#Wooster is asexual!

[ur-fav-is-aspec]

Some folk in the fandom generally agree with the first one and the second one is my own projection.

Wooster from PG Woodhoused book series Jeeves and Wooster is often assumed to be asexual. A gay/bi men who is ace and likes his valet Jeeves.

But I also like to imagine them both being aromantic/demiromantic and asexual in a queer platonic relationship.

Ok so this one was kinda hard for me to do due to knowing less than nothing about this, and the internet not being very helpful, so I would really appreciate it if someone could let me know if I’ve made any mistakes. I couldn’t find any book photos, so I hope the series ones are ok.

That’s a lot ok right image ID’s

(Image ID 1: the asexual flag with Wooster in the middle. End image ID.)

(Image ID 2: the asexual flag with Wooster in the middle, and a gay male love male flag shaped like a heart to the left of him. End image ID.)

(Image ID 3: the asexual flag with Wooster in the middle, and a bi flag shaped like a heart to the left of him. End image ID.)

(Image ID 4: the asexual flag with Jeeves in the middle. End image ID.)

(Image ID 5: the demiromantic flag with Wooster in the middle. End image ID.)

(Image ID 6: the demiromantic flag with Jeeves in the middle. End image ID.)

(Image ID 7: the aromantic flag with the Wooster in the middle. End image ID.)

(Image ID 8: the aromantic flag with Jeeves in the middle. End image ID.)

(Image ID 9: the queer platonic flag with Wooster and Jeeves on it in the middle. End image ID.)

[movietonight]

Aroace Bertie Wooster Propaganda

[my-mistake-lets-do-this-again]

reminding myself once again that PG Wodehouse was quite possibly asexual and that most of his characters are semi-repulsed by sex as a concept

[beetle-goth]

Jeeves and Bertie’s homoromantic adventure~

[deweydecimalduck]

A modern AU in which Jeeves tells Bertie to make his aunts watch BoJack Horseman (aka the Rosie M. Banks method, except it's about Bertie this time)

[katy-133]

Some Ace Headcanons and Tropes

Happy June, I made this post for discussing characters who I headcanon as ace, as well as discussing some tropes related to ace coding.

Ace, or asexuality, is when a person feels little to no sexual attraction towards others. This is separate from being aromantic, which is feeling a lack of romantic attraction (though an asexual person can also be aromantic, not all ace people are).

For some of the characters I've listed below, I'll specify as romantic ace (aka, aceallo), someone who feels romantic attraction whilst feeling a lack of sexual attraction. Or demiromantic, someone who feels romantic attraction only after forming a deep emotional bond with a person. Others I'll use the ace umbrella word exclusively.

While you can headcanon characters that fly in the face of canon, I like my ace headcanons to be canon-friendly. Meaning, if the story were to ever confirm that the character is ace, it would not contradict previous characterisation.

Bertie Wooster from Jeeves & Wooster as romantic ace:

The entire book series (and tv adaptation) is about Bertie trying to find ways of getting out of arranged marriages and accidental engagements with various women. These woman are canonically stated to be beautiful--sometimes by Bertie himself. Therefore, Bertie doesn't want to marry them because he finds their looks off-putting, he doesn't want to be with them for another reason. So the plot can be read as an ace story (it is a common experience for ace people to feel pressured by their family to marry someone). Bertie can be read as specifically romantic ace. He's fallen in love (with Miss Wickham and Pauline Stoker). In the books, there's this running motif of Bertie (who narrates the stories) describing his butler-valet, Jeeves, in a way that a person would typically describe their love interest or spouse, with Bertie sometimes making the comparison himself. This has led to interpretations of Bertie being in love with Jeeves.

Crowley from Good Omens as romantic ace:

Is a demon who falls in love with an angel and proceeds to pine for him for 6000 years (which I'm sure is some sort of slow burn world record). There's this trope that demon characters will aggressively flirt and try to seduce another character (the trope's origin stemming from the idea that evil and corruption is seductive in some way, as well as links with the succubus in folklore), which Crowley markedly subverts. Also, take Lucifer in the titular Fox/Netflix series (also based on a work linked with writer Neil Gaiman) and compare him with Crowley in that aspect--Lucifer acts more allosexual and is canonically in multiple sexual relationships. Fiction isn't created in a bubble, so this trope's context helps to code Crowley as ace, as he's subverting a trope (human-looking demons) linked with allosexuality ("demons are seductive"--though ace people can also flirt, in fiction it's often used as a shorthand for allosexuality).

