>>76230566So I'm a bit more into the Japanese idol scene (not a lot but I have dipped my toes into the j-pop idol fandom), and the idol industry directly correlates to VTubing. Like, they use the exact same business model of "attractive girls/guys who are charismatic and develop a very parasocial relationship with their audience". And it's rife with the same exploitation as well.
Now for some social context. Skinship between same genders is more common in Japan, and often idols are marketed towards the "opposite" gender (I know there's more than two genders but for the sake of simplicity, we're reducing them to male and female). So boy idols are expected to get female followers and girl idols are expected to get male followers. And part of an idol's marketability is their perceived romantic and sexual availability. There have been some changes in this, but generally, the idol industry is selling the idea "you can have this perfect girlfriend/boyfriend!"
And as is often in fandoms, you get shipping. People think two idols have chemistry so they go "oh they're so cute together!" And that's also why you'll find very few mixed gender groups--the executives do NOT want rumors of their girls sleeping with guys, as that would ruin the girls' marketability (just the girls, the guys will probably be fine. Because of course). Plus, girlfriends of male celebrities, whether they are themselves famous or not, get a lot of hate and threats. It's just a headache all around. However, executives still want those shippers in their fandoms because shippers are very passionate about their ships.
And thus, the queer baiting. It gets the shipping aspect of the fandom in, without threatening the perceived availability of the idols. Japan especially considers Yuri (girl/girl) relationships to be non-threatening. It's expected for girls to have deep romantic friendships that they eventually leave for "real" heterosexual relationships. And same with Yaoi (boy/boy) relationships: while it's not considered as normal as Yuri, guys are allowed a lot more skinship than guys are in the Western world.
And it's sad because, for example, you'll have a VTuber like Marine, who is incredibly sexual to her (presumed male) fans but has multiple love song duets with other female VTubers. And not love songs where the two women are singing to a third, presumed male, party, but love songs where the singers are singing to each other. Just look at Shinkiro, which launched the now popular Marine/Gura ship. But then I remember seeing a VTuber drunk streaming with a fellow group member (which is allowed and encouraged because remember, they're encouraging that parasocial aspect; the purpose of those types of streams is to get people in the mindset of "oh we're drinking with friends, letting loose and hanging out!"). This VTuber got drunk on her stream and accidentally talked about her "girlfriend". And I think she was actually talking about a real girlfriend, not a queer bait, because the other VTuber froze, and then immediately started yelling "GIRL THAT IS A FRIEND, GIRL THAT IS A FRIEND, RIGHT?" And the original VTuber said "no, you know her, you know my girlfr--OH YEAH, MY GIRL THAT IS A FRIEND GIRLFRIEND." Like halfway through the sentence, she remembered she was on stream and her job could literally be at risk if her fans knew she had a sexual/romantic partner.
