26 Iconic TV Women Who Sparked Sexual Awakenings
Recently, we asked the queer members of our BuzzFeed Community to share which TV characters made them realize that they're attracted to women. Here are some of their responses:
"I'm Gen-X, so obviously it was Jo from Facts of Life. I know I'm not alone in this."
—Anonymous, 50, US
"To be honest, Gadget from Rescue Rangers should have been the first tip off."
—Anonymous, 45, Michigan
"I think we can all agree on Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
—tellyourfeetajoke"The first time she came onscreen, she had me questioning everything I thought I knew about myself as a young teen. There was just something about this cool, confident, complicated (and of course, attractive) girl that had me looking and feeling things I had not associated with girls before. For this reason, she will forever hold a special place in my heart."—Anonymous, 40, Nevada
"Quinn Fabray from Glee, easily. A criminally underrated and underused singing voice and killer looks (especially when she was a Cheerio). I also shipped her and Rachel so hard in my youth."
—raymaariforever
"Sara Bellum from Powerpuff Girls. Though it took 20 to 25 more years before I came out to myself."
—ymxb
"Xena and Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess. The scene in the hot spring. I was probably too young to see that, but from the glimpse of what I did see, it forever changed me."
—pinkcomet428
"Monica Keena as Abby Morgan on Dawson's Creek and Rachel Lindquist on Undeclared. I referred to them as my 'girl crushes.' It would only take a couple more decades and a number of additional 'girl crushes' for me to realize I was queer (pan). But it started with them!"
—sasstrid
"Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She and Zuko both helped me realise I was bisexual. And, to this day, I stand by the fact they should've been together."
—guacam011y
"Tori and Jade from Victorious! They were talented and gorgeous, and they did things to my body I didn't understand."
—alexandraisgay
"Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune from Sailor Moon. They were the first queer couple I had ever seen on TV, and I was absolutely obsessed with them as a child before I understood my own sexuality. But honestly, throw a stone and pick literally any character from that anime, and they probably contributed to my gay awakening to some degree!"
—Anonymous, 32, US"Cliche, but Sailor Moon. Just everything about Usagi made me want to date someone like her! Pretty, foodie, and obsessed with video games?!?!? Sign me uppppp."—Anonymous, 39, US
"Hannah/Miley from Hannah Montana, but I didn't quite realize at the time that it was a crush."
—nostalgiclegend284
"Well, this is embarrassing, but Jenny Shecter from the first season of The L Word. And then most of the cast made me realize that you can be super femme and be into girls."
—lucyv4d65302ee
"Leela from Futurama."
—Anonymous, 19, US
"Alison and Emily from Pretty Little Liars. There's a scene in Season 2 where Emily is imagining lying in Alison's lap while she strokes her hair, and it ends with Alison leaning in to kiss her. When I tell you that rewired my brain chemistry PERMANENTLY..."
—audreyschockett
"Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) from Charmed. It was undeniable after watching just one episode."
—Anonymous, 39, Oregon
"For me, it was Venus McFlytrap from Monster High! I thought she was so beautiful and cool-looking. She has a sort of punk aesthetic, and I was totally enamored by her."
—elleenchanted
"Carmilla Carmine from Hazbin Hotel. She's gorgeous and, when she lets her hair down, UGH, YES QUEEN!"
—esadre
"Camille Belcourt from Shadowhunters. If I wasn't already beginning to suspect I liked women, then she CERTAINLY shaped my specific taste in women. I eventually lost interest in the show bc she stopped appearing (honorable mention goes to Izzy tho)."
—audreyschockett
"Lindsay Wagner in The Bionic Woman waaaaay back in the 1970s when I was a pre-teen. I just didn't have a name for it at the time. I had pictures of her pinned up on my wall, along with pictures of Charlie's Angels. If I were playing Six Million Dollar Man with my friends, I would volunteer to be Steve Austin because it meant I could marry Jaime Sommers."
