#like if they 'look straight' or 'look gay but are in a het relationship' or just haven't dated their same sex or whatever

[pa-pa-plasma]

look i'm gonna say it. some relationships are not queer, & that's okay. you don't have to cling to the idea that it's only okay if you can somehow make it queer. it's okay to be in a cishet relationship. the type of relationship doesn't make you less queer & it doesn't make cishet people inherently like. evil or something. chill out

[disengaged]

actually kinda fucked up how intensely biphobic my best friend-slash-roommate is

[francisforever2014]

i hate the term “female friendship” like it annoys me

[thewingedwolf]

@witch-niko i think andy was talking about that on twitter the other day bc YEAH, even 23, which was imo incredibly diverse when it comes to sexuality, you still had SB who was in a long term committed relationship (but claire/ky/df all being single did offset that a bit). and then 24 felt like a HUGE step back bc we only had michael & turner and BOTH of them were in long term committed relationships. and same with this season, like we couldn’t cast one or two more bi/pan girls for blue to interact with? or even another bi/pan man like at this point if we got a bi4bi showmance i’m taking it as a win akskskd. we have izzy AND hisam both being in long term relationships? not even Trying to get a gay showmance at this point it feels and i hate it!!! they haven’t had a single trans person on the show since audrey! come on grodner!!!!

izzy talking about the lack of gay showmances is because the reason straight showmances work is because you have a variety of people to pick from, you can’t just cast two gay people and expect them to want to get it on, which is very true and an excellent point, but also we can fix this by casting more bisexuals! we get closer every year i believe we will get a gay showmance one day soon!!!!!!

[hestzhyen]

Sunken Ships and SoRiku

Hi internet void. I went feral and maybe you'll read the result.

KH has made a lot of choices around SoRiku from a narrative perspective that, in isolation, wouldn't amount to much. A heart-to-heart here, a questionable line there, and so on. The usual things that one would do to court a queer shipping audience in an otherwise het or unromantic work. And SoRiku circles have painstakingly documented every instance to show something that looks more like a consistent and intentional effort rather than a few dollops here and there to keep shippers engaged. There's... a lot. But one stupid, insignificant thing really shook me up and made me a believer in SoRiku Endgame, Actually.

Silly as it is, it's Nomura's reaction to people shipping RikuNami that gets me the most.

Generally speaking a writer doesn't want to interact with fandom shipping unless it's to urgently course correct. As in it would be catastrophic to the narrative if the fandom had the wrong idea. Otherwise it's best to just take note of how people are interpreting things and adjust the next installment accordingly, or live and let live. Keep distant and don't risk accusations of retconning/bad writing/queerbaiting in bad faith. So the normal reaction from Nomura seeing people get excited over RikuNami would have been to just do nothing. But instead, the scene was patched to downplay the smile, and Nomura went on the record to clarify that it's not a setup for a romantic relationship between Riku and Namine.

That's insane.

Why is it so important that Riku remain romantically uninterested in a girl he'd have a natural connection to, huh? What about accidentally implying RikuNami was so detrimental to the story that it was changed and explicitly addressed like that? Even if it wasn't meant to be, surely letting it play out like AkuRoku did would be enough. Just gently clarify and move on with the story (which pretty much sunk the ship on it's own anyway). You don't wade into fandom shipping and launch nuclear warheads like Nomura did against RikuNami unless you want to leave no room for doubt.

Torpedoing RikuNami also doesn't help them keep up appearances in terms of straightness at this point. Leaving it intact would only help the case of Riku and Sora being bffs with the strongest bond 5ever- a huge boon for the writing team if they wanted to avoid things looking too gay. Nomura et. al. are absolutely aware of the impressions and jokes about how gay KH is. And KH definitely would not be the first series to play in to queer ship teasing for the lols until it's time to pair everyone up at the end.

But they did the one thing you're not supposed to do if you're just aiming to queerbait: undermining the plausible straight ship. You don't eliminate the only straight option for your character like that for the sake of "he so gay" jokes! Having a straight option available is vital to make the bait; they don't have to be compelling or important to the story, they just have to exist. Yet at this point, Riku's only option is Sora. They went out of their way to ensure we wouldn't think anything else makes sense for him.

Holy. Shit.

[dancermk]

I’m a little disappointed to see so much discourse, fandom competitiveness, and plain arguing going around at the moment in regards to queer film/TV. People complaining about too much sex, not enough sex, too cheesy, made for the hets, too happy, too sad, too realistic, too unrealistic, and a million other petty issues. I, for one, am a queer person in my 50s and I grew up with practically zero representation! Yes, we want to continue onwards and upwards with quality and varied shows BUT let’s be HAPPY we now have representation! Like, actual shows where the central characters are queer, not just a side character who gets f*cking murdered! There is room for all different types of representation - so enjoy the types you like, and let others enjoy what they like.

