#gojo isnt you free space for a self insert

[jgnico]

Okay, I'm going to elaborate on my earlier post and to do so I'm breaking this down into two very important sections:

1. The JJK fandom's feminization and fetishization of Gojo as a character and in his relationships, and

2. The general issues with racism when portraying queer poc characters in relationships that happens in fandom culture.

PS: I'm not touching the topic of why male ships shouldn't be characterized in terms of sex or why saying one character is a bottom vs another is a bad thing. If you want breakdowns about that, I guarantee that there are resources and posts that you can find through google. It's a well-known debate and I'm only here to talk about the issues that come up with Gojo's portrayal in fandom.

Staring off, I'm gonna to remind everyone that Gojo is neither skinny nor pale. He's an Asian man that's not only well into the 6'3 range, but he's also extremely fit. He is not skinny. He is not a twink. He has never been portrayed within the manga as such. In fact, if you want a clear picture of his physique, Gege has given that to us in the most blatant way he ever could.

Gojo's a big dude. He has a broad chest, straight shoulders, and big hands. There is absolutely nothing slim about him.

Even if you wanna go strictly off the anime, he's still larger than pretty much every other character in the show. I think the only character that possibly has him beat size-wise is Todo, but they're still the same height (give or take a cm) with Todo having a more obviously muscular build.

But let's look at some official art for the anime as well.

If seeing him beside Geto and Kuroi doesn't make this obvious, I want you to look at Gojo in comparison to literally everyone else in this picture. (We're not counting Panda, because Panda's literally a bear.)

The only reason that Gojo looks "skinny" is because he dresses in clothes that fit his body type without clinging to him. They sit comfortably on his frame and give off a more lithe impression of his build. (Which I would hope that they do because his shirts cost more than my car and that's how any properly fitted/tailored outfit should look.)

When he's not in uniform or more formal attire, he tends to wear hoodies/jackets over loosely fitted shirts and pants, which gives him the same effect while using a different method.

So he's not a twink. It's just the clothes.

Now, I don't think that I should have to point out why he's not white just because he has blue eyes and pale hair. I don’t care if you can’t picture him as Asian, because that just means that you have your own issues to work through with someone more qualified than me. 

He's Japanese, end of discussion. 

That being said, the problem that we run into with Gojo despite all of this is that fandom thinks of and portrays in him the same way that they would any white twink character. He's described effeminately when nothing about his personality or physique are "feminine" in nature. A lot of his canon qualities and traits get left out or out-right contradicted (such as describing him as "slim/boyish" or “timid/coy" when he's none of those things) in an effort of making him fit the image that's been assigned to him, regardless of if it's true to canon.

And you see this very clearly when you look at the role he's given in fanfiction vs Geto, who has more obvious Asian features and a darker skin tone.

This is without any additional filters (as in no specific ships, ratings or languages, etc. No filters!) and while, yes, you can make the argument that Geto hasn't really been in the anime yet, it's a trend that continues and is a point I'll touch on later in this post. So bear with me. 

Note: I’ll also go out on a limb and say that the majority of the bottom Gojo fics are written from his POV vs the POV of the person that he’s with.

The reason that this is a trend is because Gojo looks like a "white" character. He has a lighter complexion, pale hair and blue eyes, which makes it easier for mostly white, female author's to put themselves in his place when they write him. And this is something that's been an issue in anime fandoms for a long long time. But broadening out into fandom culture as a whole, it's also how we get situations where white ships with white characters gain way more popularity than poc ships with one or more poc characters.

Fanfiction and fandom as a whole is dominated by white female content creators. They make up the majority of authors and artists, and always have. But this issue becomes even worse when you bring in poc characters, because you run into the problem where the character with more ethnic features (darker skin, darker eyes, etc) becomes the "male" stand in of their ships, regardless of personality or body type or age.

The top or bottom role that's assigned to characters often has absolutely nothing to do with those characters themselves. Its a form of self-insertion without being obvious and if you were to ask most writers/artists why they've given the characters the roles they have, they often won't have a solid answer other than a general feeling or their own preferences.

In contrast, a lot of poc content creators will fall to the other end of the spectrum and advocate for poc or more clearly ethnic characters to be portrayed in the same way as their white or white-passing counterparts. But they'll ultimately get shut down by white creators for "fetishizing" minorities. I've seen this happen so many times in the 10+ years that I've been in fandom and I know other poc creators have run into this issue as well, but if you point this trend out to white people in the fandom, they either won't agree with you or they'll be shocked that its a problem because its never occurred to them.

Which leads me to Gojo's ships.

While, I can't speak for Nanago (and won't speak for Gofushi/Goyuu; I'm not touching those ships with a ten foot pole) I'm going to take a wild guess that most explicit fics boil down to Nanami being Gojo's dom and any non-smut fics still mostly keep him in this role in a less obvious way.

So we still run into the self-insert through canon characters issue, but it's probably not because one is more obviously Asian that the other like we see with Satosugu.

I want to reiterate that this is with no additional tags other than the one for their ship. I haven't filtered out anything else. 

Even if you take away the "bottom" tags, the majority of their fics place Gojo in that role anyways. Despite Geto having more traditionally "feminine" traits that in a fully white ship would typically lead to most people making him a bottom (such as a more empathetic personality, tendency to crave familial bonds, and a more reserved demeanor on top of being smaller in stature to Gojo) he tends to get slotted in as the top in the relationship, oftentimes at a cost of those very qualities.

Note: Again, with most fics being from Gojo’s POV, just like what I’m guessing we see with Nanago.

I cannot begin to stress how many time I've seen Gojo and Geto described through actions and speech that don't fit their characters at all and while, yes, I completely agree that having certain qualities doesn't mean that you should fit into a certain role when it comes to sex, there is an issue that comes up when the default work around to that is "pick the pale character." Especially when you add in a heap of mischaracterization and physical descriptions that don't fit that character.

I guess to reiterate my original point, stop portraying Gojo as a twink, or worse, a thinly veiled self-insert that came with a backstory.

I genuinely don't care if you prefer him as a top or bottom. Do whatever you want with that because I can't dictate your preferences. I just ask that if you find yourself always putting him in a certain role or enjoy consuming media that does, try to do so in a way that fits him and is faithful to his character.