—irisg2
"JoAnna Cameron as Isis in The Secrets of Isis (1975-76). It was a Saturday morning live-action superhero show. I adored her, wanted to be her, and only realized as an adult that I was definitely queer."
—leticiamb
"Samantha Carter from Stargate SG-1 (I'm a nerd, I know).
—Anonymous, 32, Michigan
"Charlie from Supernatural. I watched the show in secret because I grew up in a strict Catholic household, but it was the first time I was ever exposed to queerness — and queerness being okay, not a sin."
—Anonymous, 22, Texas
"Maxine Baker from Ginny & Georgia."
—Anonymous, 15, Pennsylvania
"Serena Van der Woodsen from Gossip Girl! I've always been into Blake Lively, and it was first seeing her character in Gossip Girl that made me think, 'Hey, you know I might actually be into girls as well!'
—Anonymous, 33, Canada
"Gillian Anderson from The X-Files."
—caelesto
And finally, "Lizzie McGuire ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🩶🤍."
—runningwithscissors2343
Which TV character was your queer awakening? Let us know in the comments!
Looking for more LGBTQ+ or Pride content? Then check out all of BuzzFeed's posts celebrating Pride 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Vogue
5 hours ago
- Vogue
I Survived ‘Viola's Room,' a Spooky New Immersive Show Narrated by Helena Bonham Carter
The real world is plenty scary right now. Forget turning on some gruesome horror movie: reading the daily headlines is enough to make just about anyone scream. All the same, I couldn't resist doubling down on the fear factor and checking out an eerie, immersive new art experience that opened in New York City this week. On through October at The Shed, the show, titled Viola's Room, is directed by Felix Barrett and produced by Punchdrunk, the award-winning theater company behind Sleep No More. An interactive, hour-long journey, it has guests weave barefoot through a labyrinth of darkened rooms and halls (by designer Casey Jay Andrews), while a delightfully spooky Helena Bonham Carter narrates a fable, based on the 1901 story The Moon Slave by Barry Pain, through provided headphones. Even with no live actors or jump scares, it makes for an intensely effective—even somewhat poetic—haunted-house experience. Guests walk through Viola's Room. Photo: Marc J. Franklin When I arrived for my prescribed time slot, I was surprised to find that there was only one other brave soul in my group. (Viola's Room is designed to be experienced by no more than six people at a time.) Our instructions were simple enough: do not lose sight of each other, and follow the flickering lights from space to space. (I was more than happy to let my partner lead the way.) In the first space—a teenage girl's bedroom, its walls adorned with Tori Amos and Buffy the Vampire Slayer posters—Carter instructs us to lie down as she begins to tell the gothic tale of a princess who disappears from her castle, abandons her prince, and mysteriously journeys into the night. In time, the room around us was plunged into darkness, the only light coming from inside a blanketed fort in the corner. When, skeptically, we crawled into that fort, we immediately entered into a brand-new space: a maze of hallways lined with ghostly, draped white sheets. As Carter's narration goes on, she describes the princess's descent into an enchanted and ominous forest—just as we, too, were taken through ever more otherworldly settings. Walking barefoot, we traversed terrains that felt alternately grassy, sandy, and like concrete, our surroundings ranging from a forest landscape to a high-ceilinged chapel featuring stained-glass windows suffused with a foggy light. Another room with a giant dinner table had balloons lining the ceiling, though in the darkness their strings felt more like vines, or even spiderwebs.