Tintin from The Adventures of Tintin:

Is never given a love interest in the canon, nor shows interest in pursuing it, despite the series being 24 albums and the other protagonists of the "globetrotting adventurer" genre often have love interests (James Bond, Uncharted, Indiana Jones). Similar to Crowley, above, Tintin is subverting a staple aspect of the genre he exists in.

Sniper (Mick Mundy) from Team Fortress 2 as romantic ace:

Sniper never shows attraction towards a woman in any part of TF2's canon (which is particularly notable to me compared to some of the other mercs, who do). We see that Sniper's closest loved ones are his parents; he has no wife or girlfriend (the Administrator only threatens his parents also in the comics). While Sniper's backstory is a direct homage to Superman and is about him being adopted from outside his place of birth, his backstory can also be read as queer coded (he didn't fit in with his peers and he felt like there was something that made him different from them). Sniper is considered to not be attractive by typical Australian standards (in TF2's universe, Australians have superhuman strength and grow moustaches, due to a fictional element called Australium), so Sniper may have never had a relationship while living in Australia, but wanted to. His design and character based on Crocodile Dundee (the lead in a romantic comedy film), but despite that association (and repeated references to it), Sniper has no love interest.

Nick Valentine from Fallout 4 as romantic ace:

He's a robot detective (in the Fallout universe, he's not actually a robot, but a "synth," or synthetic man, but in terms of his character archetype, he falls under the robot archetype. Unlike other companions in the game, you can't be physically intimate with him to gain stat boosts. He has a deceased fiance whom he remembers fondly, and whenever he talks about her, he doesn't allude to sexual attraction, allowing the player to read his love for her as exclusively romantic. Robot characters being ace coded is an old trope with negative associations (such as ace people being viewed as "cold, robotic, and/or emotionless"), but Nick Valentine (being a companion character who gets his own backstory and inner conflict) ends up feeling more human than other characters in the story, subverting the trope. Nick Valentine's symbol is a heart. A neon heart is on his detective agency sign, which you see before you even meet him, a reference to his surname (Valentine = heart). The ace of hearts is an ace symbol for romantic aces (with other card suits representing other aces). Though I would guess naming him Valentine was done to reference different noir detectives (whom Nick is inspired by) being named after card suits (Sam Spade, Nick Diamond), the ace association is still there for viewers.

Reigen Arataka from Mob Psycho 100 as romantic ace:

When Mob asks Reigen for advice on confessing to a crush (season 3 in the anime), Reigen cheats by reading advice he found online. His colleague Serizawa notices this and notes that Reigen is inexperienced with relationships. Later on in the conversation, Reigen tells Serizawa that he thinks he'd be rejected if a woman got to know him for who he really is. He's referring to being a con artist, but the scene can also feel ace coded if you read it as Reigen being worried that a girlfriend would dump him if they found out that he was asexual. Earlier in the story, Reigen has a conversation with the spirit Dimple about a spirit stalking a woman. Dimple says, "It's pretty uncommon for spirits to have any sexual desire. We couldn't reproduce if we wanted to." Reigen replies, "Is sexual desire always a part of love, though? I-I really don't want to talk about this with you." Meaning that Reigen separates romantic attraction from sexual attraction.

Dexter Morgan from Dexter as demiromantic ace:

Does not show sexual attraction in the books, as well as the first season of the show (but does show sexual attraction in later seasons that deviate from the books, but we don't talk about those seasons). He describes himself as not being interested in sex. As he puts it, "For me, sex never enters into it. I don't understand sex. Not that I have anything against women, and I certainly have an appropriate sensibility about men, but when it comes to the actual act of sex, it's always just seems so undignified."). Again, similar to robot characters, killers being coded as ace is an old trope with negative connotations. It equates sexual attraction with humanity, empathy, and good moral alignment--implying that asexual people are in some way inhuman or cold. While he's still an antihero or villain protagonist, Dexter in a way subverts this idea, as he only targets other killers, and as the story progresses, he learns more about humanity and it becomes clear to the reader that he's not as inhuman as he describes himself. Dexter also has a girlfriend, Rita, and they're in a celibate relationship due to her past trauma with her ex husband. This leads to conflict in their relationship when Rita later starts questing if they should remove the celibate part of their relationship and Dexter tries to find ways to keep it. Dexter agrees to being her boyfriend at first to help "blend in" as a normal human, but ultimately proves to genuinely care about Rita as a girlfriend. The dramatic irony of him being ace coded and living in Miami, Florida was also a great choice ("Every night in Miami is date night," as Dexter puts it). It leads to Dexter constantly bombarded with his allo colleagues talking about their relationship problems and him awkwardly trying to pretend to relate to it. This can be read as queer coded, as Dexter is trying to fit in while feeling like there's something about him that makes him different from those around him.

