The trope of “experimenting in college” may result in a joke or two, but Hollywood’s depiction of LGBTQ plotlines as a passing phase is far more harmful than humorous. Rather than including a queer character, the “experimentation” of a protagonist allows shows to include a short, queer subplot before moving on without any real character building or diverse storytelling.

The trope of college experimentation appears in many comedic shows as a way of getting an easy laugh out of the audience. When a man is subject to the trope, their former “experimentation” is often brought up as a way of questioning the character’s masculinity or simply forcing them to vehemently deny any homosexuality.
In a Saturday Night Live skit from 2000, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson takes on the role of Superman disguised as Clark Kent. All of Kent’s coworkers are aware that he is Superman, leading to a poorly written exchange that was played for laughs: Coworker Jimmy Olsen says, “And it’s also weird that that guy Superman is a full on out-of-the-closet homosexual.” Kent defensively replies, “Superman isn’t gay!… I always heard he was pretty manly… Sure, he experimented a little in Smallville, but that doesn’t make him gay!”
Disregarding the fact that homosexuality is not weird and doesn’t make someone less manly, the purpose of the interaction was to show that Superman was in a same-sex relationship, resulting in laughter from both the audience and characters.

While SNL skits typically don’t have enough time for well-written character development, writers do have the time to challenge the idea of masculinity by throwing in a quick joke about same-sex relationships.
The college experimentation trope may also be used to portray woman characters as adventurous or even sexy, further promoting the damaging fetishization of lesbian relationships by their male peers.
For instance, in the 2010 film “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) must fight Ramona Flowers’ (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) seven evil exes in order to date her. The discovery that one of Ramona’s exes was a woman leads to a brief interaction: “Oh, calm down, Scott; it was just a phase,” Flowers says. “You had a sexy phase?!” Scott replies.

The purpose of this throw away line was to joke about the unfortunate reality that many heterosexual men treat woman-on-woman intimacy as if it exists solely for their sexual pleasure instead of recognizing these legitimate relationships.
“Friends” is another example of how media exploit the experimentation trope, revealing how men overtly sexualize lesbian couples. Although the episode “The One With All The Haste” doesn’t take place in college, it does feature Monica (Courteney Cox) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) coming to an agreement with Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc): they’ll kiss if they can keep the larger apartment. The scene then cuts to the two men walking back into their smaller apartment, stating it was “totally worth it.”
By continuously featuring lesbian relationships as something to be joyously ogled at by men, writers promote the idea that the women-loving women are performative rather than passionate.
I shouldn’t have to question whether or not I’m in a genuine relationship now that I’m in college. I shouldn’t have to behave differently in public than I do in private to avoid the wandering eyes of unwanted sexualizers. Why can Hollywood decide that I’m a plot point that’ll be used to prove the staunch heterosexuality of a protagonist?
This is not to say that no one should “experiment,” or that no one will ever find themself in an intimate position with someone of the same sex despite identifying as heterosexual. The trope itself isn’t even the issue: it’s how writers use it to discount homosexual relationships or romantic encounters.
Discussing a character’s experimentation with same-sex relations may be used to show an openness to trying new things, confidence in their own identity or defiance against compulsory heterosexuality. Same-sex relationships shouldn’t be used as the punchline when two men are involved and shouldn’t be promoted as purely erotic when referencing two women.
In truth, we’ll start seeing accurate media representation of homosexuality once writers stop devaluing these relationships until they’re nothing but jokes.