Sapphics, a group of  ‘women who love women’ (WLW) which includes both lesbians and bi women, have seen increasingly greater positive representation in media throughout the 21st century. Shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “The L Word” were some of the first to feature sapphic characters and paved the way for many more. Despite the growing representation for queer women, shows that include these characters are often canceled before their stories get the chance to fully play out. Shows are denied continuation by their streaming services for many reasons such as bad reviews, low viewership, and unsustainably high costs. However, a majority of canceled sapphic shows just don’t have these negative traits. So, why are they canceled so often?

  The rise of streaming services has led to the creation of movies and shows showcasing different perspectives and experiences, because there is not the pressure of having only a few select audiences. But at the end of the day, a show has to make money, which comes from people watching it. What confuses me is the pattern of shows with sapphic characters being canceled despite high viewership. 

  Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos stated in an interview with Bloomburg at the beginning of 2023, “We have never canceled a successful show,” and, “a lot of these shows were well-intended but talk to a very small audience on a very big budget. The key to it is you have to be able to talk to a small audience on a small budget and a large audience at a large budget. If you do that well, you can do that forever.” But Netflix’s lesbian vampire series, “First Kill” was canceled after its first season despite totaling 97.6 million hours of viewership in its first four weeks, being in the global top 10 shows for several weeks, and not having an overly expensive budget. It surely brought in money for the company and was, in my opinion, a successful show.

  There are many other examples of shows with sapphic characters being canceled. Millbrook junior Sarah Tanner shared her opinion on this. She stated, “As an avid watcher of sapphic shows, their cancellation is nothing new, from the Netflix show “Trinkets” which was canceled back in 2020, to the Amazon Prime Video show “The Wilds” being canceled in 2022. They were the two that mainly resonated with me and showed true sapphic representation that didn’t feel forced or downplayed. The dynamics of Elodie and Jillian in Trinkets, and Shelby and Toni in The Wilds felt very real and realistic to sapphic teenage relationships. These two shows were on the top of charts for weeks and received many awards, but yet both got canceled for unknown reasons which I have never seen happen to a MLM [an abbreviation meaning men loving men] show.” 

  Other sapphic shows who never got their final seasons include “Willow,” “Paper Girls,” “Teenage Bounty Hunters,” “I Am Not Okay with This,” “A League of Their Own,” “Gentleman Jack,” “Everything Sucks,” “The Babysitters Club,” and more. Some of these cancellations make sense, but ultimately it’s much easier to find stories with WLW (women loving women) characters that were left unfinished than the other way around. I think we should hold streaming services accountable for their demonstration of viewing sapphic plotlines as not important enough to be finished. 

  Shows with gay lead characters get canceled as well, but not at the rate lesbian shows do. Millbrook sophomore Audrey Butts said, “I don’t think it’s intentionally homophobic [to cancel sapphic shows], and people just watch gay shows more than lesbian shows, which is obvious by what Netflix puts out.” Sarah Tanner had another perspective and said, “I think that MLM shows are often much more likely to be renewed in comparison to WLW shows. When you look at shows such as ‘Heartstopper’ and ‘Young Royals’ they both have been renewed by Netflix for as many seasons as feasible. I have never once seen a Netflix original sapphic show get that same treatment. Although yes, it does happen for MLM shows. It does not happen nearly as much for WLW and that’s just a clear sign of blatant misogyny.”

  Representation in media helps people discover and accept themselves. Diverse stories are important, and it sends a negative message for one specific demographic to always have theirs cut short. I think this is backed in misogyny and lesbiphobia, and I hope that streaming services will eventually choose to highlight sapphic shows that have proven to have a dedicated audience.