HI HAVE AN ESSAY HI HI HI.
Hahah. So over in Umeda's LJ, the discussion has turned a little from gender issues to sexual identity issues. And this is something I've been meaning to write about anyway. Because honestly, I feel a little self-conscious about it; I'm a bisexual female, and my four characters are all--bisexual females. In fact, every one of my 8 has been bi, except for Asuna (and Chao's something of a special case which I'll explain when I get there). So. I get worried that people will think that I'm in it for gratuitous yuri (WHICH OKAY, I ADMIT I'M VERY FOND OF!) or that I can't play a character without projecting my own sexuality onto them. XD;
This came up most recently in Tomo's Huge Post of Happenin Stuff (tm) in which she admitted to Norma that she, too, is in fact bisexual. That wasn't something I had really decided I was going to play out with her, although ever since I apped her, I knew it was true of the way I played her. I'm pretty sure there's even a joke in the canon section of her app about it, and if there's not, that's because I cut it out at the last possible second. XD And then it came up in camp due to a series of events that sort of broke her down about it, and she's still not very accepting of it, but she's realized it and admitted it and so that means I have to officially have to say it too!
So I thought I'd go into it a little, because I realized that while they're all bi (again, Chao's sort of different), they're also--all bi in completely different ways. Which I find interesting. SO HERE WE GO. UNF.
Chisame.
It's funny that Chisame's my character who has a steady, very established girlfriend, and she's also a character for whom there's no canon evidence that she likes girls. She was my first character, and that aspect of her was totally my choice. Granted, there's no canon evidence that she DOESN'T, but Akamatsu tends to make this kind of thing obvious when it's the case (see: Love Hina where I think every single female character has some sort of sexual encounter with another, except for possibly Shinobu).
So Chisame's sexuality was my own doing, but I did have reasons for it. I call Chisame bi, but really what she is--this is something I've discussed a lot with Ari, seeing as our characters are TWINZ--is attentionsexual. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IT IN THE CHAN NOW. WIN.
Chisame lacks confidence and has some fucked up ideas about herself, men in general, sexuality, etc. Especially when she first arrived in camp. Chisame's not used to being liked for being CHISAME, and it really gets to her when she is. This is canon, how weak she is against Negi's kind words and his insistence that Chisame is worthy and Chiu is not real. And she's gotten a lot better about this, both in canon and at camp, but this kind of thing remains with her. She's a LOT better than she used to be. . . . But she's still going to be very affected by anyone who takes her aside and says "You are awesome. And beautiful. And you rock my world as Chisame and you're so sexy for who you are, not just when you dress up all pretty."
Anyone who gives her this kind of affirmation is going to be someone Chisame has feelings for, male or female. It just so happened that the first two people who did so in camp were--lesbians. And Chisame was very confused about this. She identified as straight. Actually, she still does, mostly. But she wasn't used to being close to ANYONE, and when cornered by Utena and then Chizuru and worked on for awhile and plied with compliments and affection and tenderness, she was like putty in their hands, female or not.
So--physically, all other things being equal, Chisame's more attracted to men than women. She's more likely to notice a man. But she IS sexually attracted to women as well, and she falls in love with women as easily, because it's never really about bodies or sex with Chisame. It's always about feeling wanted and pretty and worthwhile, and having someone to feel comfortable with. Anyone who can do that for her is someone she's going to attach to, whatever gender they are. Chisame's attracted predominantly to personality, not body, and so at the end of the day? Gender doesn't matter to her.
Evangeline.
I've already essayed extensively about Eva's sexuality and how bizarre it is because what the FUCK she's a VAMPIRE AND SHE'S TEN, but she's also 1000, and wow what's up with those hormones and that body and that mind. I think that essay is on Chisame's journal from a few months back (before I got Tomo, so around December). Basically--I can argue for slight canon evidence in favor of Eva's bisexuality. The fact that her servants are all female, her slaves are all female, that she tends to dress them up very VERY suggestively. There's also art by Magi, one of Akamatsu Ken's assistants, that makes it VERY OBVIOUS. This art isn't canon, of course, but it's done by someone who works with Akamatsu (and the style is almost identical) and knows the characters very well. (The relevant part of it is here--uh warning I guess for loli in a swimsuit?)
So there's that, but mostly what I base it on is the sheer fact of what she is and what her life must have been like. She's a vampire, traditionally a very sexual type of undead (and this is played with in canon, yeah). She's 500-1500 years old (I err towards 1000-1100). She's been around for AGES. She's manipulative in many ways, including sexually. She's amoral and extremely perceptive. She has maids dressed in tiny skirts. |D It's entirely possible that she's gone 1000 years being SO EVA and never had a sexual experience with a woman, but personally? I consider it unlikely. Very unlikely.
