#Krypton gender utopia when

[jesncin]

Idk queer kryptonian have always intrigued me, never being mentioned in canon, but they should do something about them in canon with Jon being out and all... I can easily imagine Crush (Xiomara Rojas, lesbain daughter of Lobo) asking Kara about Krypton's gay scene sgsjksks

I don't know about canon, but we can certainly have fun takes in AUs about it haha. I know it's because Krypton as a concept is made by us, human beings with very rigid gender norms via the western gender binary and what not, so Krypton generally tends to be imagined in a very "like us, but futuristic" way- but I think it's much more fun to imagine an alien species with a whole different set of rules over how gender and sexuality function in society. An entirely different framework alien (hah) to us. Like think less gay couples or a gender neutral bathroom and more a society that never considered a binary to begin with. What would that world look like, and how would characters like Jon or even Conner react learning about this?

Canon will probably never do this because this would imply a nuanced understanding of the intersection between culture and queer identity and well! Haha.

[fazedlight]

Krypton vs. Gallifrey on Homophobia

In my mind, Krypton is a fascist state:

Quashes disagreement (eg the knowledge of Krypton's doom)

Controls sex and reproduction; eugenics (Matrix)

Required algorithm approval for marriage (until the Matricomp became sentient oops)

Prison where all the prisoners get tortured by phantoms

Has a caste (Guild) system

Facism loves bigotry. It's an easy way to maintain control, if powerless people are too busy fighting each other to realize that their government has betrayed them. Patriarchy is particularly convenient - often bundling sexism/homophobia/transphobia. Krypton already has rules around gender categories (consider: the names Kara Zor-El vs. Kal-El), so I think it's a reasonable interpretation that homophobia could be among those rules.

(I occasionally see the idea that Krypton would be beyond bias, but I don't think technological advancement means moral advancement - sometimes, technology just automates bias.)

Gallifrey, on the other hand, seems to be described as far more democratic. While there's certainly room for it to fall into "all utopias are actually dystopias" (Timeless Child 👀?), it doesn't fit the same type of overt fascism to me. Likewise, I'm not sure it makes sense for homophobia to be a type of bias they have - Gallifreyans (like Coluans and Martians) aren't rooted in their bodies or gender expressions or anything else used by patriarchy to enact that sort of bias.

I think the Doctor (and the Master, etc) basically try to translate themselves into something that is legible in the human world, for ease of communication. But gender probably just... seems like a weird construct to them. Making decisions (like marriage) based on gender or similar attributes seems like a fool's errand, when those attributes can be completely different 12 times in their lives. Homophobia in that sort of world doesn't make sense to me.

I guess that's where I'm coming from, when it comes to homophobia and technologically-advanced societies. The faults in a society will depend on multiple factors, and I don't think we can evaluate it based purely on how futuristic they seem.

But these are just my headcanons - glued together from chaotically inconsistent canons! - so take them with a grain of salt.