Buzz Feed
5 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
WillowWolf
You Exist! Welcome to BuzzFeed! Have 100 points. That is a lot of points. Earned Jun 9, 2025 First Post You made your first post! Is it glorious? Is it terrible? Who cares, you made one! Great job. Earned 14 minutes ago Homepage Hero Your post got promoted to the homepage of BuzzFeed Dot Com, the website! Our team of writers loved it so much that with a little spit and polish, they put it right up on the fridge. Right where everyone can see it! Not yet earned Challenge Winner Your creativity and hard work shone through and you won a freakin' Community Challenge! Congratulations, pard'ner. Not yet earned List Legend When everyone else zigged, you zagged. When everyone took the low road, you took the high road. When everyone posted nothing but quizzes, you're out here posting lists. Hero. Here's your trophy. Not yet earned Lord of Lists We knew you were a whiz at making lists before, but now you've made THREE lists?! You're truly everything we aspire to be, and one day we hope to be half the genius you are. Not yet earned 100k Views A hundo thow views. Nice. Not yet earned 250k Views A quarter of a million views! You really have the posts with the mosts. Views, that is. Not yet earned 500k Views Five hundred thousand views on your posts. That's incredible! Statistically, you're excelling yourself. We asked a data scientist and he said it's true! Not yet earned 1m Views A cool milzo. These are rare. Like a beautiful statue which isn't covered in bird poo. Not yet earned Could You BE Making Any More Posts? We can't seem to 'PIVOT' away from your incredible posts, and we never want you to 'go on a break' from creating these posts we love so much. Anyway, congrats on getting 5 Friends posts promoted! Not yet earned You Don't Need To Calm Down We promise that we'll never find another like you. Ya know, someone else who has gotten 5 Taylor Swift posts promoted to the homepage. Not yet earned Best of 2022 Thanks to your ingenuity and knowledge of all things internet, you showed everyone up and are in the top 1% of BuzzFeed Community creators in 2022! From quizzes to lists, you can do it all — and now you have a trophy to show off and prove you're one of the best of the year. Not yet earned Fairest Of Them All Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who has had 5 Disney posts promoted to the BuzzFeed homepage? It's you, obviously! We don't have any attractive heroes coming to save you, but here's a trophy, which is just as good — trust us. Not yet earned Golden Genius You ain't no snitch, but you do know everything about the Harry Potter universe. Since you got 5 posts promoted to the homepage, here's a lil' Quidditch gift for ya. Not yet earned Slime Time You soaked up episodes of SpongeBob, got Odd with the Fairies, and mentally spent a lot of time at Good Burger. You were and are a Nick kid through and through, but we don't need to tell you that since you've already Figured It Out, haven't you? (We could go on forever, don't test us.) Not yet earned K-Pop Konnoisseur You know every dance, you know every word, and let's be real, no one can make you budge about your bias. Congrats on getting your K-Pop post promoted to the front page of BuzzFeed — here's a trophy! Not yet earned Totally Stylin' Oh baby, you're ~golden~, and we're gonna give you a (Watermelon Sugar) high by handing you your very own Harry Styles trophy, just for writing a post about him. Not yet earned Animal Lover From reptiles to fluffy felines and tiny rats to giant whales, your love of animals knows no bounds. Your animal-themed post was promoted. Thanks for making the world a more cuddly place. Meow. Not yet earned XOXO Roses are red, / Poems are quoted. / You wrote about love, / and your post was promoted! Not yet earned Sucker For Love You love all things about love, and we can't blame you. We can't give you a little kiss, so here's a trophy for getting 5 posts promoted instead. Not yet earned Snacks on Snacks on Snacks All you do is think about food, obviously, or else you wouldn't have made a post about it. We don't blame