And on a side note: progress is progress and film/tv is a business that has to turn a profit! If some queer content is made to appeal to the straight community, and will also act as a means of reducing homophobia and increasing understanding, then that’s a good thing. That means in the future more and more content will include queer stories and representation. If only 10% (ish) of the population is the maximum target audience then shows won’t keep getting made!

There is a huge backlash all over the world right now - a “push back” by conservatives and religious groups that want to wind back the clock, and specifically the last decade of advances.

So stick together queers and LGBTQIA+ allies.

I’m super happy knowing I don’t have to wait years between content anymore. And I’ve loved all different types of shows over the last 5 years, for lots of different reasons!

Interview with the Vampire - is giving me the toxic, passionate gothic love affair I’ve always wanted. And addressing interracial relationships.

Heartstopper - is filling me up with pure joy and hopefulness for the future.

Shameless - gave me Ian and Mickey - unique, anti stereotypical gays with a tragic yet ultimately beautiful love story spanning 11 years

Lone Star 911 - is giving me TK and Carlos whose sexuality barely factors into the storyline! Yay!

Looking - gave me an authentic queer experience and an intoxicating love triangle.

Red, white and Royal Blue - gave me a sweet, cute romcom that allowed reality to be sidelined. Fun escapism!

Young Royals - had me captivated by first love and intense angst.

Fire Island - an underrated romcom that made me laugh so hard I cried.

Sex education - shoved the realities of sex in our faces and provided me with laughter and drama and a range of queer identities.

Gentlemen Jack -gave me historical lesbians with spectacular wit, and feminine power.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg- because there’s SO SO SO many more shows I could mention! Don’t at me because I didn’t mention YOUR favourite. This is my point! There is SO much great content it would take all day for me to include everything. This is just a sample - and that’s f*cking brilliant!!

So maybe we could all start posting/tweeting etc about what WE DO LIKE / LOVE / MAKES US FEEL LOVED AND SEEN and put down the device if we’ve got nothing nice to say.

Sending everyone a love filled week! 💜

[derangedfujoshi]

Do you ever stop and think about how lolis are now popular and kinda mainstream enough to see them a bit everywhere and nobody will make that big of a fuss about them anymore and do you also come to the conclusion that the reason why they're so widespread is because they're mainly created for and by men and put in straight relationships and at worst those get a scoff and a roll of the eyes and maybe a few diss comments but they're almost never at the center of some big fandom drama? Because fandom police is mainly after gay relationships and lesbians don't exist so lolis now have the privilege of being dismissed pretty quickly by the general public "oh you're into lolis? Lmao weirdo weeaboo" but the same can't be told about shotas. Because shotas are a product created by and mostly aimed at women due to them being mostly used in yaoi and we all know yaoi is Big and Evil and Not Good Rep so if you're into shotas you're a Disgusting Freak who needs to receive death threats. One could argue that oneshota exists as well but their intended audience is once again men but a very Specific sort so its popularity is way inferior and it kinda lays low, once again flying under the radar because women aren't the ones drawing/reading it (mostly, people, I know women can like lolis and and het shotas ok, we're speaking generally).

Have you ever stopped to think that the reasons there are not that many shotas in games is that their main target would be women and everything in this society is meant for and made by men so of course lolis are the ones getting popularised instead. And have you ever considered that the reason why many won't include shotas in their works isn't limited to the fact they, as men, don't personally find them appealing, since they can still create hot male characters, but also includes the fact that they know deep down why men like lolis is the same why women like shotas and they have this rooted fear of being looked at like they look at women so they cannot bring themselves to create something so blatantly pandering towards women and against "their" (through the characters) sense of masculinity. Because even the frailest of femboys is still a few leagues better than a shota just like a cute girl isn't the same as a loli and they KNOW, they know even just at a subconscious level so they won't include shotas and this is why there are such few adorable babies in the world. Because it's a bit of a niche interest in women creators so they can't be the absolute menace of a machine that is the regular yaoi industry, and it's also extremely niche amongst het men creators and even more in gay men ones.

Do you ever think of that?

[aceing-on-the-cake]

Compulsory Heterosexuality Info Dump

So because a friend of mine didn't know what comp het was and their internet history is monitored by their parents so they can't just use google, I'm doing a very quick research dive and giving you guys the results in case there are others out there who are in the same situation. I'll also be tagging blogs bigger than me because again, there might be fellow queers out their who are in the same boat as my friend and I want them to have access to this information.

So what is compulsory heterosexuality (or comp het)?

Comp het is in essence the societal belief and enforcement of being straight.

