Queer Romance on Deck: The Power of Gay Ships in Fandoms
Representation matters in fanfic romance
We all love a good scripted romance in our TV shows and movies, and get excited when our favorite celebrities find love in real life. But fanfiction has always helped us imagine love stories between characters that might not actually get together in the text of the original work. Often these fanfictions naturally venture into queer territory, possibly because homosexual relationships are underrepresented in fiction. Much has been written about the most popular fanfic gay/lesbian ships in popular culture, and certainly the practice of queer shipping is alive and well (just check out Shipping Wiki for a treasure trove).
Of course, no ship is complete without a portmanteau: a blending of their names. So we’ve included those, of course. Here are some of our fave (fake?) couples!
Harry Potter & Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter series)
Boy wizard himself falling in love with his nemesis, Draco Malfoy? That’s a slash ship we can get behind. “Drarry” is a fanfic favorite ship from the series, and it is somewhat explored through other means in the play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. If these two got together, it would follow the popular enemies-to-lovers trope in romance. But these characters do make sense together: both are destined to their lots in life by extraneous forces and seem to have to hate one another on principle and out of loyalty to their families. They come to understand one another on a deeper level, because they can relate to each other. Even actor Tom Felton, who plays Draco in the films, has joked about Harry’s crush on Malfoy.
Robin Buckley & Nancy Wheeler (Stranger Things)
One half of this femslash ship is queer: Robin is interested in women, while Nancy only dates boys (though the fandom might read her as either bisexual, or a lesbian struggling with heteronormativity). But nevertheless, “Ronance” is a fun ship in Stranger Things. Robin and Nancy are very different and might misunderstand one another sometimes, but they exude an endearing “girls gotta stick together” vibe when they help each other out again and again as the gang is constantly thwarted. Actress Natalia Dyer, who plays Nancy, even commented on the fandom ship in an interview, saying “I love Nancy having a girlfriend.” Now, whether she meant girl-friend, as Nancy and Robin are the only two older teen girls with a lot of boys in their lives, or girlfriend in a romance sense, is up for interpretation.
Dean Winchester and Castiel (Supernatural)
Given their intense bond, fans of Supernatural interpret the relationship between Dean Winchester and angel Castiel, or “Destiel,” as romantic. It’s not too difficult to imagine one falling in love with the angel that rescued them from Hell! What makes this ship so unique is the fact that Dean is human while Castiel is not, though they do share many physically close moments that would happen between humans. The ship fandom is even split on the details of this potential romantic attraction; after all, this ship has been prevalent during twelve seasons. Hundreds of thousands of queer fanfic stories are devoted to Destiel.
Taylor Swift & Karlie Kloss
It’s true that Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss were indeed very close friends at one time, and there’s lots of speculation about why their friendship apparently ended (which went into overdrive when Kloss attended the Eras Tour and conspicuously did not occupy the VIP tent reserved for celebrities and friends of Taylor). Taylor and Karlie became acquainted in 2012 and very quickly were seen everywhere together. By 2014, some fans were convinced they were dating, and “Kaylor,” a real people slash ship, was born. To this day, fans read into lyrics and timelines to prove their theories that the two were more than just friends. However this ship, because it is about real people vs. characters, has been questioned on its ethics. It’s certainly something to consider in fandoms when the real peoples’ privacies and identities are affected by fan attention in this way.
Kirk & Spock (Star Trek)
Perhaps the original ship in fandom history, opposites attract in this slash romance. Decades after the original series aired, fans are still devoted to understanding and celebrating these characters. Spock is the straight (pun intended) man to Captain Kirk’s often impulsive and passionate personality. The best relationships, romantic or otherwise, contain this kind of yin and yang balance. But some fans have read into their reliance on one another as something more than friendship. It’s possible to interpret some of their looks at one another or physical closeness as indicative of a human/alien queer romance with possibly the cutest ship name: “Spirk.” And while they even once fought each other over a woman, in a post-Challengers movie world we know this sometimes reads as queer-coded.
Greg & Tom (Succession)
The most popular slash ship in the Succession fandom, Tom and cousin Greg have a decidedly warped relationship from the very beginning. While Tom is the only member of this cast of characters that pays attention to Greg, he also lords power over him in an often exploitative way. Their relationship comes off, as GQ once wrote, as “something between bullying and sexual tension.” Tom is also Greg’s boss, which makes this ship even more twistedly seductive. We agree this is a fun, sexy ship, but the one boring thing about it might be their name: “TomGreg.”
What are your favorite queer ships? Have you written any fanfic based around a slash ship? Let us know in the comments!
Want more? Head over to our Discord where you’ll find tons of other fans there chatting in our forums about the books, TV shows, movies, music, and games we all love! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, tumblr, and Spotify for more fandom content—and hit that subscribe button so you never miss a thing at rmrk*st!
