How to Write Queer Antagonists in YA Fiction Without Making Queerness a Signifier for Evil

By analysing two recent titles, Jo Baker explores how YA authors can write queer antagonists without their queerness becoming a signifier for evil.

Abstract

In the past few years, LGBTQIA+ representation in children’s and young adult literature has markedly improved, both in terms of quantity and quality of portrayal. This article analyses two recent queer books, The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth and the first Heartstopper graphic novel by Alice Oseman, to unpick how to write a queer antagonist without reverting to harmful stereotypes and tropes. Both books are written by queer authors and have a brilliant and nuanced rainbow of queer representation. The proliferation of queerness in both books and the shared struggle against internalised homophobia prevent the antagonists’ sexuality from becoming a metaphor for evil. Additionally, both antagonists are set within a larger antagonistic force or system.