What does this mean?

In basic form it means that the only options presented to everyone, from the moment of birth, is that of a cis, amatonormative, heterosexual lifestyle.

You are given two gender options, these gender options determine the two roles you're allowed to fulfill, husband and wife, and you are told that these two roles are what will make you happy and are what you are supposed to strive for.

Meaning society, if you are born AFAB, tells you you're going to one day get married, it's going to be a boy, and this is what will make you happy. Almost everything in life is then seen through this lens. How attractive your are, how you are supposed to talk, how you're supposed to behave, etc is all considered through the lens of if a man will be attracted to you.

On the flip side, if you are born AMAB society tells you there are roles you have to fulfill as well. You are told you will one day want a wife, that you have to be able to have a job to provide for her, that you have to behave in a certain emotional way to be strong for her, that if the things you like are too feminine well then you're gay or a girl which is a problem because at the end of the day you're supposed to want the girl-fiance-wife.

This literally just sounds like the patriarchy.

Yes, it does, because it's caused by it. Nowadays people commonly know about compulsory heterosexuality from the Lesbian Masterdoc, but the term actually originated by Adrienne Rich in 1980.

Adrienne Rich in her article Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence put forward three ideas, 1) that heterosexuality and lesbianism were institutions themselves/possible political ideologies, 2) that heterosexuality as a system if not constantly maintained and upheld would eventually crumble and 3) that heterosexuality as a system could be opted out of and actively fought against whether or not you were actually attracted to women/non-women.

This is very different from the way we currently think of and define those terms, I am aware of that, but her point does still stand to some degrees that comp het, cisnormativity and amatonormativity all crumble when we stop rigidly enforcing the structures that uphold them, i.e., the patriarchy, misogyny, classism, and racism.

Ok but like what does that actually look like?

It can look like a lot of things, for a lot of different people. In the Lesbian Masterdoc you see comp het presented from a straightforward lesbian lens (of a 19 year old figuring out and defining their own sexuality guys, I'm not gonna sit here and critique it and rip it to death, go do that somewhere else).

This is therefore presented through things like women/non-women who were raised/socialized as women possibly having crushes on men, but they're always unattainable in some way (celebrities, fictional, someone real but they wouldn't actually ever be able to truly be in a relationship with, etc). It might also show up for lesbians as liking the idea of a man but being uncomfortable when one actually wants to move forward in the process. Or even sometimes it might show up as sexual fantasies with men but they're faceless, they're more an idea, or you're actually viewing another woman sleeping with him.

This presentation of comp het has made a lot of bi/pan/mspec people uncomfortable because they feel they too have experiencing comp het and when reading the Lesbian Masterdoc it's presented as if experiencing this is a straight shot towards being a lesbian.

And they're right that comp het isn't experienced by just lesbians. For mspecs who present feminine/as women this could be in the feeling that they have to dress a certain way to be presentable, but presentable is based on appealing to men. This can mean something as simple as women are expected to wear makeup, always, regardless of if they're looking to seek men's attention or not, because that's the base standard.

For mspecs who present masculine this can look like the inability to express themselves in an overly emotional manner because that doesn't make them "strong" and if they're not "strong" then they won't attract women, and that's what they're supposed to be doing.

For mspecs in general that can look like their queer looking relationships to be seen as a phase even if their mspec-ness is respected because of course they're eventually going to get married to a man/woman.

This can affect polyamorous cishet people in that they're seen as doing heterosexuality wrong because you're supposed to have the one partner and the 2.5 kids.

This can affect aspecs because they're told they'll never truly feel fulfilled if they don't have that boyfriend/girlfriend/partner to love them in a way that's so special nothing else could match up.

This affects all of us guys is my point.

How is this helpful to me?

Well for sapphics and lesbians (or sapphics/mspecs confused on if they are actually lesbians) this can be a helpful concept to consider because it can help you determine what relationships you truly want to pursue, which is the main point I feel is to be gained from the Lesbian Masterdoc. As she's put it "it's way more important to ask yourself if you can be truthfully happy with a man than if you’re attracted to them"

So if you're a sapphic who experiences attraction to men but you honestly can't ever see yourself willingly entering into a relationship with them, consider the idea of comp het.

If you're Achillean the opposite of this can be true, if you've been attracted to women before but honestly can't ever see yourself willingly entering into a relationship with them, consider whether comp het is working on you.

For mspecs this can be a helpful term to throw over the table back at your parents when they ask when you're going to get a "real relationship".

This can be a helpful term to consider when asking "am I forcing myself to wear mascara because I feel this is the only way I look presentable or do I actually like mascara."

Or it can be a helpful concept to look back on when undermining our internalized ideals of misogyny, towards ourselves and others.

