#pollymal or otaku x punk: great fun.

[daisyachain]

Don’t ask what I was doing but for me I don’t like crossdressing in my romances not because I’m a killjoy, but because the point of a romance should be that it’s a rake in the grass. Centuries of heterosexism and misogyny have ingrained in people that for a girl, any boy is a potential mate, and vice versa. Even when you’re five you’ve got that knowledge in the back of your head. It’s a preprogrammed wet blanket over any kind of friendship or relationship that develops between two people—if you’re interested in somebody of the designated gender, it’s not because you like them, it’s because you’ve got no framework to interpret them outside of attraction.

So, the thing that’s appealing about a romance is where the expectation is not there. Where the relationship has to stand on its own; where the connection is so strong it forces people to unpick their own assumptions, overturn their worldviews, risk their own identity or safety to be with another person. Where even realizing what’s happening is a struggle and an accomplishment. The crossdressing trope doesn’t work with that because it cheats that. The romantic interest is forced top-down per the above rule. The one character doesn’t actually like the other, they just react instinctively to presentation and it’s booooring