Poetry Corner

[Oslo]

But if a male character says "that dude was hot", it suddenly MEANS something. He becomes seen as a gay character and with that comes a projection onto him of a whole bunch of stereotypical ideas. It's maddening. I mean, I understand it, but it frustrates me that sexual orientation is constantly a more defining issue for gay characters than straight ones.

This is basically my whole opinion in a nutshell. I'm entirely against essentialist views of gender/sexuality because they only lend themselves to these stereotypical projections, as you say. Ultimately, (I certainly hope) the fact that I'm gay is not the most interesting/significant part about me and it shouldn't be the same for my characters. Unless it's need-to-know info, my characters' sexual identity is not something I generally I demarcate. *shrugs* Same goes with their race/religion/birthday/favourite Disney film/etc.

[Gavin Luper]

This is basically my whole opinion in a nutshell. I'm entirely against essentialist views of gender/sexuality because they only lend themselves to these stereotypical projections, as you say. Ultimately, (I certainly hope) the fact that I'm gay is not the most interesting/significant part about me and it shouldn't be the same for my characters. Unless it's need-to-know info, my characters' sexual identity is not something I generally I demarcate. *shrugs* Same goes with their race/religion/birthday/favourite Disney film/etc.

Yes, indeed, it's the combination of all those factors and many more that inform a person's character, not just their sexuality. It shouldn't be treated as being "meaningful" any more than it is "meaningful" that a character is male or female.