The Lesbian Space Princess Discourse, Explained

This article contains spoilers for Lesbian Space Princess.Another day, another internet debate embroiling queer people at the discourse factory. If you’re on lesbian or sapphic TikTok, it’s likely that your For You Page has been dominated with recent criticisms of Lesbian Space Princess, a 2025 animated film about, you guessed it, a lesbian space princess.If you’re wondering why some queer people take issue with a film that seemingly boosts lesbian representation, especially an animated one, strap in. While the movie premiered last year, and was positively received, earning it a Rotten Tomatoes score of 98%, Lesbian Space Princess became available for streaming on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand in February of this year. Lesbian Space Princess being readily available for a larger audience has since prompted more people to weigh in, and in some cases offer criticisms. Though some of the new negative reviews have just been about disliking the animation style —which I would characterize as a blend between Steven Universe and Rick and Morty — or thinking that the tongue-in-cheek queer elements of the movie were over the top or cringey, there is one resounding claim that has taken sapphic TikTok by storm: Lesbian Space Princess is transphobic. Namely, several clipped scenes from the film have been shared online as evidence of the claim, including the incorporation of the labrys symbol, an axe that was previously on early versions of the lesbian flag in the 1970s and was later co-opted by trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFs. (It is worth noting that in recent years, trans lesbians have attempted to reclaim the labrys.) In addition to the film’s content, several online fandoms have united to trash it on Reddit threads, reviewing platforms like Letterboxd, and social media sites like X and Bluesky, furthering the vitriol online. What’s more complicated is that while some of the criticism comes from queer people, fringe right-wing internet commu