My brain just broke. Asexuality in comics, woa.
Tim Drake, former third Robin to Batman, current Red Robin, is now officially asexual in the reboot coming this September. Kon-el, Superboy, is most likely going to be bisexual, or at least trying out different aspects of his sexuality.
This. Is. Amazing. I am so excited that they're trying this out! Whether they do it right or not or is a 'gimmick' or not is to a certain extent a moot point. Things are very rarely done right the first time, but the important part is that they're doing it in the first place. It's about time we got sexual diversity in comics, and yeah, maybe they'll screw up since these are such complicated things and it'll take 10 years for people to be able to write diverse sexuality realistically. But the same thing happened with race: yes, when we started to include racial diversity in TV/books/etcetc a lot of it was still stereotypical or poorly done or done with clear bias, but the important thing was that they were doing it and getting the ball rolling.
They probably picked the best character to be asexual though. Fans have been speculating about that (oftentimes jokingly or as an insult) forever. Tim has had relationships with two girls before, but despite all the women that have been thrown at him, he's remained chaste throughout his entire run. Usually Tim's portrayed as gay with Superboy though, and I'll admit, I was beginning to get fond of that pairing so now I'm a bit sad. Though, I'll elaborate on why. It's not because I can't ship them anymore (you know that fangirls will try regardless) because as Lobdell said, asexuality does not mean that you can't fall in love or have emotional attachments. So, in that aspect, Tim can still be paired up with whoever. The real reason why it will be much more difficult to pair Tim with Kon or heck, Dick, is because Kon and Dick are definitely very physical people. They would probably need a partner that could partake in sexual aspect of a relationship. Now, true love and all that jazz, yes, they could attempt to have a relationship regardless, but it would be very difficult for the both of them. That being said, I myself am extremely interested in seeing as sexual a person as Kon or Dick in a relationship with an asexual partner like Tim. I really want that explored in fanfics.
Which brings me to the last point: Fandom. The thing about characters being written as straight is that it doesn't actually mean they are. A relationship with a female character does not preclude you from realizing later on you're gay or bi or just trying something new or whatever. So characters can always be paired with whoever at a whim without any introspection into the sexuality aspect. With Tim's asexuality as a canon fact however, I do hope that fanfic writers will address that issue before making Tim have sex. Because you know they'll still do it. But I hope that they come up with legitimate reasons and address the matter of his asexuality. You want him to have sex? Come up with a good reason, I don't care what, but have one. I suppose this means there will be a sharp distinction between pre and post-reboot Tim now, with the possibility of falling back onto pre-reboot Tim to accomplish all PWP purposes.
All in all, I'm very excited about this. The only thing I'm worried about is this being a troll article, because the source webpage has disappeared....
ETA: chrysa mentioned the aspect about this that I forgot to elaborate when I mentioned the difficulties of a relationship involving an asexual or less-sexual person with a highly sexual person. Which, to condense what we were saying, is that there's got to be compromise. So I do believe, as she said, that, for example, if Tim were to be in a relationship with Kon, there would have to be a compromise where yes, Tim may not care to have sex, but he'll do it anyway because Kon needs it and it makes him happy. I just don't want fandom glossing over what it might mean for an asexual person to agree to have sex for the sake of their partner, or whether they're doing it out of curiosity or whether it's something they can get used to, or if they'll let their partner fulfill their needs with another person, or just. There's so many possibilities here and so many things that have to be addressed, and I really want that explored. I want to see Tim in that moment of compromise with his partner.
This. Is. Amazing. I am so excited that they're trying this out! Whether they do it right or not or is a 'gimmick' or not is to a certain extent a moot point. Things are very rarely done right the first time, but the important part is that they're doing it in the first place. It's about time we got sexual diversity in comics, and yeah, maybe they'll screw up since these are such complicated things and it'll take 10 years for people to be able to write diverse sexuality realistically. But the same thing happened with race: yes, when we started to include racial diversity in TV/books/etcetc a lot of it was still stereotypical or poorly done or done with clear bias, but the important thing was that they were doing it and getting the ball rolling.
They probably picked the best character to be asexual though. Fans have been speculating about that (oftentimes jokingly or as an insult) forever. Tim has had relationships with two girls before, but despite all the women that have been thrown at him, he's remained chaste throughout his entire run. Usually Tim's portrayed as gay with Superboy though, and I'll admit, I was beginning to get fond of that pairing so now I'm a bit sad. Though, I'll elaborate on why. It's not because I can't ship them anymore (you know that fangirls will try regardless) because as Lobdell said, asexuality does not mean that you can't fall in love or have emotional attachments. So, in that aspect, Tim can still be paired up with whoever. The real reason why it will be much more difficult to pair Tim with Kon or heck, Dick, is because Kon and Dick are definitely very physical people. They would probably need a partner that could partake in sexual aspect of a relationship. Now, true love and all that jazz, yes, they could attempt to have a relationship regardless, but it would be very difficult for the both of them. That being said, I myself am extremely interested in seeing as sexual a person as Kon or Dick in a relationship with an asexual partner like Tim. I really want that explored in fanfics.
Which brings me to the last point: Fandom. The thing about characters being written as straight is that it doesn't actually mean they are. A relationship with a female character does not preclude you from realizing later on you're gay or bi or just trying something new or whatever. So characters can always be paired with whoever at a whim without any introspection into the sexuality aspect. With Tim's asexuality as a canon fact however, I do hope that fanfic writers will address that issue before making Tim have sex. Because you know they'll still do it. But I hope that they come up with legitimate reasons and address the matter of his asexuality. You want him to have sex? Come up with a good reason, I don't care what, but have one. I suppose this means there will be a sharp distinction between pre and post-reboot Tim now, with the possibility of falling back onto pre-reboot Tim to accomplish all PWP purposes.
All in all, I'm very excited about this. The only thing I'm worried about is this being a troll article, because the source webpage has disappeared....
ETA: chrysa mentioned the aspect about this that I forgot to elaborate when I mentioned the difficulties of a relationship involving an asexual or less-sexual person with a highly sexual person. Which, to condense what we were saying, is that there's got to be compromise. So I do believe, as she said, that, for example, if Tim were to be in a relationship with Kon, there would have to be a compromise where yes, Tim may not care to have sex, but he'll do it anyway because Kon needs it and it makes him happy. I just don't want fandom glossing over what it might mean for an asexual person to agree to have sex for the sake of their partner, or whether they're doing it out of curiosity or whether it's something they can get used to, or if they'll let their partner fulfill their needs with another person, or just. There's so many possibilities here and so many things that have to be addressed, and I really want that explored. I want to see Tim in that moment of compromise with his partner.