(who's gay?? DRACO'S GAY!!1)

[reenka]

I really wonder if it makes a serious difference that I wrote the porn snippet yesterday only for me and partly for malafede. Like. Is it possible to actually write fiction with that narrow of a target audience that only really succeeds with that audience? Not that no one else liked it, but it's not a mass pleaser by any means (and the one crit I got said it suffered from lack of setting). I mean, there's the lack of setting/characterization/etc but is it just that? It seems to me that it gained most of its meaning in context, which is: a) Harry/Draco fucking in my head-- WHEN it is in my head to start with-- needs no context, period; b) malafede's Draco (a foreign 'muse' I'm on familiar terms with-- whatever the fuck -that- means) was being sulky so my Harry was being smirky/horny (on a weird meta level that I feel awkward even approaching rationally). It's weird 'cause like, I'm so fascinated with audience when it comes to fic.

Also because I was reading musesfool's lj and she was saying how the Remus & Sirius in her head are gay, right-- and I'm not like this with most characters I have 'muses' for-- or, more precisely, I'm only like this with Draco that much, since I do think Pansy & Sirius & Remus are gay, just not so emphatically GAY. Sure, I think 'theoretically' or 'realistically' or whatever, on some uber-objective author's-intent (???! don't even want to get into that, but go with me) level he's either straight or bi.... But in my head... he's just gay. GAY. GAY in big orange letters. G-A-Y. Very gay. So gay it hurts. Veryveryveryveryvery gay, etc etc and so on and so forth. I think the reason I go on about it like that is 'cause I enjoy it. I -like- thinking of him like that. It's like... hot or something. Gay!Harry isn't hot... but gay!Draco is like... -mine- in some weird twisted (WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH ME) sort of way. I think it's another way of saying when I say 'cock-whore!Draco is mine' I mean Harry's. I mean he's Harry's. Therefore, when I say gay!Draco, I mean Harry's!Draco.

Hmm.
Anyway, that occurred to me 'cause jedi_penguin said that maybe musesfool is so convinced Sirius & Remus are gay because they're so exclusively each other's. I wonder if being an OTPer leads to this. Though then, I dislike Harry with anyone but Draco, but not -that- much. Can you be an imbalanced OTP-er based on the character you most identify with....? Not that I honestly identify with Draco less, actually, it's just that I'm very conscious that he's very different.

Even so, it seems to be true. My Draco is Harry's, forever and ever amen, so clearly that means he's gay (even though he might 'like' girls, ahahahah TOO BAD, LOVERBOY). But the question of whether attachment defines fictional sexuality or the other way around is a rather meta & tricky one. I think this might be why I dislike stories where it's very laid out that so-and-so is gay, therefore they are looking into the male contingent of the population. It's not slash in some vital way to me. Slash would always go 'only want boy'--> therefore 'gay by default'. Not 'realistic', but just how my slasher mind operates.
    Outside the OTP issue, though... without Harry, Draco would prolly go with a girl long-term 'cause he's a conformist but fuck boys in filthy back rooms; it would probably never occur to Harry that he -could- like boys outside of Draco/etc pouncing him, so left to his own devices, he'd be straight. I don't think my Harry gets off on boys outside of some particular one he's attracted to, just because he's rather asexual, whereas I see Draco as rather sexual but repressed. If he wasn't repressed, though, he'd be mostly gay though would fuck girls to feel dominant, the poor wanker.

Some people without 'muses' or a general vision of the characters outside of the particular story they're in might not get this, though. I've had people (well, ishuca) tell me that she doesn't have a singular Draco; I imagine not all writers do have a single version of a character-- why would they? Most 'original' fic writers don't need to have a single version, unless they write sequel upon sequel, which isn't that common. This seems to be more of an RP thing. For me it's more of a quantity-of-writing thing-- I've written the equivalent of an epic or two, word-count-wise, by now, so patterns have emerged. Surely I'm entitled to be on 'familiar terms' with the boys, so to speak :>

