WW meta
B' is a lesbian, & she tends to identify as Wonder Woman as queer. I give B' credit for actually writing Diana as bisexual, rather than exclusively homosexual. Amusingly, this comes out with Diana being actively, promiscuously bisexual; not just open to either sex, but seeking both, possibly at the same time.
I am a straight man, & consciously write Diana as straight. (There's a pattern here.)
Actually, I long ago developed a reflex against a certain sort of male-fantasy portrayal of lesbianism, & a sense that it would be unseemly for me to take someone else's character & throw her into such a characterization. I mean in published work, actually, though it affects how I think about fanfic, too. (Weirdly, my flist is full of femslashers--not least B'--by whom I am bemused.) My own characters, sure, whatever--because they're mine, I can do that. (And hey, giving an unattached character some arguably creepy straight love interest--that's just me trying to write romance, badly. :sigh:)
Granted, this is Wonder Woman we're talking about. Bisexuality fits the character pretty freaking well. And yet, actually trying to write Di in a lesbian relationship is not something for which I have great enthusiasm. And writing her as B' does, determinedly promiscuous, is something that I have serious reservations about. Because I'm not just writing superhero fetish porn, I'm thinking about, "How would I write the book?" (The book which started out as a children's series & mass-market. That book.) Sometimes I will miss the mark, laughably, but when I try to put together stories, I really am thinking, "I want to write this book." (Well, in theory. That's not always true. There's a lot of throwaway joke stuff I can say because I'm not actually writing the book. But it is the delusional assumption behind a lot of my thinking.)
And if I were writing the book, with a character who's supposed to be super-intelligent, & "wise," I feel like I have to make her ... prudent. So promiscuity is out.
But prudence does not point toward heterosexuality, does it? No, not really. DC marketing concerns might.
And maybe I'm just a bit offended at writing some woman who's nearly my classic type as a lesbian. Of course, in reality this would just be par for the course for me, being attracted to a lesbian. But I'm not running Jodie Foster as a subroutine in my head, whereas Di, as a character I'm trying to write, is. Eh, I dunno.
Is it that writing Wondy that way, in a way that doesn't apply to say, Hopey Glass, would kind of mess with my own like for the character? Well, I think that's more expectation than likely result, actually. (That is, my expectation of effect more than the actual effect on my like for the character.) I mean, you could make Diana seriously straight & kind of a hausfrau, & she'd still kind of read as queer with the whole Amazon thing.
But that's the thing. If Wondy is a lesbian just because she's an Amazon, then...yeah, I don't care about such a franchise. I really want to have the weird strong woman + normal man dynamic that I remember from old Spider-Woman comics, & if Wondy can't do that, screw it, I'll write something else.
When it comes to Wondy, I probably should just focus on non-romance stories, anyway. Those are the main part of the kinds of stories this character should be in. And I feel like I can get the character's voice a little wrong if I try to push a romance plot on her. But I got to thinking about Wondy love interests during a period when Wondy fandom was riven by arguments about Di's sexuality or lack thereof. Thus I developed an attitude that the character should have an actual recognizable sexuality, & if I wrote the book, I was going to write her with some kind of boyfriend(s).
ALL OF THIS IS MOOT BECAUSE I JUST WRITE META AAARRRGGGHHH!
I am a straight man, & consciously write Diana as straight. (There's a pattern here.)
Actually, I long ago developed a reflex against a certain sort of male-fantasy portrayal of lesbianism, & a sense that it would be unseemly for me to take someone else's character & throw her into such a characterization. I mean in published work, actually, though it affects how I think about fanfic, too. (Weirdly, my flist is full of femslashers--not least B'--by whom I am bemused.) My own characters, sure, whatever--because they're mine, I can do that. (And hey, giving an unattached character some arguably creepy straight love interest--that's just me trying to write romance, badly. :sigh:)
Granted, this is Wonder Woman we're talking about. Bisexuality fits the character pretty freaking well. And yet, actually trying to write Di in a lesbian relationship is not something for which I have great enthusiasm. And writing her as B' does, determinedly promiscuous, is something that I have serious reservations about. Because I'm not just writing superhero fetish porn, I'm thinking about, "How would I write the book?" (The book which started out as a children's series & mass-market. That book.) Sometimes I will miss the mark, laughably, but when I try to put together stories, I really am thinking, "I want to write this book." (Well, in theory. That's not always true. There's a lot of throwaway joke stuff I can say because I'm not actually writing the book. But it is the delusional assumption behind a lot of my thinking.)
And if I were writing the book, with a character who's supposed to be super-intelligent, & "wise," I feel like I have to make her ... prudent. So promiscuity is out.
But prudence does not point toward heterosexuality, does it? No, not really. DC marketing concerns might.
And maybe I'm just a bit offended at writing some woman who's nearly my classic type as a lesbian. Of course, in reality this would just be par for the course for me, being attracted to a lesbian. But I'm not running Jodie Foster as a subroutine in my head, whereas Di, as a character I'm trying to write, is. Eh, I dunno.
Is it that writing Wondy that way, in a way that doesn't apply to say, Hopey Glass, would kind of mess with my own like for the character? Well, I think that's more expectation than likely result, actually. (That is, my expectation of effect more than the actual effect on my like for the character.) I mean, you could make Diana seriously straight & kind of a hausfrau, & she'd still kind of read as queer with the whole Amazon thing.
But that's the thing. If Wondy is a lesbian just because she's an Amazon, then...yeah, I don't care about such a franchise. I really want to have the weird strong woman + normal man dynamic that I remember from old Spider-Woman comics, & if Wondy can't do that, screw it, I'll write something else.
When it comes to Wondy, I probably should just focus on non-romance stories, anyway. Those are the main part of the kinds of stories this character should be in. And I feel like I can get the character's voice a little wrong if I try to push a romance plot on her. But I got to thinking about Wondy love interests during a period when Wondy fandom was riven by arguments about Di's sexuality or lack thereof. Thus I developed an attitude that the character should have an actual recognizable sexuality, & if I wrote the book, I was going to write her with some kind of boyfriend(s).
ALL OF THIS IS MOOT BECAUSE I JUST WRITE META AAARRRGGGHHH!