So in light of recent events, one thing was made perfectly clear and I feel so damn justified now.
I always have Yuuri either doing the lifts or wanting to do the lifts in my YOI fics. And always did I get people claiming that ‘there is no way Yuuri could hold up Victor for even a second’ or ‘it’s not something that fits his soft character’. What is going on is some heteronormative BS. Yuuri is the more physically dainty of the two and people either intentionally or unintentionally, assigned an assumed feminine role to him. Lack of obvious masculine traits or whatever, obviously makes him the Sub or Uke in the relationship. The weak girl so to speak.
There are people who look at same sex couples and will ask who is the guy position during sex and who is the girl. Instead of just thinking ‘sex’ they assign age old gender roles to the couple and determine based on height, body mass, hair, eyes, facial structure, voice, and even other things, on who is the ‘girl’ and who is the ‘guy’. It’s intrusive and annoying.
Katsuki Yuuri:
- Is muscular and capable of keeping two grown men parallel to the floor while holding both of them up with only his arms and hands.
- Is sassy and willing to take control of the situation if need be. Will give orders.
- Has an amazingly toned body that is capable of several types of dance as well as a demanding sport.
- Has a voice that can go deep instantly.
He’s also very emotional and kind and has a big heart that he wears on his sleeve. Just because the list of ‘masculine traits’ isn’t obvious upon first glance, doesn’t mean those traits does exist in him.
Yuuri does not need to be ‘obviously’ anything in order to be a strong character. Just because he has emotions and is nice to people and shorter, doesn’t mean he is suddenly the ‘bottom’ or the ‘girl position’ in their relationship. Saying that doing physically demanding tasks usually assigned to masculine roles, isn’t ‘capable of being part of his character’ is ridiculous and I’m sick of seeing it.
- ‘He’s too girly to be able to do that.’
- ‘Yuuri is more gentle and wouldn’t ever do such rough guy things.’
- ‘Yuuri needs to be protected because he’s smaller and weaker.’
- ‘Yuuri wouldn’t be able to handle the dangers of the military.’
- ‘He’s so small someone could hurt him!’
- ‘Why do people always make him stronger than he is? He’s not strong, he’s practically a twig. Victor would be better at it.’
- ‘It’s out of character to make Yuuri weight lift. That’s for manly men and he’s a figure skater.’
- ‘Yuuri is too sweet and it would be dangerous for him to drink beer at a bar.’
And so on and so forth are examples I’ve been given in reviews and comments.
The comic has Yuuri lifting Victor high. Boom!
I was completely in canon with my belief and am so damn happy. Also, Yuuri continuing to break gender norms will always be my cup of tea.