PS. Nothing to do with anything, but I'm so having a big ole literary crush on Virginia Woolf right now. Just sayin'.
PPS. The Theban Band can have my babies. Baby Number One: would gurgle and scream POTTER. Baby Number Two: would just sigh contendedly at the pretty full moon. ♥♥♥♥
    Also, blacksatinrose's oh-so-reasonable point-by-point S/R plausibility defense has made me nearly weepy with joy. SEE, WE'RE NOT ALL INSANE, DAMMIT!!1 >:O Though clearly, that doesn't quite apply to me. Oh well.
    EDIT - This had to be noted: ildi_bp has done the impossible: drawn such amazing Snape/Draco that I literally felt the pairing. Owwww, my -brain-!!1

Comments

... -.-

[malafede.livejournal.com]

It does get thorny at times. :)

That was sort of my problem with the... Draco wanks till he dies (of Magick) snippet, I think. I just wrote it for myself, and was so wankily self-pleased afterwards, I didn't care for the audience (even while writing FOR a specific audience!) - so this whole self-centered ego-maniacal piece of non-sensical writing was born. It's sort of schizophrenic... you know what you're saying, just nobody else does because they can't follow since you didn't offer background. But it's still a kind of communication, maybe (this is me projecting because for me writing = communication). You're communicating on a symbolic, very cryptic level, but it still doesn't mean it can't deciphered or that you weren't saying things on a more intimate level. You know, the kind of exchange that's very specific to the one who's talking and the one who's listening, rather than writer/wide, varied audience where you'll have necessarily to be more universal.

Anyway. I really just write one Draco, who's the one in my head (whom you're very familiar with... very) and he doesn't change. I don't feel he should change, or I don't feel people who have multiple Draco voices should narrow to the one only. In a way, it's the same thing but with a different application in practice. The Draco in my head is very large (like a real person would be), so I don't run out of issues and keep exploring themes and sides through the same catalyst - the same themes and sides other kind of writers fracture in different... material incarnations? My Draco is not Gay, he's submissive. He'd be submissive to his partner no matter the gender. That's the only fixed (as opposed to fluid) sexual descriptor I can apply to him, and even then, it's not very formulaic, unless I make it like that for kink. This is the POV of a not so expert writer who's been thinking too much about her "inspiration" processes when she should have been actually writing - but you asked for POVs, man. (You did, didn't you?)

Eh. Sirius/Remus. Though I like the reasonable, objective tone of the essay. (Although you will find out that Sirius loved James really and James returned the feelings really and he just married Lily out of intellectual slavery to societal convention, really. So there.)

hah

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Did I not mention that my Draco's gay 'cause it's hot? That explains everything. Heh. I don't actually think he's gay, though I do think he'd not be as 'good' (fit as well?) with girls just 'cause the power dynamic can never work quite the same (WOE!!1). Like, I was thinking earlier about how I would so fuck Draco but if and only if I was a boy (it's... really weird). I sexualize him... like... a lot, but even though he can be submissive/attracted to females (you know I believe that), it's just not a bone-deep 'need to be fucked' thing unless it's a) a boy; b) HARRY. *coughs* Possibly, that's my kink speaking, though. Just possibly. If anything, you saying 'not gay' just makes my inner Harry predatory/horny, but then, he needs no excuse to be like, 'Heh heh yeah right.' Ahem. *drags mind out of gutter kicking and screaming*

Then again, it's weird 'cause my Draco's not submissive, except he -is-. Like, he is, sexually, except he's so not non-sexually that he tries to not be sexually, either. Like. Repression/projection/issues :D Maybe it's just that I like it that he'd put up a fight (and prolly never really stop).

I used to write self-centered wanky fic only for myself all the time, before fanfic. I think some of my finished stuff barely made sense to anyone (in fact, I know so, since the people in my fiction workshop told me so). Um. I really have to continuously restrain myself not to beg you for more genderfuck!Draco. Damn. TANGY, YOU SAID >:O >:O >:O
if you want, you can give me a kink to drabble, too :D :D :D

Sirius&James are too alike to make a good couple, man. Plus, James is straight. So ha. :P :P

Re: hah

[malafede.livejournal.com]

kinks!:

a) horny/predator harry at draco saying he's not gay. (ahahah!)

