straightwash

English

Alternative forms

• straight-wash

Etymology

From straight +‎ wash, by analogy with pinkwash.

Verb

straightwash (third-person singular simple present straightwashes, present participle straightwashing, simple past and past participle straightwashed)

1. To interpret or present a queer figure, relationship, or situation as exclusively heterosexual.
   • 2015, Edmond Y. Chang, “Love Is in the Air: Queer (Im)Possibility and Straightwashing in FrontierVille and World of Warcraft”, in QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, volume 2, number 2, →DOI, pages 9–10:

     Rather than focus on ostensibly queer games, I want to show how doing a queer analysis of mainstream games provides critical ways to demonstrate how most video games strategically deploy and ultimately recuperate and straightwash queer possibilities.

   • 2018, Bonnie Ruberg, “Straightwashing Undertale: Video games and the limits of LGBTQ representation”, in Transformative Works and Cultures, volume 28, 4.3, →DOI:

     While Undertale's queer representational aspects have been straightwashed by significant sectors of the game's reception, its LGBTQ characters and storylines have proven immensely meaningful for many of the game's queer players.

   • 2018 December 19, Peter Bradshaw, “Welcome to Marwen review: Steve Carell on icky form in straightwashed misfire”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     For all that her character has been created in the interests of reassuring the audience and normalising and straightwashing the story, she has an excellent moment in the climactic scene when Hogancamp declares his feelings for her.

   • 2019, Tan France, “Crossed Legs”, in Naturally Tan: A Memoir, St. Martin's Publishing Group, →ISBN:

     It took me a long time, but I'm so happy that I'm finally in a place where I no longer feel the need to whitewash or straightwash myself in order to fit in.