#anyway my lunch break was saltier than expected

[crosscut-drifter]

I don't wanna reblog a post I just saw only to bitch in the tags, and I also don't wanna reblog it with no commentary, so I'm gonna bitch here, instead, lmao

To wit, if you can't tell the difference between "best friend character who is gay" and the Gay Best Friend version of that character

(yes this is about Dorian Pavus)

then that's on you 🙄

and it isn't just a character meeting specific stereotypes that puts them in the GBF slot, that's disingenuous af. it isn't being a sidekick, or a good friend.

it's the objectification. the *accessorization*. dragging the gay guy around like a purse or a doll, a part of your/the cis girl MC's outfit. the ... voyeuristic entitlement to the GBFs every emotion and his relationships. positioning the MC(/yourself, because GBFing happens IRL!! It isn't just a literary trope issue!) at the complete epicentre of his entire existance, putting that relationship on the same level as or above any intimate relationships he can have with another queer man. the desexualizing of his sexuality (or, conversely, the fetishization of it, to the point of being literal sexual harassment). the utter flattening of character or personhood into just being a cute, funny, *sassy* (gag me, oh my god) yes-queen for the MC/straight girl. the entitlement to physical intimacy. (gods, the *handsiness*. or, re characters, portraying relatively poised or not-super-touchy characters as especially touchy-feely.)

(are people probably slinging accusations around too liberally? oh probably! i don't actually read a lot of fic, tbh, nor do I follow any dorian-centric blogs, these days. and, to be fair, possibly because I curate my dash well, I also haven't seen GBF!Dorian crop up in, like, years.)

idk shit all about OP of the post i'm reffing, so this isn't directed at them personally, but i have never -- in the near decade some DAI released -- seen major sustained or popular critique OF the GBFification of Dorian. like, I can't be everywhere of course, but the only time i have ever seen someone other than me call it out, it is always another queer man. so a post pushing back against this criticism is gonna get my hackles up, especially because *queer men* are very distinctly a minority in transformative/creative fandom.