This is a helpful term to put in our tool boxes to talk about the harm the systems of patriarchy, classism, and racism impose upon us.

Comp het can help us to understand why so many people look down on polyamory as a legitimate way of life.

It can be a helpful term for aspecs who are trying to figure out if they really want to date/have sex, or if they just believe these are the only things that will make you happy.

In general

Compulsory heterosexuality is just another term to describe a system we are all intimately familiar with. But by giving us the words to describe our experiences, it gives us the power to communicate those experiences more effectively, and to possibly understand why we're experiencing them.

This is just a bare basic knowledge post.

Honestly if you have the ability to, as in your internet history is not monitored in the way my friend's is, I encourage you to go on the deep dive through the sources listed below. Many of them are honestly only 30 pages long, that's a relatively short read, and understanding queer theory like this not only helps you to understand your own identity, but the ways in which you are connected to the rest of the fellow queer community.

Sources

Lesbian Masterdoc

Queer Theory 101: Compulsory Heterosexuality

Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence

Normativities Defined

Taglist

I'm tagging blogs bigger than me so that this has an easier time getting passed around as I mainly talk about aspec issues because I am aspec, but as stated above, I wanted to make sure that queer people who's internet histories are monitored and are only able to find information through tumblr safely could do so.

@our-queer-experience @our-sapphic-experience @our-lesbian-experience @our-aspec-experience @our-polyamorous-experience @our-pansexual-experience @our-unlabelled-experience @our-aroace-experience @our-mspec-experience @our-questioning-experience @our-bisexual-experience

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

It's a quieter week as a few shows have just wrapped and the next wave hasn't started yet, but there is still Japanese ql airing, including what is shaping up to be an all time fav. Both of these current airing shows are on Gaga and I highly recommend watching!

Love is Better the Second Time Around

This show is so good, and so mature in exactly the way I hoped. And I don't mean mature as in explicit--there is sex in this show but it's not some wild heat level. It's mature in that it's a story about characters who know themselves, know what they want, and draw boundaries. Both Iwanaga and Miyata are going down as favorite characters for me; I especially love that Miyata is a more knowing and self aware spin on a really well known bl archetype (think Rain from LITA but if he actually knew exactly why he was reacting the way he was to Payu and was mad about it instead of just overwhelmed and confused). This week we got a lot deeper into his teenage hurt over Iwanaga and now have a firm understanding of why he's alternately giving into and resisting this attraction. I am looking forward to Iwanga figuring out how to repair the damage he caused and earn his trust back.

My Strawberry Film

This was easily my favorite episode so far of this meandering little show. Every week I am left wondering what exactly this drama is trying to say and be; it certainly doesn't feel like a bl. We have spent the vast majority of our time on doomed het romance while Ryo quietly pines for his oblivious friend in the background. But this week we finally got to know Minami outside of Hikaru's narrow gaze, and I like her a lot. Her scene with Ryo where they discussed their romantic woes and established each other as a safe zone was very sweet, and showed how perceptive she is about all these dynamics happening around her. I was discussing with @bengiyo whether the show is going for an aromantic read with her, and I'm not sure. I see the makings of it, but the presentation of her feelings on romance feels a bit muddled. I loved her calling Hikaru out on being self-centered and having absolutely no patience for his petty jealousy. Hikaru thinks he likes her, but he doesn't actually know her (or his own best friend). I liked the final scene between Ryo and Hikaru as well, and the terrible angst of Ryo's confession that he immediately took back. The way the lights and audio from oncoming traffic played over his face in that scene was a really fantastic way to communicate both a moment of clarity and a moment of fear in the aftermath. I'm curious to see where this show takes the ending; a romantic conclusion for the two boys would not feel genuine to me at this point, but I could see them leaving us on a note of burgeoning curiosity and hope.

Bonus: No Touching At All

I recently watched this 2014 jbl on @twig-tea's recommendation, and I really loved it (I have already watched it twice and will definitely be doing so again). This is a classic office romance between a young gay man, Shima, and his "straight" boss, Toga. It's a simple story but well executed, and the film has a strong sense of place that I really loved. Shima and Toga have a fairly instantaneous attraction, and Toga is the kind of laidback character who simply never gave much thought to his sexuality and doesn't care about the fact that Shima is a man; he likes who he likes. Shima, however, is carrying a lot of internalized homophobia and trauma from closeted men messing him around in the past, and has a hard time believing in Toga's sincerity. I really love the way this conflict plays out in the story, and I especially love the way Toga talks to Shima. He's a no bullshit kind of guy and he tries his best to reassure Shima, but he's not a pushover, either. Ultimately Shima has to work through his own insecurities and make the choice to be brave to make the relationship work. The ending of this one is amazing and left me feeling very confident in this couple, and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's the grey for this one, unfortunately, but if you have trouble finding it in HQ let me know and I'll point you (don't watch it on YT, the version on there is potato quality).

