A webcomic I read; opinions on gayness.

Yesterday, or this morning, I stayed up reading all of YU+ME:dream (well of what's available so far). It's a pretty comic... the art style improved so much over each issue. I thought that not knowing what being "gay" means was a little too naive of the main char, and there are some convenient plot points and cliches. But the story and art and characters still really drew me in, and I finished it in one sitting.

Oddly the fact it's billed as a lesbian comic didn't really cross my mind until after I was done reading it. Heh... but I think love should not be limited by gender, so, that's probably why. The only limit should be personal preference, IMO. [Edit: Not that I think my opinion has any impact on anything... and I really need to stop editing this post obsessively. I guess I feel kinda weird writing about stuff I don't know much about. i.e. being straight myself, and all.]

I did think Yu+me was a little heavy-handed with the "gays are persecuted" attitude, but there are definitely places to live where it's less "acceptable" (in the eyes of society) to be gay. Particularly the fundamentalist Christians... you know, the ones that are raised with such a hate and fear for homosexuality that their reactions to it are completely irrational.

I just don't get it, though. Why does ANYONE need to care about the sexual preferences of others? I will admit that I am not used to seeing gay couples being open about their relationship -- but that's just it, I'm just not used to seeing it (probably because many of them are scared, too). It doesn't bother me, but seeing two guys or two girls kissing in public would probably elicit a "!" in me for a second before I just put it to the back of my head. And if I saw it more regularly, like... if I had RL gay friends I spent a lot of time around, then after a while even that tiny reaction would just go away.

I think it's only fair, anyway. I'd feel stifled if I felt the need to hide public displays of affection on a regular basis. I mean, just holding hands, or light kisses, things like that... any hetero couple can do that openly so why not gay ones? I think there are limits to what should be public, but they apply to both hetero and same-sex relationships. I wouldn't want to see ANY couple making out heatedly in public, for example. That sort of intimacy should be saved for privacy, IMO.

Anyway... I just wish that people weren't judgmental about same-sex relationships, ever (wishful thinking, I know.) Also, I think I actually like reading shoujo-ai for some reason, or am getting a taste for it. ^^ I suppose my aesthetic eye just finds girl/girl couples pretty to look at, and being a girl myself I can understand a feminine mindset very well. Also, I like plenty of hetero couples in anime/manga/books/etc., so I've grown to dislike the yaoi fangirl attitude of hating on girls that "get in between" their pairings.

Though I think if I were to describe my preference, I most enjoy series where sexuality is... fluid, I guess? That's what made Revolutionary Girl Utena so appealing to me. The focus of the series was never about gayness, but there were both hetero and same-sex couples around, or at least implied. It's just acceptable by default, so no one makes a big deal about it. (And I really like TV Utena x Anthy... a lot. But I've talked about that before!)

I try to portray that in Emberdays, too. The Realm and Creation in general are pretty much like that... there isn't really any anti-gay sentiment inherent in the Exalted world. The problem in the Realm is that reproduction is considered a Dynastic duty, so marriage can only occur between heterosexual couples. :/ But, it's not really looked down upon when a couple will marry for convenience and have same-sex lovers on the side, as long as they can remain discreet about the affair in public.

Of course, that may be the norm, but there are still Dynasts who would object to having to reproduce at all, or having to carry on an affair instead of being married to their true love. Those are the people who would likely be the most unhappy in the Realm. Unfortunately I don't think Immaculates can have gay sexual relations either, or I'd say "just be an Immaculate, then!" Heh!

Seems like almost all of the same-sex relationships I portray in ED end up girl/girl though. So maybe I really do have a preference for shoujo-ai over shounen-ai after all! O.o Though it's also because I never really come up with the opportunity to RP guy/guy stuff with anyone, since most RPers I know end up playing straight or lesbian chars. So the best I can do is imply relationships between male NPCs.

Though I also think that the gay male characters I create end up being rather feminine, anyway. Well, maybe that's not the right word. But my male charas mostly just end up male versions of my female charas, one way or another. Maybe that makes sense because my concepts are mostly independent of whether they have a penis or a vagina? I dunno. Mostly, I think it's because I grew up a girl, and mostly had female friends growing up, and never had a brother, so I don't really know or understand the trials of being male. It's easier to write/roleplay what you know, after all.

I can RP plenty of male NPCs, though, and have written plenty of male charas into my stories. It just takes more immersion for me when I'm writing regularly from a particular character's point of view, I think. So I tend towards making female PCs and main characters, as a result.

...writing this, I wonder if it gave the impression ED is very romance focused. It really isn't. Like I said, in fantasy worlds I like seeing love portrayed the "Utena" way, which means that people love men, or love women, regardless of gender, and it just happens... normally. No focusing on it as some sort of issue of note (beyond the issue of Dynast marriage, I suppose). For those few hours a week we play, our characters live in the world we've woven for them. Love may happen in the backdrop of greater, more world-shaking events, but that's up to the players to decide how much they want it to matter. :o