't seen any of these decorations myself in the wild, but if I do I will definitely let you all know.

2. This xkcd about Groundhog Day. Also this one about proofs.

3. Purity Culture is Pedophile Culture (September 8, 2025, via Why It Matters that Jeffrey Epstein Recommended James Dobson) [content note: child sexual abuse] This is a blog series about how most child sexual abuse is committed by a father, step-father, relative, or family friend- this is true, we have statistics on this, and James Dobson knows this- but instead of doing something to help protect children from father/daughter incest, Dobson and other purity culture leaders teach an ideology where parents have total control over their children's bodies, where a daughter's virginity belongs to her father until marriage, where the father-daughter relationship is described in borderline-creepy romantic terms. Yikes.

4. How to be less awkward (January 7, via) "I learned an important lesson that day: when it comes to being awkward, the coverup is always worse than the crime."

5. How to Teach Textual Criticism To Fifth-Graders (July 23, 2025, via) "If Billy wrote his primary copy in pencil, though, and you feel like messing with them even further, get an eraser and do a fairly sloppy job of erasing everything he wrote."

6. Bad Bunny's Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show (February 9) I don't speak any Spanish, so I'm not really able to tell you if this is good or not. But I liked it.

7. They're cured of leprosy. Why do they still live in leprosy colonies? (February 7) "In fact, leprosy — also known as Hansen's disease — is one of the least contagious diseases there is. Ninety-five percent of humans are naturally immune and it's not easily contracted by the other 5%. Today, leprosy is easily cured with antibiotics, especially if detected early."

8. The vegetables on VeggieTales are not Christian (December 10, 2025, via) "Mike Asparagus is not a Christian; he is an actor who occasionally portrays Christian characters. You might compare Mike Asparagus to Mark Williams, who is not a practicing Christian, but still portrays the fictional character of Father Brown on TV[.]" I am so here for this.

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. Pardon the Corruption (December 2, 2025, via) "DOJ lawyers normally apply standard criteria for pardons, these include: post-conviction conduct, character and reputation; seriousness and relative recentness of the offense; acceptance of responsibility, remorse, and atonement; and need for relief. The ideal case was someone who had served significant time, especially for more serious crimes, expressed remorse, and faced real hardship because of their conviction. Now, the ideal case is a wealthy supporter of the President who would prefer never to see the inside of a jail cell for their crimes."

2. Lawyers allege Dept. of Homeland Security is denying legal counsel to Minnesota detainees (January 19, via) "'One ICE agent said if we let you see your clients, we would have to let all the attorneys see their clients, and imagine the chaos,' said another attorney who asked not to be named. 'And I said to that person, yeah, you do have to let all the attorneys see their clients. You do have to accommodate that. That’s the Constitution. You chose to put them here. I didn't bring this guy here, you did.'"

3. Epstein Files Reveal How Pathetic Richard Dawkins & Other Men Are (February 6, transcript here) The Epstein files give an inside look at some drama that was going on with sexual harassment in the atheist community.

4. Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting (February 1) So... this is strange and I don't know what to make of it. I saw this news a few days ago but decided not to share the link yet, because it was only ProPublica reporting it, so I wanted to wait and see if it would be verified by other big news sites, before I shared the link. In the article here, ProPublica says they found the 2 names by looking at "government records"- but I don't understand what these "government records" are and how they got them.

So I guess let's still be skeptical about this? I'm sharing the link now because this was published a week ago and there still seems to be nothing mentioned on the other mainstream news sites (except The Guardian), and I find that very strange.

5. The unfathomable Minnesota transcript that must be read, as it tells the reality of America today (February 5) "What -- what can the Court expect going forward, because this is obviously not workable, and it's certainly not an example of complying with the Court's order, unless you feel it is?"

6. Trump refuses to apologize after posting racist meme of the Obamas (February 7) "'It's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,' said Scott, who is Black."

7. Immigrant whose skull was broken in 8 places during ICE arrest says beating was unprovoked (February 7) "He remembers Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulling him from a friend's car on Jan. 8 outside a St. Paul shopping center and throwing him to the ground, handcuffing him, then punching him and striking his head with a steel baton."

My thoughts have changed on aces "pleasing their partners"

Asexual flag. Image source.

This post is part of the January/February 2026 Carnival of Aces. The topic is "second glance."

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[content note: it's about consenting to sex you don't like]

It's a common piece of info I've often seen in "asexuality 101" resources. "Some aces do choose to have sex, for various reasons. Like, curiosity. Or, because it feels good. Or, to please their partner." 

And way back when, that was also a reason for me. But now my thinking has changed on this. Having sex just because your partner wants to is much more complicated than the breezy way it's presented in Asexuality 101. It is, quite possibly, a bad idea. 

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. A few fun songs I recently shared with my little toddler:

Friend Like Me Song (from Aladdin) (Official Video) [High Quality] - Disney Songbooks - From the 1992 "Aladdin" movie

Sesame Street: Patti Labelle Sings The Alphabet (2009) Gospel cover of the ABC song.

2. China Bans Retractable EV Door Handles Over Safety Concerns (December 26, 2025)

3. Why these women break the law to sell their eggs for IVF (January 29) "'You've told yourself you've done something, but actually you've only made it worse,' she says, referring to the legislators who formulated this law. 'You've created a black market, which means the people participating in it have no protections — they have no bargaining power. If something goes wrong, they're already doing something criminal, something illegal. So who are they going to turn to for help?'"

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong (January 26, via) "No application of armed violence can make the men with guns as heroic as the people who choose to stand in their path with empty hands in defense of their neighbors. These agents, and the president who sent them, are no one’s heroes, no one’s saviors—just men with guns who have to hide their faces to shoot a mom in the face, and a nurse in the back."

2. 5-year-old Liam Ramos and father are back in Minneapolis after being released from federal custody in Texas (February 1) 

3. Minnesota citizens detained by ICE are left rattled, even weeks later (February 1) "'I wasn't even outside for mere seconds before I seen a masked person running at me full speed,' Hussen said at a news conference last month. 'He tackled me. I told him, 'I'm a U.S. citizen.' He didn't seem to care. He dragged me outside to the snow while I was handcuffed, restrained, helpless and he pushed me to the ground.'"

4. Anti-ICE protesters call for national action against federal immigration tactics (January 31) 

5. It Can Happen In Your City Too (February 1) "As she was on the ground, the agents dumped out her purse, found her U.S. passport and left the scene, according to SEIU."

6. Trump Pressures International Orgs To Disavow Trans Care, Social Transition Globally "At Any Age" With Funding Ban (January 27) "In practice, the rule would attempt to force groups receiving U.S. aid worldwide to adopt extreme discriminatory policies toward transgender people as a condition of continued funding."

7. Trump admin is trying to deport LGBTQ+ asylum-seekers to countries where they'd be killed, lawyers say (January 29, via) "Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, passed in 2023, prescribes life imprisonment for consensual same-sex relationships and allows for the death penalty in cases labeled 'aggravated homosexuality.'"

8. His mistaken deportation was thought to be unique. But 'the problem is getting worse' (February 3) "Sandoval-Moshenberg said he alone has a dozen other plaintiffs like Abrego Garcia. It's impossible to quantify how many such mistaken deportations are happening — as only a small subset of immigrants have lawyers to argue for their return."

9. Judge temporarily blocks axing deportation protections for Haitian migrants (February 3) "A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end deportation protections for more than 350,000 Haitian immigrants, who are allowed to live and work in the US legally under Temporary Protected Status (TPS)."