you, and actually applaud you. We'd give you a feast, but we don't feel like it. So here's a trophy. Not yet earned Food Fanatic You're really ~hungry~ for more trophies, aren't you? No? Then why do you make so many food posts?! We're actually not mad, just impressed. Here's another one, and we hope it's as satisfying as your next droolworthy meal. Not yet earned Up, Up, And Away For you, the thought of packing a bag and exploring a new place is unlike any other. Whether you're dreaming of stomping through the rainforest or hitting up the city that's been on your bucket list for years, travel is something you can't deny loving, so we'll do the best we can and give you a trophy since you've expressed your love for it in a post. Not yet earned Super Stan You know the thrilling feeling of staying up 'til a new song release at midnight and everyone trusts you to make the perfect playlist for every occasion and mood. Let's face it, you're just a master of all things music, so here's a trophy since you wrote a post about it! Not yet earned Cinema Savvy You've been to countless midnight showings and have spent half of your life savings on theater popcorn — but hey, baby, that's a small price to pay to be a true film fanatic. You made a movie-themed post, we loved it, here's a trophy! Not yet earned Film Fiend When it comes to movies, you're addicted. From comedy to horror and musicals to documentaries, you've seem 'em all. Since you made three posts about movies, we're giving you a trophy to celebrate your expertise. Not yet earned Know-It-All You love testing everyone on their knowledge of pop culture, school you are a true trivia master, and no one can deny that! Sometimes it's okay to show off, so here's a lil' something for ya. Not yet earned Master of Knowledge You made three trivia quizzes, and we loved them so much that we had to promote them to the front page of BuzzFeed! There's no doubt that during the next trivia night, we call dibs on being your partner. Not yet earned In The Stars Let's be real: Whenever you meet someone, you check your zodiac compatibility. Smart, honestly. Whether you're a total Gemini, fiery Aries, emotional Pisces, or anything in-between, you know the importance of star signs. And that's why you're getting a trophy because we liked your post about it. Not yet earned Nerdy for Nostalgia Nostalgia just hits different, okay? From 'I Love Lucy' to 'Fresh Prince' to 'Lizzie McGuire,' you're all about living in the past — and that's totally rad in our book. Not yet earned Heart On Your comment got 10 hearts. Here's a trophy to commemorate the foundation of your little fan club! Not yet earned Hearty Animal Can you feel the love tonight? You got 50 hearts on one comment. Have another hit of serotonin to celebrate!!! Not yet earned Heartthrob ONE HUNDRED HEARTS!! I almost feel bad for you, because you're going to be chasing this feeling forever. Check out this awesome trophy you just earned! Not yet earned There's No Place Like Home You clicked your heels and visited home — the home PAGE, that is — every day for five straight days. We've loved seeing your shining face, so please enjoy this trophy that expresses our excitement. Not yet earned Habitual Homepager Don't think we haven't noticed you visiting the homepage for the last 10 days in a row! Whether you were finding out which Disney character you are, sifting through TV show recommendations, or catching up on the news, we love you loving us. Not yet earned You Live Here Now You've visited the homepage 15 full days in a row! At this point, we've made up the BuzzFeed guest room for you and even added some touches to make it more personal. After all, with the amount of times you've visited, you pretty much live here now. Not yet earned Pin There, Done That You pinned a quiz result to your profile, and now everyone knows that you are in fact like your favorite TV character or that you've discovered a new personality trait about yourself. Maybe we guessed your age correctly, or we were so off in guessing that you weren't even mad — you were impressed. Either way, now the world knows your result, so here's a trophy!