Sherlock Holmes:

Film (and to a lesser extent, television) adaptations of Sherlock Holmes have a habit of making the character Irene Addler as Sherlock's love interest. She is not this in the original books, she is known as "the woman" because she taught Sherlock the important lesson of not underestimating someone because of their gender. Sherlock shows no romantic interest in women in the books, with his strongest bond being with Watson. Watson, the narrator, frames it as Sherlock being married to his (Sherlock's) work, which is a trope that invites ace interpretations (read as: It's not just "the work" that keeps them from pursuing sexual relationships--it's their orientation that led to them pursing "the work," reversing the framing). Similar to the "cold killer" character type talked about with Dexter, the "married to their work" trope can have negative inference that the character is cold or unfeeling by valuing their work over their interpersonal relationships. Though in the Sherlock Holmes books, Sherlock is shown to care about Watson as well as show compassion to other characters, including the culprits of some of the storys' mysteries.

Tropes are patterns in storytelling. They're tools, and can be subverted and altered in different ways. They have a history, and learning about their origins and their purpose in a story can help inform you as a storyteller.

In conclusion:

"Aces!" -Sniper

[eirinstiva]

Season of love

¡Ha llegado carta! A new letter regarding Jeeves

What ho, readers! Now, some time ago I went on and published a dollop of these stories in a collection called The Inimitable Jeeves. Published them in several collections, really, but this one’s important because I’d chopped them up a bit for it and added some nice connective tissue. This bit of yarn you’re giving the eyeball is the version from that collection, except it’s been rather un-chopped - but when chopped it still remained, the two bits of chop were titled "Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum" and "No Wedding Bells for Bingo". So if any old bird refers to them by either, well. It’s the same old story but in bits.

Best note ever.

Most fellows, no doubt, are all for having their valets confine their activities to creasing trousers and whatnot without trying to run the home; but it’s different with Jeeves. Right from the first day he came to me, I have looked on him as a sort of guide, philosopher, and friend.

Jeeves should add "fashion advisor" to his resume. Jeeves and Wooster are back in the UK, and their relationship is well established but Bertie insists on not following Jeeves' fashion advice before buying clothes. It would be a funny activity for both of them.

This time we had the chance to meet Bingo Little, and I'm sure he is another unique man.

So that it was a bit of an anticlimax when I merely ran into young Bingo Little, looking perfectly foul in a crimson satin tie decorated with horseshoes.

Something like this? btw this is a dog collar:

For I realised now that poor old Bingo was going through it once again. Ever since I have known him⁠—and we were at school together⁠—he has been perpetually falling in love with someone, generally in the spring, which seems to act on him like magic. 

I know at least three men that fits this description: a new girlfriend each spring, but at least none of them ask for advice to their friend who is "not much of a ladies’ man".

Side note:

Happy International Asexuality Day ♠ (April 6th)

Back into business:

Bingo fell in love with a waitress he met on a dance, same place where Jeeves went to have a good time and show how the floats on the dancefloor. Nice!

“What I wish you would do is to put the whole thing to that fellow Jeeves of yours, and see what he suggests. You’ve often told me that he has helped other pals of yours out of messes. From what you tell me, he’s by way of being the brains of the family.”

I just find fun that everybody in Wooster' social circle knows how smart is Jeeves. Bertie likes to show off his valet. Also, Jeeves has experience in the matters of heart ♥:

“I am on terms of some intimacy with the elder Mr. Little’s cook, sir. In fact, there is an understanding.” I’m bound to say that this gave me a bit of a start. Somehow I’d never thought of Jeeves going in for that sort of thing. “Do you mean you’re engaged?” “It may be said to amount to that, sir.” “Well, well!”

