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So, something you see a lot of in fic: Character J thinks Character R must be straight because of < insert reason here > (his tendency to go off and date women, I guess). Or Character D and Character C get together, but one of them was previously straight. Or had fooled around with same-sex relationships as a kid, but not since.
(And sometimes they're bi, but dated women exclusively for < insert reason here > but that's a whole different debate that isn't this one).
Why am I pointing this out? Because it's interesting to me, because I've never written any of those things. I've never even thought about it. I don't think I've ever really written a character having much angst over their sexuality (the consequences of it, yes, like Lorne in Less Like Freedom, but not much over actually being gay/bi). The closest I've ever come to the stuff above is Katie Brown in Red Wine and Hope, whom Laura implies is a straight woman who sometimes messes around with other women (bicurious, I guess).
I barely ever even bother to specify how the character thinks of their sexuality: John's referred to himself a bi a couple of times, in his head, though I see him skewing pretty far towards the male end of the spectrum. Regardless, I like the explanation that he genuinely does fall for some women better than any of the other explanations for his relationship with Nancy (well, except for the one I had before it became clear she'd remarried, in which they were close, gay friends during college, who loved each other but not really sexually and ended up getting married for some reason I've never come up with, till they got divorced for whatever reason. Clearly, that doesn't work with canon). Other than that, Lorne refers to Colby as bi but skewing heavily towards men in Redefinition, and I think to himself as gay in Less Like Freedom, though I could be wrong.
And that's it. Everyone else, assume their sexuality as you see fit: gay, bi, in-love-with-x-regardless-of-gender... It's almost never specified.
Still wondering when I'm going to get to the point (or indeed if I even have one)? Here's the point: I'm wondering if the amount of attention we pay to a character's sexuality, including people turning gay upon meeting a certain person (they almost never turn bi, which would make far more sense in most cases), and including whether we even specify, is a function of our own sexuality.
I'm openly gay pretty much everywhere, and while there was a fair bit of related angst when I was coming out, that was five years ago and I'm done with angst about my sexuality (though the effects of it frequently cause me angst, see, any previous rant about my current boss). Most of the time, I don't think about it, and that's reflected when I write about characters in same sex relationships. I don't feel the burning need to define their sexuality that a lot of people seem to - if they're in a same sex relationship, assume a level of non-straightness and lets move on.
So, before I ramble about it more and start to get inadvertently offensive (because I suspect I would, however much I tried not to), a poll:
[Poll #1317587]
(And sometimes they're bi, but dated women exclusively for < insert reason here > but that's a whole different debate that isn't this one).
Why am I pointing this out? Because it's interesting to me, because I've never written any of those things. I've never even thought about it. I don't think I've ever really written a character having much angst over their sexuality (the consequences of it, yes, like Lorne in Less Like Freedom, but not much over actually being gay/bi). The closest I've ever come to the stuff above is Katie Brown in Red Wine and Hope, whom Laura implies is a straight woman who sometimes messes around with other women (bicurious, I guess).
I barely ever even bother to specify how the character thinks of their sexuality: John's referred to himself a bi a couple of times, in his head, though I see him skewing pretty far towards the male end of the spectrum. Regardless, I like the explanation that he genuinely does fall for some women better than any of the other explanations for his relationship with Nancy (well, except for the one I had before it became clear she'd remarried, in which they were close, gay friends during college, who loved each other but not really sexually and ended up getting married for some reason I've never come up with, till they got divorced for whatever reason. Clearly, that doesn't work with canon). Other than that, Lorne refers to Colby as bi but skewing heavily towards men in Redefinition, and I think to himself as gay in Less Like Freedom, though I could be wrong.
And that's it. Everyone else, assume their sexuality as you see fit: gay, bi, in-love-with-x-regardless-of-gender... It's almost never specified.
Still wondering when I'm going to get to the point (or indeed if I even have one)? Here's the point: I'm wondering if the amount of attention we pay to a character's sexuality, including people turning gay upon meeting a certain person (they almost never turn bi, which would make far more sense in most cases), and including whether we even specify, is a function of our own sexuality.
I'm openly gay pretty much everywhere, and while there was a fair bit of related angst when I was coming out, that was five years ago and I'm done with angst about my sexuality (though the effects of it frequently cause me angst, see, any previous rant about my current boss). Most of the time, I don't think about it, and that's reflected when I write about characters in same sex relationships. I don't feel the burning need to define their sexuality that a lot of people seem to - if they're in a same sex relationship, assume a level of non-straightness and lets move on.
So, before I ramble about it more and start to get inadvertently offensive (because I suspect I would, however much I tried not to), a poll:
[Poll #1317587]