And there's the fact that people are PEOPLE to her. That she's apart from and outside of them, partially by choice and partially not, and they're all Mortals. I don't imagine that she identifies very strongly with human men OR women--she's just A Vampire. She's not going to treat men and women differently based on their perceived gender roles. They're all people to her, and I extend this to sex.
So Eva's truly equal opportunity--as far as she's sexually attracted to anyone, which as I try to explain in that other essay is a sort of unique circumstance (it's hard to put into words!), it doesn't make any difference at all to her whether they're male or female, and the idea that it should is sort of ludicrous to her. YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE ANYWAY, SO PUT ON THIS MAID OUTFIT AND DANCE FOR ME, SUGAR. Whut.
Chao.
Putting her here for canon continuity and because this is going to be shorter, heh. I'm hard-pressed to think of a Negima! character who is LESS sexually presented than Chao. It's almost odd. She doesn't even get fanservice--I think one semi-pantyshot, and her dresses can be a little revealing in their cut, but. Chao has no interest in men or women at all in canon. She has no real interest in PEOPLE in canon. Chao is Sciencesexual, and most likely somewhat sociopathic. There's no evidence that anyone at all has imprinted upon her except for Ku Fei, possibly Hakase, and maybe Negi. She hangs with her class, she says "It was fun!" when she's preparing to leave, she takes part in stuff, but . . . she doesn't care about people. They're not THERE to her, really.
She's also very, very manipulative.
I wouldn't say Chao is attracted to both men and women because I wouldn't say Chao is attracted to anyone. But I would argue that the difference is academic to her, and if she had to seduce someone to get ahead on her research/reach her goals? She'd do it without a second thought, whatever their gender was. In that sense--bi. But it's not an appreciation of male and female bodies so much as a lack of appreciation for ANY kind of body, and a willingness to use whomever she has to in her pursuits.
Tomo.
Hahahah this is totally the most confusing one to explain. Amusingly, I'd say that Tomo has the MOST canon evidence in her favor when it comes to liking girls. Especially in the anime, but it's there in the manga too. I mean . . . okay, things Tomo does in canon:
* harps constantly on her friends' breast sizes, bringing it up apropos of absolutely nothing. This is sometimes done out of obvious jealousy or to get a reaction, but there are other times when--it's not so clear what's going on. XD
* idolizes Fujiko Mine for her sexy body and blushes when talking about it
* rolls over onto Sakaki and gropes her in her sleep
* has a dream sequence (SEE ICON YAY) where she's catcalled and squealed over by fangirls as she walks through the hallways
and of course her friendships with both Yomi and Kagura are full of little hints, at least if you're so inclined. XD
SO, YES. It was never really a question to me that Tomo as I play her is attracted to women. She's also in a bit of denial about it, because I don't imagine it's the kind of thing she would ever have admitted to or discussed with ANYONE back home. So while she knows it, she doesn't really come right out and say "That chick's hot!" like Chizuru would--well. She does, but she hides it behind a mask of jealousy and typical teenage girl comparison. And that's a large part of it, but another part of it is " . . . um blush Rin has pretty hair and a hot body. :("
Meeting Tayuya and having Tayuya be like "I'm not picky guys and girls are both sexy 8D 8D 8D" sort of threw Tomo, because honestly? She hadn't really ever considered before that that was possible. XD And especially that anyone would be so open about it. Because of that, Tomo's a little weird about Tayuya, because she wants to talk about it but doesn't know how to bring it up after so long and not sound dorky and yeah. And then Cheri boobsquished her, and Chizuru kept insinuating things, and THEN Fujiko came to camp (and Tomo has a serious crush on Fujiko which is all tied up in/responsible for her Lupin thing) and THEN Norma was pressing her about it and saying there was no shame in it, and Tomo finally cracked a little and was like "Eeerk. Yeah okay. I think about it sometimes. ._."
Tomo's attentionsexual like Chisame, but she's also more sexually minded as a person, so--unlike Chisame, who doesn't much look at people as just "Oh hay she's got a nice body, she's sexy," Tomo's actually physically attracted to both genders as well. Emotionally? She's attracted to people she can get a reaction out of and be herself around, and who understand her to some extent--who'll plot evil with her but also smack her down and get pissed when the situation calls for it, or get protective of her when she's being a dumbfuck and like HANGING OUT IN TRAFFIC WHILE SHE'S DIZZY. This is because I'm a shameless Tomo/Kagura shipper and I think it's the kind of relationship that Tomo tends to seek both in canon and in camp, this mutually retarded semi-antagonistic totally gleeful FROLIC~ type of friendship. XD So far in camp everyone who fits this description is male, but on a physical level, Tomo's checkin' out the ladies too. She's just kinda repressed and quiet about it. 8D
OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT. So as you can see. XD I have reasons for--all of this beyond just "I like yuri" which is also a reason I have for it. Um. END ESSAY.