And, as always, Jeeves has a interesting strategy:

“The method which I advocate is what, I believe, the advertisers call Direct Suggestion, sir, consisting as it does of driving an idea home by constant repetition. You may have had experience of the system?” “You mean they keep on telling you that some soap or other is the best, and after a bit you come under the influence and charge round the corner and buy a cake?” “Exactly, sir. The same method was the basis of all the most valuable propaganda during the recent war.

Which war? You know, that war (waves hand vaguely).

Will the power of romantic books win? I don't know, let's see what happens in the next letter.

[my-mistake-lets-do-this-again]

may i introduce you to PG Wodehouse and his many stories. While yes, they’re old and some of them did not age especially well, the comedy is (at least in the case of the Jeeves series) has the main character actively trying to get out of any and all romantic relationships thrown at him (and there are a lot) alongside his Valet who is likewise not especially interested in being in relationships and helping the main character get himself out of them.

the comedy is in the prose in the books and in the scenarios and often the action occurring on screen (or in the books).

it is the main character fighting his aunts who tell him that being in a relationship will make him human and him disagreeing with that and becoming an excellent and fun character on the other side of it all.

the stories don’t talk about ton about asexuality or aromanticism specifically but they are very coded as such and the author was similarly disinclined towards concepts of sex and romance in his own life.

perhaps not what you were looking for and i agree entirely that more aro and ace comedy should be in existence but truly this media is really fun representations of what relationships can be or don’t have to be. it’s also just insanely funny.

I had a long discussion with friends earlier about the gender bias in how YA books are marketed and it somehow evolved into me saying "We need more fiction that questions the concept of attraction itself"

We got into how easily romance can be latched onto other genres (romantic comedy, romantic drama, fantasy romance, historical romance, etc.) and I started asking myself what an arocom (aromantic comedy) would look like. I decided, based on an old Tumblr post I can't find that joked about some comedy movie being aro representation b/c it had no romance, that it can't just be "a comedy with no romance at all", because then that's just a regular old comedy. By that logic, SpongeBob would be an arocom, which doesn't make sense b/c it largely focuses on non-romantic plots (SpongeBob working at his job, failing to get his license, the general shenanigans he and his friends get into) and only addresses romance sparingly, depending on the plot of an episode.

It sucks to admit but at least from my perspective, in order for a piece of media to qualify as "aromantic/asexual media" in the heavily sex- and romance-catered media landscape, it kinda needs to address sex and romance in the first place. As wonderful as it would be to escape for a few hours to a book or show or game where romance isn't addressed at all and think of that as aro rep, you can't really call attention to a character's lack of romantic or sexual attraction without acknowledging, even indirectly, that those exact things exist within the text.

I'm not saying sex and romance are inherently bad either. There are aces who engage in sexual activities, aros who date, folks on both spectrums who engage in kink because kink is not inherently sexual and just approach relationships in so many incredibly nuanced ways. It's not just about aspecs also having parents and siblings and pets either, we have friends and coworkers and neighbors. We have interests and skills and hobbies. But it's not just the cishets who place sex and romance on such a high pedestal as "fundamental aspects of what makes people human", I see it within the LGBT community too. There are more than a few openly queer folks out there who don't know or have forgotten that because asexuality and aromanticism are a lack or absence of attraction (and thus a lack/absence of conformist heterosexuality), that we are, to varying degrees, queer as well. And thus media with aroace subtext (or just text for that matter) tends to get excluded from discussions of queer subtext.

I feel like I got a little off-topic and rambly but Idk I just think we need more aspec fiction where people are free to explore all spectrums of attraction as much as they want, ask questions about what defines a relationship, and just generally bear in mind relationship anarchy when they create. I'd like to see it in mainstream media but I'd also like to see it in fanfic too

(Btw everything I just said also extends to people who are poly)

[transfemmbeatrice]

god remember that post about growing up asexual and someone said instead of feeling broken they felt like everyone else was busted because they couldn’t understand why they were so obsessed with sex. that is bertie wooster, to me