[sciderman]

Recently joined a spideypool discord and. I'm not gonna lie. Not a single one of these people make either of these boys as queer as they are in my head. This is probably your fault by some metric.

most things to do with spideypool are my fault by some metric, and i take full pride ownership of that - i make it a point to leave my grubby, cheese-dusted fingerprints over everything.

it's kind of really funny to hear this line of thought, remembering back to all those years that spideypoolers hounded me for queerbaiting, when truly - even those days where wade and peter weren't boning, they truly had one of the greatest queerplatonic relationships of all time, and the straights just didn't get it. not everything that's queer has to be full-frontal with tongue. i love looking back at their no-homo era, because it is so undeniably queer still.

there's a huge portion of the spideypool fanbase that are cis het, you know - not that there's anything wrong with that

but it has always felt a little different than the way i go about queer ships, and the sort of perceptions i faced in the decade that i've been running ask-spiderpool. and while i've definitely left my mark and a lot of people love what i've done with the place - what i've done with the place has always kind of intentionally been counter-to the usual fandom perception of spideypool. so much that wade and peter are actually constantly battling off the creeps.

i wrote it this way because i didn't like much of what i was seeing, and wanted something that catered to my weird taste. my taste for seeing just two unsexy losers who kind of don't know how to go about it. i wasn't in it for sexual gratification - kind of just here to make jokes about things i found funny. i found people fetishising wade and peter really funny, considering how unattractive and slobbish they are in my head. and now i find the concept of labels and sexuality and people trying to define them kind of funny, and that's what i'm exploring now.

it helps to be an insider, i guess. that's the big difference I find, from reading a lot of gay fanfiction, or gay media in general. you can tell if it's written by an insider, or an outsider. and me - i just love something confusing, sincere and messy when it comes to sexuality. just like me.

[zeroducks-2]

The pearl clutching about supposed incest is ridiculous… so many pieces of media employ the high school sweethearts/grew up together trope for straight couples and you never see people up in arms about it, why such vitriol when a gay ship has a similar story?

People who use the word incest as a spectrum drive me insane.

Like yall, incest means sexual intercourse with a relative within the prohibited degree of consanguinity. Consanguinity means BLOOD RELATIONSHIP. You can't toss around the word incest to vaguely mean that these two guys were not raised under the same roof, did not grow up together, didn't even MEET up to when one was 17 and the other 20, and the only tie they have is that as young vigilantes, they were mentored by the same guy.

I don't give a shit about your feelings on how "it looks like incest" because it's not. You can't assign random words to things and demand they're true. Jason and Tim have less personal ties than Dick and Wally for fucks sake - at least Dick and Wally lived under the same roof for a time and have been close since they were 12ish. So I'm sorry but idgaf about people whining that we need to tag "batcest" and such because they get triggered by idk what the fuck, because that is not incest, it can never be incest in any planet or any galaxy regardless of how you spin it, so go clutch your pearls somewhere else and fuck off. I'll tag things when the tag APPLIES.

Also, how come it's "batcest" when it's Tim and Jason, but it's totally fine when it's Tim and Stephanie? How come it's "batcest" when it's Jason and Dick, and all good when it's Dick and Barbara? Or when it's Barbara and Tim, or Dick and Helena Bertinelli?

When you only give a pass to the het couples it really starts sounding like the umpteenth fucking excuse for homophobia.

[sharp-rosee]

Hey funny story: I haven't been around Tumblr at all for months, but today someone told me menalez had deactivated or something so I came on here and looked it up. First result was a post by you, i checked out your blog and wouldn't you know it your most recent post had you defending me post mortem lmfao. I sent an anon to the other woman too but it seems she won't post it so to clarify to you: when I supposedly said "studies showing violence suffered by bisexuals are cringe and useless" what I remember thinking about that is that those studies that I've seen are never used to try to understand why bisexuals suffer such insane rates of violence (more than homosexuals) and trying to stop it. I've only seen them be used as battering rams in discourse when homosexuals criticize bisexuals. Which is crazy for such a serious issue and totally trivializes it lol. Also that my explanation for it was that such studies show that many abused people incorrectly id as bi for a time. You can disagree or wtv just those were my points, she made it sound like I'm cheering on women beating if they're bi or something. Also your defense of me (thanks queen lol) is accurate if you were wondering. I used to be sorta pro strict separatism but I outgrew the anger/ denial phase of "most women will partner with men" and reached acceptance. Most people are built for romantic partnership, that's just human nature, I can't be hating het women just because their lot in life in that means they're more likely to be abused. Just because I'm not drawn to men, or even much to romance, doesn't mean I should act like that's everyone else too and judge them on that standard, I accept reality and want women to be safe within that rather than pointlessly hate on them and get all worked up because some women have boyfriends..

