Ry Herman on Finding Inspiration in Queer Fairytales

In the summer of 2024, writer Ry Herman embarked on a quest to uncover LGBTQ+ subtext within fairy tales. As the world witnessed a surge in attacks on queer identities, Herman sought reassurance in the evidence that queer people have always existed, even in the earliest texts. Fairy tales have long held a special place in her heart, so she delved into the stories she was first told as a child, hoping to find something meaningful.

While she wasn't expecting to find much, she was confident there would be some evidence of queer stories. After some research, she discovered a tradition of queer subtext and explicitly queer tales within fairy tales. These stories followed a specific pattern: a heroine disguising herself as a man, falling in love with another woman, and ultimately being transformed into a man.

Some of these stories date back thousands of years, such as the Greek myth "Iphis and Ianthe" and the North Caucasus story "Alimbeg's Daughter." Many of these tales share common elements, like a talking animal or the heroine undergoing various tests to prove her masculinity. As Herman studied these tales, she noticed that many were not as queer-positive as they seemed.

Over the centuries, some of these stories passed through contexts that didn't favor queerness, leading to queer erasure. In these instances, the heroine's transformation into a man was often imposed by an outside force, such as a curse. Herman questioned these assumptions, imagining what would happen to a nonbinary protagonist, someone outside the traditional gender roles.