Maybe it's just that I like it that he'd put up a fight (and prolly never really stop).
That's actually the best part, and resistence and submission are not mutually exclusive... if anything, he just has these denial issues. :D :D

I will write more genderfuck Draco if I can request another kink!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

That is so the way I see the gayness too--and especially the part about slash being about not-gay. I mean, I know that's a sensitive issue because some people write homophobic slash where the two guys are fucking while screaming, "I can't believe I'm attracted to you when I am not gay in any whatsoever! You are the ONLY MAN I have EVER BEEN ATTRACTED TO so CLEARLY what I am attracted to you is NOT THAT YOU ARE A MAN because that would make me GAY!"

Ahem. But still, it's just like you said, the thing about making the character gay as part of their identity is that it almost seems like a cheat to me. Like, Ivy once did a great post where she was talking about H/D and how "ridiculous" it was, and all she had to do was say, "Let's say on his first day in the WW Harry met this spoiled little girl..." and then keep most things the same. Not only would it not seem odd for Harry and Draco to get together Girl!Draco would probably already be considered the love interest. So making, for instance, Harry suddenly gay of course Draco would be a possibility at least. Moreso, really, because the other boys are probably going to remain straight. So it becomes more about, "Gee, we're the only two boys in the school who have speaking parts and are also attracted to boys and not girls. Wanna fuck?"

I'm funny with Draco in canon, because at times he seems very straight to me...usually those times when he's not being a total girl. I can totally get into Draco/Pansy with all the realistic fumbly experimental sex that implies. Harry I have a harder time seeing with anyone. Maybe part of it is Draco strikes me as such a little animal, instinctively pushing and touching and trying. Harry's more like, "What? What do you want from me? What??"

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I've actually yet to read that homophobic slash of which so many speak, thank god. I'm just selective, I guess...? Usually those fics are just badly written too, I imagine :>
Heheheh this is all ringing weirdly in my head since I had such a thing for gender-switch in HP (not really in other fandoms... at all... ahahah THOUGH IMAGINE WOMAN!METHOS AHAHAHAH), making Harry or Draco female.... mmmm. Yeah. I've read one fic (...by Dark Victory, I think...?) where that -was- the case, and Harry & Draco hung out together as friends for a bit (hahahah) because no one else they knew was gay, and they wanted someone to talk to. It was hilarious. Just. Great. (Proof any premise can be made to shine).

Yeah, Harry's pretty asexual, though I totally think once you jump-started his engine, he'd go off like a rocket (teehee). Maybe that has to do with figuring out what someone wants from him ;))

Though yah, fics like Marysia's where Harry was the sexually-aware one and Draco was the asexual one needed to be jump-started don't -quite- click for me... though I do think Draco would be repressed about certain subjects/types of sex (...like Dahlia's Draco, ahaha). There's a Draco for every taste, man~:))

My Draco's pretty bi ('cause yeah, it does bend both ways in canon), but... I like calling him gay 'cause he's Harry's bitch and that's just too amusing to me. Also, I was thinking about how this relates to OTPing-- when you just -can't- see the character with anyone else (the way I can't really see Draco with anyone but Harry)-- so yeah, he does wind up 'gay by default'. Queeny, I guess I'd call 'im :D Even if he were straight he'd seem gay on one level. I do know straight guys who act like that, it's just that they seem gay :D

[malafede.livejournal.com]

... Being repressed has nothing to do with being asexual, believe me.

*zips lips*

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with everything you say 100%. Please, as much as I enjoy it, get out of my head. You're scaring me.

And everything you said is probably the wonderful reasons I have a thing for Dom!Harry. "My Draco is Harry's, forever and ever amen" <- A great big "Who's you daddy?" right there. The only other person I can occasionally imagine him with is Blaise, for pointless sex or as a standin for Harry. It'd almost be kind of disturbing if it wasn't fictional.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Ahahah, actually I like switch!H/D but almost no one writes it except like, Dahlia o_0 (That's one of my WHY GOD WHY things). Not that my Draco isn't always kinda subby when when he tops, ideally, but it's boring if he's ALWAYS the one being buggered & he's okay with that. There should always be that power-struggle/uncertainty/tension going on, y'know, and I can so see Malfoy always -trying- to catch Harry unawares or just having schemes to bugger him or just somehow get back at him for having to walk bowlegged for a week or whatever >:D :D

However, this is unrelated to the fact that Draco is, was, and always -will- be Harry's Bitch :D :D :D :D!! Oh Draco. He is so doomed. MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. (See, I totally get off on the idea that I'm torturing Draco by pairing him with Harry. Um. 'Cause he wants it, precious, but he'll whinge and scream and protest and HATE all the way to the screaming orgasm :D :D :D :D!!)