Well I'm also a mean asshole, I'm sure you noticed, and I definitely would give the bi girlies on radblr a hard time here at the time lol. I don't have the "one side" sort of takes on this divide on radblr. It was funny but I can't feel the energy to that anymore since leaving tumblr, way too few bis or gays irl to care about that stuff. But at the end of the day these are my actual takes on all that disk horse. Funny to see it immediately on such a causal stroll around here lol

-sleep3r4gent

QUEEN I used to follow you ♡ at least when I was crypto a few years back I did.

Also, I'm glad you clarified because the way some women on here seem to hallucinate things they read almost makes me feel insane as well. Like you sending an ask saying you never thought of a certain perspective is not indicative of you agreeing and obviously one can change their opinions over time.

I really have no opinion either way tbh, I myself am straight and in a relationship, and have had others on my last blog send some anons calling me a "dick worshipper" and other misogynistic BS, but they stopped once I didn't let it bother me much. It's so obviously a group of trolls that it's embarrassing that they still believe it enough to keep bringing back the same users, some like you who aren't even misogynistic, to further their persecution complex.

It even is more annoying because these are the women who made Mena/Moideater leave, the above drama is a big reason why. The way radblr will still reblog posts from very racist blogs and not bat an eye but then freak out over a clique of women who aren't even radfems really does show what demographic makes up this site.

I know it gets exhausting to be involved in arguments, but it's nice to know you're still somewhat around. I hope you, Mena and Moid come back someday. If not I understand. But I'll never forget any of them and I haven't forgotten you 😭😭😭

[bthump]

what draws you to homosexual relationships in fiction as opposed to heterosexual ones? I noticed I prefer them as well but I don’t really know why. Or maybe it’s just in the media I like the homosexual relationships are written to be much more compelling, I don’t know. This isn’t hate against het relationships btw I support all sexualities

Probably a million different reasons honestly. Off the top of my head, some of my personal reasons:

-- I'm bi but more interested in gay relationships in my personal life, so my fictional interests reflect my irl interests.

-- Removes misogyny as a factor both within the romantic dynamic and, if m/m, the depiction.

-- Relatedly, I hate how 99% of hetero relationships in media have a built in lowkey unacknowledged d/s vibe due to that misogyny. Woman passive man active, woman pursued man pursues, woman weak man strong, woman soft man hard, woman fucked man fuck, woman object man subject, woman prize man winner, woman small man big, woman puts in work and money to make herself attractive man gets to live at his default state, woman desirable for looks man desirable for personality/money/skill, woman financially dependent on man, etc etc etc. Turns me off.

-- Like at least when that's the dynamic in m/m or f/f it's deliberately someone's kink and a gender norm is being subverted by one of the characters.

-- Gay relationships being more equal is something I've seen cited a lot, rightly or not, but it isn't one of my reasons lol, I like unequal relationships in fiction. That said, gender not being a factor in that inequality is definitely a draw for me.

-- Subtext is more engaging than most textual romances, and gay relationships are more likely to be subtext while het is more likely to be textual.

-- Gay sex (m/m and f/f) turns me on, straight sex rarely does.

-- Specific to m/m, but men in fiction are more likely to have compelling, complicated, deep relationships with each other than they are with women.

-- I enjoy gender nonconformity which is much more plentiful in gay ships and fiction than straight media.

-- Heterosexuality is oversaturated in media and I'm exhausted and irritated by its ubiquitousness.

-- As someone who grew up in the 90s, the existence of casually gay popular media still blows my mind lol, the shine has not come even close to wearing off. Heterosexual media just can't compete with that.

Anyway yeah, those are a few of my reasons, and maybe they align with some of yours as well.

Ultimately though I don't think it matters and it shouldn't be something you feel the need to justify imo. Enjoy whatever you enjoy for whatever reason, or no reason at all. But if you enjoy soul searching, then maybe this list is a decent starting point.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Just some thoughts on the new Steam trailers and promo stuff.

I just watched the Steam trailer announcement for the KH series...and they made it really het/S*kai focused. It's very gen/friendship focused as well, but they seriously somehow were even able to make the DDD section of the trailer very not gay and just very gen/friendship based.

Here is the Steam Announcement Video:

The two short KH is on Steam trailers on Utada's YT page are more for promoting the re-recordings of Hikari and Simple & Clean, but they are fairly het/S*kai and general friendship focused as well. Though, Hikari's promo works better with they lyrics, timing, and lyrical meanings than Simple & Clean.