This came up most recently in Tomo's Huge Post of Happenin Stuff (tm) in which she admitted to Norma that she, too, is in fact bisexual. That wasn't something I had really decided I was going to play out with her, although ever since I apped her, I knew it was true of the way I played her. I'm pretty sure there's even a joke in the canon section of her app about it, and if there's not, that's because I cut it out at the last possible second. XD And then it came up in camp due to a series of events that sort of broke her down about it, and she's still not very accepting of it, but she's realized it and admitted it and so that means I have to officially have to say it too!
So I thought I'd go into it a little, because I realized that while they're all bi (again, Chao's sort of different), they're also--all bi in completely different ways. Which I find interesting. SO HERE WE GO. UNF.
Chisame.
It's funny that Chisame's my character who has a steady, very established girlfriend, and she's also a character for whom there's no canon evidence that she likes girls. She was my first character, and that aspect of her was totally my choice. Granted, there's no canon evidence that she DOESN'T, but Akamatsu tends to make this kind of thing obvious when it's the case (see: Love Hina where I think every single female character has some sort of sexual encounter with another, except for possibly Shinobu).
So Chisame's sexuality was my own doing, but I did have reasons for it. I call Chisame bi, but really what she is--this is something I've discussed a lot with Ari, seeing as our characters are TWINZ--is attentionsexual. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IT IN THE CHAN NOW. WIN.
Chisame lacks confidence and has some fucked up ideas about herself, men in general, sexuality, etc. Especially when she first arrived in camp. Chisame's not used to being liked for being CHISAME, and it really gets to her when she is. This is canon, how weak she is against Negi's kind words and his insistence that Chisame is worthy and Chiu is not real. And she's gotten a lot better about this, both in canon and at camp, but this kind of thing remains with her. She's a LOT better than she used to be. . . . But she's still going to be very affected by anyone who takes her aside and says "You are awesome. And beautiful. And you rock my world as Chisame and you're so sexy for who you are, not just when you dress up all pretty."
Anyone who gives her this kind of affirmation is going to be someone Chisame has feelings for, male or female. It just so happened that the first two people who did so in camp were--lesbians. And Chisame was very confused about this. She identified as straight. Actually, she still does, mostly. But she wasn't used to being close to ANYONE, and when cornered by Utena and then Chizuru and worked on for awhile and plied with compliments and affection and tenderness, she was like putty in their hands, female or not.
So--physically, all other things being equal, Chisame's more attracted to men than women. She's more likely to notice a man. But she IS sexually attracted to women as well, and she falls in love with women as easily, because it's never really about bodies or sex with Chisame. It's always about feeling wanted and pretty and worthwhile, and having someone to feel comfortable with. Anyone who can do that for her is someone she's going to attach to, whatever gender they are. Chisame's attracted predominantly to personality, not body, and so at the end of the day? Gender doesn't matter to her.
Evangeline.
I've already essayed extensively about Eva's sexuality and how bizarre it is because what the FUCK she's a VAMPIRE AND SHE'S TEN, but she's also 1000, and wow what's up with those hormones and that body and that mind. I think that essay is on Chisame's journal from a few months back (before I got Tomo, so around December). Basically--I can argue for slight canon evidence in favor of Eva's bisexuality. The fact that her servants are all female, her slaves are all female, that she tends to dress them up very VERY suggestively. There's also art by Magi, one of Akamatsu Ken's assistants, that makes it VERY OBVIOUS. This art isn't canon, of course, but it's done by someone who works with Akamatsu (and the style is almost identical) and knows the characters very well. (The relevant part of it is here--uh warning I guess for loli in a swimsuit?)
So there's that, but mostly what I base it on is the sheer fact of what she is and what her life must have been like. She's a vampire, traditionally a very sexual type of undead (and this is played with in canon, yeah). She's 500-1500 years old (I err towards 1000-1100). She's been around for AGES. She's manipulative in many ways, including sexually. She's amoral and extremely perceptive. She has maids dressed in tiny skirts. |D It's entirely possible that she's gone 1000 years being SO EVA and never had a sexual experience with a woman, but personally? I consider it unlikely. Very unlikely.
And there's the fact that people are PEOPLE to her. That she's apart from and outside of them, partially by choice and partially not, and they're all Mortals. I don't imagine that she identifies very strongly with human men OR women--she's just A Vampire. She's not going to treat men and women differently based on their perceived gender roles. They're all people to her, and I extend this to sex.