Argh, heh, I have a hate-on for Blaise lately 'cause everyone (but EVERYONE) uses him in fics as 'optional guy friend for Draco' whereas he has zero personality (or, really, gender, translation-to-Greek thing nonwithstanding) in the books. It pisses me off. Why not Nott? At least he had a sentence in OoTP (rat-faced, I think) devoted to him. Grrrrrrrr. Also, I think this is related to me going WTF(??!?) to Blaise/Hermione OTPers and Blaise/Draco OTPers (WTF?????x10000). I am bitter, nevermind me :>

...Also, now I feel all superior 'cause I'd written Nott as the non-Crabble-or-Goyle Slytherin boy in Draco's year, and like, I got my personality from JKR's website (where she's like, 'he's too clever to join Malfoy's gang'--> *STRUTS*). Ahem. Yeah, issues, what--?

~reena :>

[malafede.livejournal.com]

this is unrelated to the fact that Draco is, was, and always -will- be Harry's Bitch

No, it's not unrelated! Resistance is futile! There can be power struggle even with constant Draco buggery.

... Constant Draco buggery...

*hypnotized* For some reason I'm imagining Moody saying that to the class, just in awed tones rather than yelling.

(Can I ask something? Did I sound MAD in my last post? Ahaha, I'm pretty damn sure I did.)

[notrafficlights.livejournal.com]

I can so see Malfoy always -trying- to catch Harry unawares or just having schemes to bugger him or just somehow get back at him for having to walk bowlegged for a week or whatever >:D :D

This makes me think of him hiding in the corridors, waiting for Harry to walk past and jump him, tie him up and spirit him away to a dungeon somewhere. Mwuhahahahaha. Wait... I think I read a doujinshi like that somewhere.

Also, I think this is related to me going WTF(??!?) to Blaise/Hermione OTPers and Blaise/Draco OTPers (WTF?????x10000)

I think this is kind of like a lot of people's versions of Draco (not mine of course, because I'm um... betterer or something >_> Yeah, that's it). So a lot of people he's a "blank slate" they can project their Stuism on. I mean, even I do it with Blaise, since I always imagine him as the Slytherin House Slut or something, but I'm not about to OTP anything with him in it (yeah, WTF!!1one indeed).

Yeah, issues, what--?

Awh, that's okay. Your issues bring joy and love to many across the web, including myself (arselicking: complete). I've just got hang-ups about Ms Rowling giving away information on her website and stuff.

[blacksatinrose.livejournal.com]

LOL! So I come over from daily_snitch and see myself being pimped. ROCK ON!

Anyway, I think the perception that a character is gay does often have to do with OTPness. Particularly when the perception follows the interest in the pairing - for example, someone reads POA and decides, whee R/S rocks, and then reads OotP and sees the book through shipper glasses. Same with any pairing, really, slash or het - if someone is going into a book with the mindset that Ron and Hermione are destined for each other, they'll probably find the evidence they want, whereas someone who thinks Harry and Hermione are where it's at will find entirely different things.

As someone who is fairly obsessed with objectivity, this actually concerns me, because okay, I read books 1-5 without ever becoming a shipper, or having any exposure to the fandom, because I read them over a two week period right after OotP came out. But, after writing and reading fic, seeing and drawing fanart and roleplaying a lot, NOW I'm all "Remus/Sirius! YES OH YES!" and I am concerned about the degree to which that will color my perception of interviews, and books 6 and 7.

Can you be an imbalanced OTP-er based on the character you most identify with....?

I think so, and I think a lot of people are. Or imbalanced based on who they like best, perhaps, or who they find more attractive, depending on the person. Like I saw someone once who preferred Sirius over Remus, and such they enjoyed Sirius in various pairings but didn't like Remus with anyone other than Sirius (even while Sirius was imprisoned or dead) because they wanted him to be Sirius's alone. The opposite, with Remus as the favored, is probably more common, but the point is, yeah, people do it.

