Abstract
Abstract This article analyzes television’s (2010s) female detectives, Olivia Benson of Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 1999–) and Tara Dessel of Grenslanders (AVROTROS, 2019), as a cross-cultural example of compromised and negotiated female masculinity. Their designed traits of “heterosexuality” and/or “the feminine” are used as countering affects to undermine the female masculinity and queer ambiguity of these characters. Through Detective Dessel, I demonstrate how race further complicates readings of female masculinity. I argue that television depictions of cis-woman characters are ill-served when the possibilities for masculinity or sexual ambiguity is obfuscated by conventionally feminine appearance, heterosexual love interests, and other narrative components.
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