Buzz Feed
6 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
26 Iconic TV Women Who Sparked Sexual Awakenings
Recently, we asked the queer members of our BuzzFeed Community to share which TV characters made them realize that they're attracted to women. Here are some of their responses: "I'm Gen-X, so obviously it was Jo from Facts of Life. I know I'm not alone in this." —Anonymous, 50, US "To be honest, Gadget from Rescue Rangers should have been the first tip off." —Anonymous, 45, Michigan "I think we can all agree on Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer." —tellyourfeetajoke"The first time she came onscreen, she had me questioning everything I thought I knew about myself as a young teen. There was just something about this cool, confident, complicated (and of course, attractive) girl that had me looking and feeling things I had not associated with girls before. For this reason, she will forever hold a special place in my heart."—Anonymous, 40, Nevada "Quinn Fabray from Glee, easily. A criminally underrated and underused singing voice and killer looks (especially when she was a Cheerio). I also shipped her and Rachel so hard in my youth." —raymaariforever "Sara Bellum from Powerpuff Girls. Though it took 20 to 25 more years before I came out to myself." —ymxb "Xena and Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess. The scene in the hot spring. I was probably too young to see that, but from the glimpse of what I did see, it forever changed me." —pinkcomet428 "Monica Keena as Abby Morgan on Dawson's Creek and Rachel Lindquist on Undeclared. I referred to them as my 'girl crushes.' It would only take a couple more decades and a number of additional 'girl crushes' for me to realize I was queer (pan). But it started with them!" —sasstrid "Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She and Zuko both helped me realise I was bisexual. And, to this day, I stand by the fact they should've been together." —guacam011y "Tori and Jade from Victorious! They were talented and gorgeous, and they did things to my body I didn't understand." —alexandraisgay "Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune from Sailor Moon. They were the first queer couple I had ever seen on TV, and I was absolutely obsessed with them as a child before I understood my own sexuality. But honestly, throw a stone and pick literally any character from that anime, and they probably contributed to my gay awakening to some degree!" —Anonymous, 32, US"Cliche, but Sailor Moon. Just everything about Usagi made me want to date someone like her! Pretty, foodie, and obsessed with video games?!?!? Sign me uppppp."—Anonymous, 39, US "Hannah/Miley from Hannah Montana, but I didn't quite realize at the time that it was a crush." —nostalgiclegend284 "Well, this is embarrassing, but Jenny Shecter from the first season of The L Word. And then most of the cast made me realize that you can be super femme and be into girls." —lucyv4d65302ee "Leela from Futurama." —Anonymous, 19, US "Alison and Emily from Pretty Little Liars. There's a scene in Season 2 where Emily is imagining lying in Alison's lap while she strokes her hair, and it ends with Alison leaning in to kiss her. When I tell you that rewired my brain chemistry PERMANENTLY..." —audreyschockett "Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) from Charmed. It was undeniable after watching just one episode." —Anonymous, 39, Oregon "For me, it was Venus McFlytrap from Monster High! I thought she was so beautiful and cool-looking. She has a sort of punk aesthetic, and I was totally enamored by her." —elleenchanted "Carmilla Carmine from Hazbin Hotel. She's gorgeous and, when she lets her hair down, UGH, YES QUEEN!" —esadre "Camille Belcourt from Shadowhunters. If I wasn't already beginning to suspect I liked women, then she CERTAINLY shaped my specific taste in women. I eventually lost interest in the show bc she stopped appearing (honorable mention goes to Izzy tho)." —audreyschockett "Lindsay Wagner in The Bionic Woman waaaaay back in the 1970s when I was a pre-teen. I just didn't have a name for it at the time. I had pictures of her pinned up on my wall, along with pictures of Charlie's Angels. If I were playing Six Million Dollar Man with my friends, I would volunteer to be Steve Austin because it meant I could marry Jaime Sommers." —irisg2 "JoAnna Cameron as Isis in The Secrets of Isis (1975-76). It was a Saturday morning live-action superhero show. I adored her, wanted to be her, and only realized as an adult that I was definitely queer." —leticiamb "Samantha Carter from Stargate SG-1 (I'm a nerd, I know). —Anonymous, 32, Michigan "Charlie from Supernatural. I watched the show in secret because I grew up in a strict Catholic household, but it was the first time I was ever exposed to queerness — and queerness being okay, not a sin." —Anonymous, 22, Texas "Maxine Baker from Ginny & Georgia." —Anonymous, 15, Pennsylvania "Serena Van der Woodsen from Gossip Girl! I've always been into Blake Lively, and it was first seeing her character in Gossip Girl that made me think, 'Hey, you know I might actually be into girls as well!' —Anonymous, 33, Canada "Gillian Anderson from The X-Files." —caelesto And finally, "Lizzie McGuire ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🩶🤍." —runningwithscissors2343 Which TV character was your queer awakening? Let us know in the comments! Looking for more LGBTQ+ or Pride content? Then check out all of BuzzFeed's posts celebrating Pride 2025.