And it's pretty natural, I think, since people are generally driven (in fandom anyway) more by what they consider interesting/attractive/hot/whatever than what is "fair" as such. I mean, it's a hobby not a trial, haha.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

It's funny 'cause I didn't see evidence of R/Hr in book 5, for instance, and I already liked R/Hr by then. I mean, naturally I didn't see evidence of H/D (AHAHAHAH) but really (and I read book 5 a year after getting into H/D fandom) I actually nearly disliked Draco while reading OoTP-- that's how immersed in it I became. I was totally in Harry's headspace. I think I'm a bit of a freak though. Er. The 'shippiest' H/D moment for me, which I think I read 'differently' 'cause I ship 'em was when Harry beat Draco up. Since Harry was being all emotional and OMG TOUCHING & I didn't really mind that it was violent (...issues), basically I was like OMG TEH SEX!!1 (but like, that went away after that).

'Objectivity' is like a hat I can put on and take off. Or pretend I can, anyway. It's a fun game ;))

Like, for instance, I don't -actually- think Draco's gay. However, I like saying Draco's gay and -reading fanfic- as if Draco were gay (and in love with Harry, wheee!!) So maybe for me it's a fic-question rather than a canon-question, since in -canon- it's almost irrelevant whether Draco is, in fact, gay, because we'll never see it and if he won't die (which he prolly will), he'll marry Pansy.

One of the reasons I resisted becoming an S/R shipper at first was 'cause I'm not into adult pairings, and Marauder-fic depressed me back then (this was before OoTP) 'cause I knew that they'd grow up to be separated for 12 years, betrayal-angst-old-age, blahblah. I didn't think PoA!S/R was sexy so much as... er... y'know, gritty & sad. And then after OoTP, I think, S/R got past the stage of 'gritty & sad & unsexy' and settled on 'tragically beautiful & awful', which for some reason I like more, so I felt I could read more fic now ('cause hey, it's -beyond- just 'depressing' when Sirius is DEAD).

You'd think H/D would be depressing, but that's the beauty of fanon shipping, 'cause you're AU, in a sense, from the word 'go'. Also, I just genuinely think Harry 'fits' more people better than Draco does, and that's why I tolerate him with more characters, but that'd be a hard line to defend objectively. ;)

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Hmm...

I don't think, for me, it necessarily has to do with OTP-ness, because I see Harry as fairly bi or androgynous (he reacts the same way to teen!Lupin as he does to Cho), and if there's going to be an Actual Honest-to-God Gay Character in the books, I'm betting on Tonks (as she's peripheral, pretty and lesbians are more easily accepted than gay men who teach children by a certain stripe of conservative, should that even be a worry for JKR, which I don't think it is).

Remus has always just pinged me as the cool gay uncle. The movie only reinforced that (with a side of creepy Uncle Bad Touch, which I did not like), especially with the ending and the change from "people don't want werewolves" to "people don't want people like me" in Lupin's speech.

As a metaphor for the Other, gay is certainly one of the readings you can take from Lupin's character, along with HIV+, mentally ill etc.

As for Sirius... I admit that pre-OotP I thought of him as omnisexual, as he is a hedonist, but in love with Remus. After OotP... I tend to see him as almost completely uninterested in women in any way.

I do think it can be a cheat to have your character be Not Gay But in Love with X Only for the sake of the OTP. That can be an interesting story, if done well, but it can also lead to ridiculousness, which I've seen in various fandoms. "Oh, I never fuck men, but I want to fuck *you*, Remus/Lex/Mal/Spike" etc. WHich isn't to say there aren't some characters I believe to be straight but make that kind of exception for (James->Sirius and Ron->Harry, and lately, Charlie->Oliver, for example), though usually, my default when I write fic is that everybody (with one or two exceptions) is bi, and it's not a big deal, because I'm not in this to deal with queer issues, you know?

I like to think I can separate the idea of Remus/Sirius OTP!!!11one from my reading of the text as itself instead of fodder for fic (though god help me, in their case I kinda can't because I do see textual support for the possibility), but even there, Remus pings me as gay.

Or, to jump fandoms, I can totally dig on reading Buffy/Faith or Faith/Cordelia, and where I believe that Faith would sleep with anyone who took her fancy regardless of gender, I see Buffy as canonically straight and uncomfortable to some degree with homosexuality at first (her reaction to Willow's coming out), and okay with it in others but not herself.