(More under the Read More due to length).

Here are the two promos to compare. First, Hikari:

In this version we have the lyrics break down like this:

どんな時だって (donna toki datte) - No matter when it is

From KH1 Sora to Sora in Castle Oblivion, just before battling Marluxia (who's in the background) from the KH2 OP

ずっと二人で (zutto futari de) - We'll always be together

From Axel in the DDD OP to the Time Station shattering around Ven from the BBS OP

どんな時だって (donna toki datte) - No matter when it is

From Aqua holding a frozen Ven and looking up at the blue "Kingdom Heart" in the sky (BBS OP) to the Back Cover stuff

側にいるから (soba in iru kara) - I'll always be by your side

From YX looking at the night sky out the window (KH3 OP) to Sora & Kairi sitting together from the KH3 ending

君という光が (kimi to iu hikari ga...) - The light known as "you"....

This last bit starts as the titles that are going to be released on Steam start to appear on the screen (there are spinning heart shapes that appear over the image, and those turn into the titles), which turns to a plain black screen and info on the release dates, games, etc.

The Simple & Clean take on this promo is definitely a bit more awkward timing and lyrics-wise. It doesn't work as well, though, both promos don't really highlight the bond between Sora and Riku like at all, but highlight the bond between Sora and Kairi, along with just gen friendships in general (which I like and don't mind).

Here is the Simple & Clean Re-recording + Steam promo:

I don't know. Obviously, they are focusing on the whole series as a whole, which makes sense and the more gen focused stuff for nearly all the characters makes sense and I like and appreciate that. But, it just feels weird to see/have so little of Riku and have the video end with the S*kai stuff, since that relationship is just so underexplored, underdeveloped, and often times just straight up ignored in a lot of the games/Sora's overall journey.

Also, while I'm a fan of Soriku, I don't really care for a number of the big theories out there that exist (some of which, like the whole aitsu thing, has been debunked, and I just find the whole "Sora forgot about Riku" theory to be a theory more so created to cope with the reality that the series is trying to push S*kai more now...even if there are a lot of issues with that from a writing perspective). IDK, but when I see stuff like this...when I played KH3...they all just kind of worked as reminders to keep my expectations in check. I might just be too burned by past media experiences, but a large part of me still believes that the closest we might ever get to canon Soriku is a realization and confirmation on Riku's part that he loves Sora, but S*kai still ends up happening because of "I want my lover to be happy" type trope stuff.

At the very least, I'm happy that we got largely gen and friendship based trailers and promos with all of this, instead of all of the imagery being like "potential het couples" type stuff, lol. But yeah, this is probably an overreaction, but KH3 is a game that really killed my love for the franchise and makes me very hesitant, skeptical, and cynical of KH4 along with the franchise going forward in general. So these promos just don't help at all with that.

[crazylittlejester]

Do you head canon any of the chain on the LGBT+ spectrum? If so who do you feel fits where? If not (like just haven't thought about it enough to have the head canons or some other reason), are you still cool with them being portrayed that way in fics?

i love when people make them LGBTQ+, i eat it up every damn time. I’m bisexual myself so I love me a good gay headcanon. We support the whole LGBTQ+ community on this blog, happy pride month y’all 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

HERE ARE MY PERSONAL HEADCANONS FOR THE CHAIN:

Time: Bi, and I will DIE on the hill that he’s trans too. FTM OOT Link is my truth

Wars: Biromantic, somewhere on the ace spectrum around demi or gray ace. He’s not looking for a relationship because with all the trauma he’s just not ready for that, but he’s not completely against it, and he would love a partner some day

Twi: Bi, prefers women

Sky: Bi, prefers men (surprisingly)

Hyrule: Aromantic, somewhere on the ace spectrum

Legend: Bi, definitely uses he/they

Wild: Doesn’t put a label on his sexuality or his gender, but he is NOT cis or het and he’s attracted to all genders for the most part. He’s got his preferences but he’s also not really LOOKING for anything right now? So he’s shoved it in the “later” box and is just kinda hanging out

Four: Straight, but the world’s biggest ally and we love him for it, and also trans ftm. Broke his heart when he realized he wasn’t a lesbian, he was just another straight man /j

Wind: Pan

TL;DR: all of em. all of em are somewhere in the LGBT. it comes with the hero’s spirit /j

[fallloverfic]

Thinking about how people assuming Seth isn't into men is also a big reason why Osiris is an idiot, and Ra called Osiris out on that line of thinking in S02E78. In fact, she calls him, "Arrogant, foolish Osiris" (among other things) for this. Like that just happened in canon and I guess folks slept through that episode because people keep insisting he only loves Nephthys/is straight/can't like men.