[my-mistake-lets-do-this-again]

okay so someone sent me a dm yelling at me about my take that wodehouse might have been asexual so to that i say, please read about him and understand that i too am asexual and am quite happy with the idea that wodehouse might have been. there’s a ton of plausible evidence and even if he’s not, i can really truly relate to the way he approached telling stories. he wanted to focus on making the story as funny and interesting as possible while not being overly sexual or even overly romantic. sure, i ship jooster and sure i like hearing about the ridiculous infatuations that bingo little has and still enjoy interpretations that don’t follow the strictly asexual nature of the books and stories, but i truly like the idea that these characters are just ace or even aroace and stuck living in a world where people are forced to get married by their aunts who don’t understand. it’s all fun and games and getting mad at me won’t really change my mind about this interpretation. please don’t try to. i’m not trying to change anyone’s mind, i’m just having fun posting goofy things on tumblr

[h3rb3rtw3st]

Bertie Wooster truly is the most asexual character ever. Not only does he have no idea what sex is, but if he did, he would be made confused and uncomfortable, much like his relationship with marriage.

[cucumbermoon]

The first time I read this as a young, confused little ace who didn’t know that ace was a thing….

It’s something in the way he’s so certain that anyone would obviously be disappointed to go into something called The Palace of Beauty and find out it was just girls that reads very ace to me. Like, a gay guy would at least get the concept of wanting to see a bunch of attractive people and having that be good enough for the price of admission. But so many aces, especially young ones, don’t even understand that attraction actually exists, and that’s what I get from Bertie here. He cannot stretch his mind around the possibility that anyone would happily pay money just to look at pretty women. In his mind, it’s clearly some kind of trick that is being played on the unsuspecting populace. This place claims it’s going to show you beautiful things - but it’s just boring humans!! You can see those anywhere for free!!

I also adore the mental image of one of Bertie’s cronies at the Drones eagerly telling him about all the girls in the Palace of Beauty, and Bertie listening with his upper lip curling in disgust and confusion thinking, “Good Lord! This poor fellow was fleeced!” Missing the point entirely.

I feel it so strongly, and I love Bertie so much for it. I can’t think of another fictional character who helped me understand myself better when I needed it most. Thank you, Bertie Wooster for facilitating my self-discovery. Go look at some pretty flowers and save your money on the Palace of Beauty.

Bertie “ugh, who would want to look at a bunch of beautiful women” Wooster

[deweydecimalduck]

Bertie singing some George Grossmith song...

[katy-133]

I am once again recommending the Jeeves and Wooster series to the Good Omens fandom. Both the J&W books and the tv series. I think if you aren't already familiar with it, you will like it. Season 2 of GO has only cemented that sentiment, especially if you like watching main characters who can be read as ace.

[haventacluewhatimdoing]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love *blasts you with sparkly hearts* ❤️💞🩷💖💗❤️💓❤️💝💕💘❤️💕❤️💘

Aah this is so sweet! I'm gonna have to look through all my stuff now...

I'm doing 5 different fandoms because I feel like it!

1. Jeeves and Wooster: Intersex!Wooster, Asexual!Wooster, pre-canon. Jooster. I'm so happy with how this one turned out, especially since I was so nervous to write it!

2. Goes Wrong Show: Each Cornley member comes out in their own way. ChrisTrev and Max/Sandra, Annie/Vanessa. Featuring every character, many different labels, and a variety of ways of coming out, which is why I love it so much!

3. BBC Merlin: Modern AU where Arthur is an English rugby player and Merlin is a Welsh water carrier. Merthur and Morgwen. I love this one because I love rugby player!Arthur and I'm a rugby fan in real life too, so I had fun getting to write about something I know about!

4. Classic Who: Two and Jamie wonder what the other sees in them. TwoJamie. This one was incredibly tough to pick because I think out of everything I've written I'm most proud of all my Classic Who ones. However, I think this one is my best ever attempt at conveying human emotion, thoughts and feelings, which is why I have chosen it. I feel like I really dived into why Two and Jamie think the way they do, which I highly enjoyed doing. Also a good dose of mutual pining which we always love.

5. BBC Ghosts: Modern AU where Pat and the Captain are teachers, and Thomas runs a cafe. PatCap. Also really hard to choose one of these, cos I have so many that I love! This one is dear to my heart though, and I come back to reread it whenever I need a quick dose of PatCap in my life. Also writing Thomas was a joy as I don't do that very often.

[rubecso]

Bertie Wooster is asexual and I will die on this hill.