#everyday i learn about the existence of other hetalia characters

[lord-of-tomatoes]

Can you draw Cyprus and/or Turkey pls ? I don't know if you ever draw them but Cyprus would be so cute in your artstyle

Or more Gregy if you prefer

I hate his haircut so much why does his hair look like that??? Bestie get another barber

Anyways i drew all of them cause I'm indecisive

[67616c]

hi everyone!!!

i’m aaron, and im gay. that’s all you need to know about me. to quote a random 2012 tumblr user, “im gonna learn you a thing.” i’d like to teach u all about some things relating to lgbt media! this post will cover heteronormativity, queerbaiting, ‘yaoi’ and ‘yuri’, and EXTREMELY briefly, lgbt erasure. each section has a tldr in italics at the end of them.

heteronormativity

heteronormativity is, by definition, “the belief that people fall into ‘traditional genders’ with traditional roles in life. it assumes that heterosexuality is the only sexual orientation, and that romantic relations are only fitting between a man and a woman.” (paraphrased from wikipedia)

that’s disgusting to begin with, but in my opinion, it’s deeper than that. i believe that heteronormativity is not only conservative beliefs, but that it also leaks into our everyday lives, whether you’re straight, gay, cisgender, transgender, male, female, nonbinary, whatever.

years of these beliefs have lead to things that will probably never be reversed. things as little as someone asking a girl if she has a boyfriend to bigger things like a mother refusing to let her son buy a pink toy. its things like this that can tear people apart. some people may not be bothered by it and can simply correct someone, but i know from my close friends that a lot of people (especially those with severe dysphoria relating to their identity) hate it. i hate the joke, but its why the “assuming gender” thing is a problem. the “traditional” standards for girls and boys are still here- even people in the lgbt community can be guilty of this.

heteronormativity in recent years has also grown to be applied to ships (sorry for using a more informal term, i don’t know what else to call it) in media + fandoms. there’s not much to say about this. there are far too many ships that have no substance or reasoning other than the fact that it’s a female and male character. keep in mind that this doesn’t apply to all straight relationships!! i hate seeing people misuse the term and complaining about all straight ships because of this. it’s gross to do that, and honestly, you’re stooping down to the level that people who have these beliefs are at.

tldr: heteronormativity, briefly summarized, is the idea that boys should be boys, girls should be girls, and relationships should be male/female. this has leaked into modern times and affects anything from people assuming things about someone to relationships in media only existing because its a convenient male/female pair.

queerbaiting

queerbaiting is, thankfully, much less common than heteronormativity when it comes to media. basically, queerbaiting is when a character or characters are portrayed as a member (not ally!) of the lgbt community for the sole purpose of appealing to actual members of said community. queerbaiting can range from two characters of the same sex having romantic interactions but never acting on them to a female character saying she’s lesbian and then it never being brought up again.

television is the prime offender of queerbaiting. there have been multiple occurrences of queerbaiting in popular shows in recent years. examples at the end of the post!

tldr: queerbaiting is when a big company advertises or depicts a character or characters as lgbt for the sole purpose of appealing to actual members of said community.

yaoi and yuri (and why they’re bad)

just as a disclaimer, this section is going to be a tad bit more opinionated.

yaoi and yuri are both terms for male/male and female/female (respectively) relationships in fandom media. typically used by straight women, these differ from actual lgbt ships in the fact that it’s a gay pairing being fetishized (which is bad!!!!!). i believe that “slash” fits into this category as well.

often times, sometimes even without noticing, the people guilty of this fetishization are internally oppressive against actual gay people. this leads to terms like “sinful” being used to describe these ships. 

yaoi/uri is basically a portion of heteronormativity reversed, but somehow still enacted by straight people. these ships often have no substance, and are only there because its hot guys kissing. (ring any bells? straight homophobic men thinking that girls kissing is hot? anyone?)

tldr: yaoi and yuri ships are fetishized gay ships. the people who use these terms are often straight women who have underlying homophobic beliefs.

lgbt erasure

barely anything to say here. most of the time, this is a book or comic character whos gay being straight in a film adaptation.

this is more commonly referred to as bisexual or asexual erasure, as its mostly the two that get “erased.” 

examples of everything

note that all examples of these things are always going to be opinionated. everyone will think differently about something. these are some examples that me and the people close to me often refer to and are bothered by.

these are all fandom ships, as in “modern times”, they’re often the offenders. they are also the most recognizable thing for most people.

one or two of the ship names are links to posts explaining why they fit into that category!

heteronormativity

-mei x junkrat (overwatch)

-orange x blue (splatoon)

-archie x veronica (riverdale, not completely heteronormative, but has aspects that put it in this category)

queerbaiting

-betty and veronica (riverdale)

-roadrat (overwatch)

yaoi/yuri

keep in mind that a lot of these ships have actual substance, but are often made into something gross and fetishized by people + fanmade content (often fanfiction)

-any gay hetalia ship, basically (hetalia lol)

-kageyama and hinata (haikyuu)

-light and L (death note)

-sasuke and naruto (naruto)

lgbt erasure

-jughead (riverdale)

-asexuals + bisexuals being excluded from the lgbt (which has a b in it for a reason) community (literally the lgbt community)

that’s all i have to say! i hope you learned something!