Thanks to the surprising success of the new show “Heated Rivalry,” many people are applauding and praising the show for its beautiful representation of the LGBTQ+ community. Showcasing the love between two male hockey players, the show has received positive praise and recognition for advancing and representing the LGBTQ+ community. While I can recognize and accept what good the show has brought in regard to representation, I wonder why there is no similar love and acceptance for lesbian relationships in the media.
Often, when queer media is discussed, we often see male couples being praised and recognized for good queer representation. Beyond the recent success of the show “Heated Rivalry,” many popular forms of media often showcase the love between male couples while neglecting to showcase the love between two women. On television, gay couples make up the most represented group in the LBGTQ+ Community with a total of 41% while lesbian couples make up a total of 27%.
I speculate this reason is that many shows featuring the love between two women are often cancelled due to poor viewer ship. Despite dedicated fandoms, many shows that feature two lesbian women often do not receive the same promotion and marketing as other shows on streaming platforms, consequently resulting in viewer ship decline since people are not aware of the show. While this is a contributing factor, I would also like to address the unequal standard women are held to when compared to men.
In our current media, while there have been strides in the LBGTQ+ Community, many people still are less accepting of the love shared between people of the same sex depicted on the screen, resulting in them being less lenient and forgiving of the mistakes made in producing such shows. Consequently, due to this inequity, society holds shows that feature two women in love to a higher standard when compared to two men, thus criticizing them harder and punishing them harder if the show is negatively received. Due to this, many networks falsely believe that investing in television and films that feature two women falling in love is not worth the investment, leaving the representation of lesbian love far and few.
However, allow me to remedy this by showcasing some movies and television that celebrate and represent love shared between two women! The following lists are the upcoming television and films that feature the love shared between two women that I, for one, am really excited for:
“Girls Like Girls” is releasing on June 19, 2026.
“Montreal My Beautiful” was released on February 13, 2026.
“Big Girls Don’t Cry” was released on January 24, 2026.
