[ SECRET POST #2291 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2291 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 020 secrets from Secret Submission Post #327.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[altumcor]

First of all, I'm a gay man who would like to be entertained and be able to relate to gay men in fiction. (Note, I mean gay men, not men in general).

While I agree that female characters taking center-stage are very few and far in between, and even fewer still with well crafted characterisation, I see fandom's preoccupation with male characters problematic in the sense that these men are more often than not (implied or outright stated) heterosexual. Fandom fixes that to an extent, but for me, it can only go so far. Considering shipping and my aversion to fanfiction, the idea of slashing two male characters who may have female love-interests doesn't interest me in the least. Now that out of the way...

While I can still enjoy a show or read a book about heterosexual protagonists, but I would like to think that my involvement in smaller, underground, and independently-produced fiction which features gay male protagonists wouldn't be a hindrance for other writers and artists who wish to explore stories with well-written female characters.

[(Anonymous)]

DA. I don't think this is an either/or proposition. I would like to see more protagonists, and just more characters in general, who aren't all straight, male, white, middle to upper class, AND young AND able bodied, etc. That doesn't mean they have to tick all of those boxes. Just ticking one or two more often would be nice, I think. And it also shouldn't be a one "token" person per show limit, as it often is now.

Also, one thing that sometimes creeps me out about fandom is its occasional (not always) marginalization of canonically gay characters in favor of heterosexual characters in "if it's you, it's okay" exception same sex relationships. It bugs me for the same reason the obnoxious "no homo" tagline does, even if it makes some sense in context.

[altumcor]

It sort of felt like it did when I read it initially, but if my comment reads a bit too strong, I apologise.

But yes, yes, and yes. This is another issue I tackle with because usually, even with all the gay fiction I've read, the protagonists are almost always white Adonises with equally "conventionally attractive" white men who half the time are straight until the protagonist comes along. Then again, this is almost always a sign of an amateur in regards to the last part, but still.

And the whole "if it's you, it's okay", drives me nuts since it comes off that being heterosexual is part of why the other male character is attracted to him. And it sort of drives home why I'm come to hate this certain phrase which has been thrown around the gay community a lot: "straight-acting". As if, for one, heterosexuality makes a man, and two, that masculinity conventionally associated with heterosexual men is the epitome of attraction. Blah.