@creativichee / creativichee.tumblr.com
"there is no reason why homophobia should be a thing in your fictional universe" actually a) I grew up in a homophobic family in a homophobic country and can only explore my struggles and my identity through my writing b) I'm not about to be schooled by Tumblr activists as to what constitutes "good queer rep", most of you all don't seem to realise there are cultures outside those of Europe and USA and "good" is not a universal parameter.
“Why do you hate fujoshis/yaoi shippers?”
I'm trying to write a story, and one of the characters is gay. This character is troubled because of his sexuality, depressed and suicidal at times. Is this a bad move or a bad way to write a non-straight character? Also how can I wrote his character without making the aforementioned things the focus of his personality/character? Thanks
I can’t really begin to tell you how tired of I am of seeing sad gays in fiction. We could be here for hours. What I will do, instead, is give you a series of questions to ask whenever you come across a ‘should I write this character this way’ question
Why do you need to tell this story?
Is there a particular reason why your character has to be depressed and suicidal because of his sexuality? Is it key to your plot? Is there something important you need to address by this? What are you trying to say with this character?
Why do you need to tell this story?
Is this your story to tell? Do you have personal experience with this kind of thing? What makes you a good person to tell this story?
Why do you need to tell this story?
Why does the character’s sexuality have to be the source of his depression? Would it hurt your story to change that? Again, why does this have to be what characterizes your character?
I hope you’ve got the inkling by now that yes, it is problematic to make a person’s sexuality the source of their depression, especially gay people. Not only has it been done countless times before, it’s often done badly.
That, of course, doesn’t mean that you can’t have a gay character with depression, or that all your LGBTQ characters have to be happy, but directly connecting sexuality to depression often has the connotation that being gay causes depression, or depression is a punishment for being gay (thanks for nothing, Puritan ancestors!). Higher rates of depression and suicide in the LGBTQ society is largely do to external factors, like discrimination, bigotry, rejection from family, and more.
A fictional straight person would never have their depression be due to their straightness. Why would a gay person be different?
As someone who’s an LGBTQ person of color, I’m divided on this. A lot of my personal mental health issues are partially the result of Catholicism’s stance on homosexuality. When you get told every Sunday that you’re going to hell for something you can’t (and in my case, didn’t want to) change, it can take a toll on your psyche. Likewise, the hallway banter from elementary school all the way through to high school filled with “fag,” “dyke,” and “gay” used as diminutives and insults does tend to take a toll on LGBTQ individuals. There’s a reason there are higher rates of suicide and depression among LGBTQ individuals than the cis, het populace.
HOWEVER! I do agree that, as an LGBTQ person, I’m sick of the gays being sad all the time. While mental illness and sexuality, at least in this day and age, are inextricably tied together, eventually one comes to make peace with the messages received in youth, and as many people forget, depression, anxiety, etc. often don’t have a single source. Sexuality alone does not depression make, one could say. I agree with fixyourwritinghabits in that calling sexuality the source of depression is problematic. My sexuality makes me quite giddy. I love women and would never change that about myself! Just seeing a beautiful woman and being able to admire her on a romantic as well as aesthetic level makes me deeply, deeply happy. It’s the fallout that comes with my sexuality and gender identity that had me, at times, contemplating a path from this world.
TL;DR: I think it’s important to acknowledge the prevalence of mental health issues in the LGBTQ population; I do agree that, at least in the world of art and writing, the trope of the suicidal LGBTQ person because of their sexuality is overdone, and, I’d even go ahead and say, a cliche.
You are absolutely entitled to write about your own experiences, regardless of whether they are sad, depressing, or “stereotypical” (the fear of your experiences or your story lining up with ‘stereotypes’ is common, but they’re not stereotypes if they’re your actual life experience!).
Negative religious experiences (I hear you on the Catholicism, believe me), bullying, discrimination, shitty politics and whatever the hell is happening in Kentucky are all examples of external factors that can lead to depression, and can contribute to the higher rates of depression in LGBTQ folks. However, we also can’t finger one cause of depression–that’s not how mental illness works. Sometimes depression is just depression!
Regardless, merely being gay=depression is not a sound basis for a character.
…the heroine “incidentally” is blonde-haired and blue-eyed and pale-skinned (whitest of the white) while a female antagonist or villain “just happens” to have dark hair (sometimes curly), dark eyes, and other features stereotypically affiliated with Jewish women, Roma women, Latinas, and other non-white (or conditionally white) women?
Tangled
But where is the lie?
Queer Coding villains is a thing, I suppose you could call this Racial Coding?
For those unfamiliar with the concept, Queer Coding is giving a character stereotypical characteristics of LGBT people without outright identifying them as LGBT. This include prissy behavior, flamboyancy, high fashion, and effeminate behavior in male characters, and often these characters are the antagonist or otherwise cause problems for the protagonist. I’m hoping they’re falling more and more out of practice because it’s relying on the harmful trope of Gay = Bad and immoral to lazily design villains.
So I don’t know if Racial Coding is as well established as a trope, (It ought to be, I’m just more familiar with the Queer version,) but anyway the principle is about the same.
