Most high-profile girl-girl romances are between thin, white, conventionally feminine women. Where are the butch/stud love stories? The interracial sapphic relationships that aren’t fetishized? The disabled queer women? Shows like Gentleman Jack (Anne Lister is a rare masc-presenting lead) and Veneno (HBO Max, centering trans lesbian icon Cristina Ortiz) are exceptions, not the rule. The “girls kiss” genre still has a serious color and body-diversity problem. The Cultural Impact: Why These Stories Matter When done right, a girl-girl romance does more than entertain. It offers a mirror and a window. For young queer women, seeing a kiss between two girls that is soft, mutual, and not a setup for a punchline can be life-saving. Studies have shown that LGBTQ+ media representation reduces depression and increases self-esteem among queer youth. The popularity of Heartstopper ’s Tara and Darcy led to thousands of young fans feeling “seen” for the first time.
We have fewer bury-your-gays than in 1990, but it’s not gone. The 100 ’s Lexa (a character so beloved her death sparked industry-wide backlash) remains a cautionary tale. Even recent shows like First Kill (Netflix) and Warrior Nun were cancelled just as their central romances blossomed. Queer audiences remain traumatized: a new girls-kiss scene is often watched with one eye on the episode runtime, waiting for the axe to fall. 2 Sexy Girls Kiss
The current era of girls-kiss relationships and romantic storylines is the best we’ve ever had—but that bar was tragically low. We have moved from “shock value” to “slow-burn depth” and from “tragedy” to “joyful complexity.” However, we are still plagued by cancellations, the male gaze, and a reliance on coming-out trauma as a crutch. The disabled queer women
So many storylines still revolve entirely around coming out, parental rejection, or internalized homophobia. While these are real experiences, they’ve become a cliché. We rarely see established adult lesbian couples arguing about mortgage payments or career moves—the mundane, universal drama that straight couples get by default. Happiest Season (Hulu) caught flak for this: a Christmas rom-com where one woman is still closeted to her family, forcing the other to pretend to be straight. It felt like a 2005 plot in a 2020 movie. The Cultural Impact: Why These Stories Matter When
For too long, the only allowed narrative was “suffering.” Now we have Crush (Hulu), a silly, charming high school rom-com where two girls fall in love without anyone coming out as a tragedy. Feel Good (Netflix) offers a messy, addictive, funny, and sometimes painful look at a lesbian relationship struggling with addiction and codependency—proving that queer love can be just as complicated (and ordinary) as straight love. The Persistent Problems: What Still Needs Work 1. The Male Gaze Problem Despite progress, many “girls kiss” scenes are still choreographed for heterosexual male viewers. This is especially visible in “prestige” shows where a single, out-of-nowhere lesbian kiss is used to signify a female character’s “wild side” or to shock her male partner. True sapphic romance requires a female or queer gaze—camera angles that focus on faces, hands, and emotional reactions rather than performative body parts.