So Eva's truly equal opportunity--as far as she's sexually attracted to anyone, which as I try to explain in that other essay is a sort of unique circumstance (it's hard to put into words!), it doesn't make any difference at all to her whether they're male or female, and the idea that it should is sort of ludicrous to her. YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE ANYWAY, SO PUT ON THIS MAID OUTFIT AND DANCE FOR ME, SUGAR. Whut.
Chao.
Putting her here for canon continuity and because this is going to be shorter, heh. I'm hard-pressed to think of a Negima! character who is LESS sexually presented than Chao. It's almost odd. She doesn't even get fanservice--I think one semi-pantyshot, and her dresses can be a little revealing in their cut, but. Chao has no interest in men or women at all in canon. She has no real interest in PEOPLE in canon. Chao is Sciencesexual, and most likely somewhat sociopathic. There's no evidence that anyone at all has imprinted upon her except for Ku Fei, possibly Hakase, and maybe Negi. She hangs with her class, she says "It was fun!" when she's preparing to leave, she takes part in stuff, but . . . she doesn't care about people. They're not THERE to her, really.
She's also very, very manipulative.
I wouldn't say Chao is attracted to both men and women because I wouldn't say Chao is attracted to anyone. But I would argue that the difference is academic to her, and if she had to seduce someone to get ahead on her research/reach her goals? She'd do it without a second thought, whatever their gender was. In that sense--bi. But it's not an appreciation of male and female bodies so much as a lack of appreciation for ANY kind of body, and a willingness to use whomever she has to in her pursuits.
Tomo.
Hahahah this is totally the most confusing one to explain. Amusingly, I'd say that Tomo has the MOST canon evidence in her favor when it comes to liking girls. Especially in the anime, but it's there in the manga too. I mean . . . okay, things Tomo does in canon:
* harps constantly on her friends' breast sizes, bringing it up apropos of absolutely nothing. This is sometimes done out of obvious jealousy or to get a reaction, but there are other times when--it's not so clear what's going on. XD
* idolizes Fujiko Mine for her sexy body and blushes when talking about it
* rolls over onto Sakaki and gropes her in her sleep
* has a dream sequence (SEE ICON YAY) where she's catcalled and squealed over by fangirls as she walks through the hallways
and of course her friendships with both Yomi and Kagura are full of little hints, at least if you're so inclined. XD
SO, YES. It was never really a question to me that Tomo as I play her is attracted to women. She's also in a bit of denial about it, because I don't imagine it's the kind of thing she would ever have admitted to or discussed with ANYONE back home. So while she knows it, she doesn't really come right out and say "That chick's hot!" like Chizuru would--well. She does, but she hides it behind a mask of jealousy and typical teenage girl comparison. And that's a large part of it, but another part of it is " . . . um blush Rin has pretty hair and a hot body. :("
Meeting Tayuya and having Tayuya be like "I'm not picky guys and girls are both sexy 8D 8D 8D" sort of threw Tomo, because honestly? She hadn't really ever considered before that that was possible. XD And especially that anyone would be so open about it. Because of that, Tomo's a little weird about Tayuya, because she wants to talk about it but doesn't know how to bring it up after so long and not sound dorky and yeah. And then Cheri boobsquished her, and Chizuru kept insinuating things, and THEN Fujiko came to camp (and Tomo has a serious crush on Fujiko which is all tied up in/responsible for her Lupin thing) and THEN Norma was pressing her about it and saying there was no shame in it, and Tomo finally cracked a little and was like "Eeerk. Yeah okay. I think about it sometimes. ._."
Tomo's attentionsexual like Chisame, but she's also more sexually minded as a person, so--unlike Chisame, who doesn't much look at people as just "Oh hay she's got a nice body, she's sexy," Tomo's actually physically attracted to both genders as well. Emotionally? She's attracted to people she can get a reaction out of and be herself around, and who understand her to some extent--who'll plot evil with her but also smack her down and get pissed when the situation calls for it, or get protective of her when she's being a dumbfuck and like HANGING OUT IN TRAFFIC WHILE SHE'S DIZZY. This is because I'm a shameless Tomo/Kagura shipper and I think it's the kind of relationship that Tomo tends to seek both in canon and in camp, this mutually retarded semi-antagonistic totally gleeful FROLIC~ type of friendship. XD So far in camp everyone who fits this description is male, but on a physical level, Tomo's checkin' out the ladies too. She's just kinda repressed and quiet about it. 8D
OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT. So as you can see. XD I have reasons for--all of this beyond just "I like yuri" which is also a reason I have for it. Um. END ESSAY.