Like people say "Seth isn't gay" and I think that's fair, but I don't think he's het, either. He doesn't evince interest in women generally. Osiris assumes Seth does because Osiris doesn't understand love. To him, Seth must be into goddesses solely because they can have babies.

Osiris does not comprehend that it isn't Nephthys' gender that attracts Seth to her: it is herself as a person. Osiris has no regard for that. He does not fathom Seth as a complex person with agency. To Osiris, "to love someone is to expect something from them." (S01E49). He catalogues people into capabilities: if I could provide the same things for Seth, Seth would love me. This disregards any relationship Seth might have with Osiris, Nephthys, or anyone else. He stole Seth's seed for who knows how many years. He removes Seth's agency in many ways.

This is a really common romance trope with the obsessive non-partner: "I'm better looking, I can provide more/the same, why do you love [love interest] and not me?"

Because the person they're pursuing has agency and love is complicated. This thinking ignores that. It treats people as goals to be reached or objects to be won.

Osiris sees no issue with this, despite his alleged wisdom, because "love" as he understands it, is "a selfish emotion that feeds on personal gain." (S01E49). Osiris is being selfish, and he'll do whatever he has to, destroy whoever and whatever he needs to, in order to achieve the object of his desire that is Seth. As Ra says, Osiris is "a rotting fruit" who "rot[s] those around" him. (S02E78).

So far as we can tell, Seth isn't in love with women generally. The only other woman to whom he potentially showed any sexual advances was maybe Isis? (Seth to Isis, "I had asked you to sleep with me." S01E39). But we don't actually know how he framed that offer/request when he tried to get her to join him in revenge, let alone if he actually wanted to sleep with her or just wanted to get revenge on Nephthys and/or Osiris, or if he just convinced himself that's what he was asking Isis to do and that's part of why Isis rejected him. We do know he's in love with Nephthys (S01E49). Or was in the past. Lately, he cares for Horus. I would argue he's demi-bisexual or demi-pansexual, but also isn't a person who's into labels. Not everyone is. Queerness is a spectrum.

Yes, he calls relations between male humans disgusting in a spur of the moment thought in S02E36, and that's sort of it. Seth generally thinks ill of humans, and he's not given to think kindly of Horus at the time, either. That's also not definitive. He changes (S02E70). He also would not be the first person in existence to internalize bigotry that would possibly target himself. Plenty of marginalized people are/act bigoted against their own people/themselves. At the time, Seth was also ill and trapped in a stronghold of people who hate him, safe on the kindness of humans. There are so many reasons that he might respond weirdly or not in a way that reflects his entire state of mind about his own wants. No one was asking him, "Are you gay?" or even "Would you date and/or fuck a guy if you had a chance?" Horus was carrying on a facade to fool Hanekate in a complex situation that Seth hated for many reasons, and Seth was understandably shocked.

I don't think he likes men generally. I think his body reacts to things (Osiris, Foreign God), as bodies tend to, which doesn't necessarily mean anything about his sexuality. But his being into Nephthys also kind of says nothing about his wants. He wants Nephthys. The person. Not a gender. His lack of being into a specific gender generally does not mean he solely likes women or cannot be into men or must be forced into it or something. He loves people on an individual level.

When he rejects Osiris, it's not because Osiris is male, but because Seth cares platonically for Osiris solely as a brother and monarch.

Osiris to Seth in S01E41: "What am I... ...to you? Am I just the king that rules over the land that you protect? Am I just your brother born from the same womb? What about besides that? Have you ever even thought of me as something more?"

Seth: "Why do you need to be more than that?"

Ra to Osiris in S02E78, "You think that Seth turns away from you because you are also a male god? And you think Seth desires female gods because of their power of creation? . . . If that is the conclusion you have come to, then it is proof that you are already breaking down."

It's all right there. It didn't need to be that overt because you can see it in the rest of the story, too, but the overtness is now there. Clear as day. Osiris' line of thinking about Seth's affections is wrong. And to imitate that is foolish.

It's Seth's deep love for individuals that allows him to open his heart to Horus (S02E70). Osiris and even Nephthys do not see Seth for who he is. Horus does. He refuses to forget. And that's why Seth cares for him, because it's Seth's deepest wish (S01E40-1).

In sum, assuming Seth loves Nephthys because she's a woman and this is the end-all statement about his sexuality/interests will get Ra to laugh at you just like she laughed at Osiris for assuming basically the same thing.

(Also assuming all protagonists and/or love interests in boys love stories have to be gay to have relationships with other men is really weird. Plenty of protagonists are bisexual, pansexual, undeclared, or questioning)

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