On Sexuality of Characters

There’s a large growing problem I’ve noticed in fiction. In and of itself, its not an issue, but the way it’s tackled is something that really should be addressed.

That problem, of course, is sexuality. Whenever sexuality appears in a work, it’s never addressed in a way that makes it feel like anything other than being tacked on. I don’t mean stuff like Gay and Lesbian fiction – thats a whole ‘nother can of beans I’m not qualified to get into – but marking characters as Straight or Gay and doing it wrong.

Its as bad as the “token racial” thing. Somehow, a token gay has become a good character or what not.

Let me explain, lest I come off as a jerk or insensitve. Someone simply has to point this out.

Sexuality as a Character

First and formost, let me address that all of these crimes against characters are perpetrated by straight and gay authors. It likely isn’t a self seated hatred by straights against the gay agenda or anything of the sort. No, its more than likely that this is all rooted in bad writing. So lets not make this a political statement or anything.

With that aside, I’m going to point out the most used fuck-up in writing sexuality: The Anthromorphic Personification.

Think hard now. Think of the last thing you read with a gay man in it. Think about his character.

Oh wait. He didn’t have character. Everything about his character was rooted in the fact he was gay. He did gay things, talked with other gays, and made it a point to remind everyone that he was gay. Not necessarily camp gay – that’s next –  but his entire existence is solely twisted around the fact that THIS MAN IS GAY.

This is bad. This is wrong. It’s also mildly offensive.

Lets put it in to example terms. I do love examples:

Jason is straight. Jason is interested in women. But we never bash the fact that Jason is straight over your head. As Jason is the protagonist, he does protagonisty things. He moves along the plot and likely doesn’t oggle every woman he sees, doesn’t pound his chest and fist bump his buddies, and doesn’t make sure to quip things like “Have I mentioned how straight I am today?”

Todd is gay. Todd likes men. Todd makes it a point to remind people of this every chance he gets. When confronted by women, Todd’s reply is “Girlfriend, you’re barking up the wrong tree!” When a cute guy walks by, Todd is quick to comment on his posterior. Todd moves along the plot, but everything he does is gay. There is no room to ever doubt his sexuality, because Todd is beating you to death with it.

And this is Dave. Dave is also gay. But the difference between Dave and Todd is that Dave moves through life without his gayness driving his every motion. Dave is the rare gay character in fiction to have interest outside of being gay. Dave doesn’t bother reminding everyone of his sexuality and simply mentions it as it comes up, which isn’t often because no one really asks.

See Dave there? Dave is what we should want in a gay character: A character. Not a walking sexuality with legs. Hell, you can go the whole story without mentioning any of these gentlemen’s interest in the plot and guess who would come off as the better written characters. Thats right: Jason and Dave actually have personalities, so they come out better for it. Todd simply falls apart because that was his only trait.

But lets move on to the other use…

CAMP GAY

Yes! The dreaded Camp Gay! Where all gay men are hair dressers with lisps who call men “she” and women “girlfriend!” Where all lesbians are butch militants who hate men for some reason! Where good characters go to die!

Don’t get me wrong. Camp Gay is great when you’re writing a parody,  just like Jive talking black men and stuffy british librarians. But then you realize that, like this stereotypes, people believe they’re 100% true. And thats where we get into trouble. Nothing like watching a show in a seriousness only to find the gay character is a lisping buffoon who responds to everything with three snaps and a twist.

Of course, everything there is to be said about that one has been said. The issue is, avoiding this.

People! All I want is characters! Good characters! If you must throw sexuality into a character, make them an interesting character! I’d rather have a world full of Daves over Todds!

tl;dr: If you have to make a gay character, make them a character first. Sexuality is not Personality!

[Via http://2lloose.com]