As a bisexual hockey fan and a long time fan of Letterkenny, another Jacob Tierney project, I was very excited for “Heated Rivalry.” I have long heard about hockey based romance stories from the romance readers in my life and after watching the whole first season, I certainly understand the appeal. While I feel that the success that “Heated Rivalry” has seen is ultimately a net positive, it feels like two steps forward and one step back. I have two main issues with the show: its romance book origins and a lack of diversity in the main cast.
There is a long running debate in my house about the ability of people to write from perspectives they do not share. The issue started with the notion of if female authors can write compelling male characters (spoiler alert: yes, they can) and has spiraled from there. At its core, the argument is about the ability for an author to effectively convey experiences that neither they nor the audience may have had.
Imagine with me a world in which I become a romance author and choose to dedicate my whole career to only writing romance stories featuring Black characters. Or if a non-Jewish writer exclusively wrote romance stories featuring Jews and set in the shtetl. This would be strange. I want to be clear that I am not saying you have to be a gay hockey player to write gay hockey romance novels; however, those gaining fame and wealth from male queer stories should be. Rachel Reid has made her career writing exclusively Gay Hockey romance novels; it’s the only thing that she writes. She has chosen to use her ability to write stories to commodify the queer male experience, an experience she does not share, to her predominantly straight female audience. Books like hers allow straight women to read love stories of queer men completely without their involvement or input. This fetishization of the queer male experience by straight women and their perception of the LGBTQ+ community writ large.
Too often the only queer representation that we are allowed in the mainstream are cis white males, habitually being played by actors that are straight actors, while other queer stories and actors are left on the cutting room floor. From Will and Grace to Love Simon to Brokeback Mountain to Modern Family. The same thing over and over again: gay men as the comedic relief, as the side characters to the female lead, or maybe even headline their own show. The issue with this being the sole form of representation is that it flattens the queer experience to just same sex attraction and frames the queer liberation movement as the ability for powerful white men to come out as gay without giving up the wealth and power they have amassed. Queer acceptance becomes a tally of chairs held around boardroom tables and seats on the benches of sports teams.