There aren't many characters I automatically think of as one orientation or another, because in fic, all things are possible, but there are two or three who will just strike me as gay or straight and that's it, I believe it and it's part of their characterization.

Does that make any sense at all?

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

You know, I've never given two seconds thought to Tonks' sexual orientation before the responses to this post o_0 I mean, I -suppose-, once I think about it, I can see it, but-- to me, her sexuality in canon (when I read it or even thought about her in passing) seemed completely irrelevant. That is, I have some opinion where I don't really like her paired with Harry or Remus, but then, I have Harry & Remus already 'engaged' so to speak, plus the justifications for Harry/Tonks creep me out a bit and I really don't think she's Remus' type (could be just me, though). Er. That was a tangent, sorry....

*laughs* I do love the idea of the 'cool gay uncle', though honestly that would never have occurred to me (if anything, I didn't know 'cool gay uncle' existed as a stereotype to attach to someone). I can see how he's 'other' & so on, but it seems almost disingenuous to directly link it with homosexuality (er... too obvious, I guess?) Um. I mean, I can definitely see him as gay, but I just don't think personality/personal history is so necessarily tied to sexual orientation... though I'm sure it has an influence.

Heheh, poor Sirius, during OoTP he was barely interested in -anyone- but maybe Harry in any way (AHAHAHAH man, I don't even want to go there).
I don't like the Not Gay But In Love thing either; it's just easier to leave things unresolved than the plodding, preachy way orientation often gets handled in fanfic, I guess...? It's like... meh, especially with teenagers, it doesn't really have to figure into it (experimentation, finding yourself, etc). If you're talking people who were into each other since adolescence (Sirius/Remus), then it's like... well, I suppose they're bi by default, so what else would one need? Assumptions can be your friend :>

Omg, I'm totally with you on the Ron/Harry. Poor Ron, so straight, but awkward boy fumbling is so hot!!1 Oh someone save me from my not-so-sekrit Ron/Harry thing :D :D :D ahahah I think I can get away with it and say they can all have a happy threesome :D :D IT'S MOVIE CANON :D

Yeah, me too with the small number of characters who strike me as gay or straight (but I still might make exceptions for unless they're part of an OTP, and even in that case-- for hotness purposes). Though for me... the longer I stay in fandom, the more exceptions I make :>

[cleverthylacine]

I don't know what all you guys have done, but you have blown up this page so that it's wider than my screen. I'd love to read this essay but it's too much work?!!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hi :> Um..... I fixed it. I -really- never expected anyone outside my flist to read this o_0 I was considering friendslocking it, but dear god, I write more coherent things generally, I never thought anyone would go 'yes, let's showcase Reena's obvious grasp on the English language & HP meta by linking to her OMG DRACO IS SO GAY!!1one' post :/

But anyway, you can read it now~:))

[satinvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

You actually made really good sense. I'm here from the Snitch, btw.

musesfool commented in my LJ about the Sirius/Remus dynamic. I did a poll on Sirius Black and how fandom viewed his sexuality (among other things). We discussed how though she feels in many ways that Sirius is bi, he *belongs* to Remus. In her mind, it seems that Remus/Sirius is so very fundamental that sexuality is a sidenote.

I think this is very typical of fandom. The way you feel seems very normal. Many slashers seem to feel like that: even though he might 'like' girls, ahahahah TOO BAD, LOVERBOY

It's very interesting as someone who's not a slasher (I just like Sirius. I don't care if he's taking it, giving it, switching, going down, being gone down on... I don't care if it's all with a girl or a boy) to see how people who are VERY slasher think. For me, there are few characters whose relationships I have an opinion on, and I'm very fanon. Canon pairings and possibilities mean much less to me than taking these characters I adore so and seeing them inserted into fascinating and canonically-improbable scenarios. So as a fanon-nonslasher, my views are often far different from the average LJ fandom ranter's. That's fun. I like that.

So enough wibbling. Your brain is very interesting. I liked my sojourn there very much. I might just come back again to visit though we have nothing in common. Thanks for sharing.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Ahahah, um. Well... uh, the statement you quoted.... You have to understand, it's not that I'm really a rabid banshee who cannot stand the idea of her baby gay!Draco with any scary girl-beast (...er)-- that was just me being self-mocking, if anything. Um. Actually, I did try to say that I realize that he's not just Harry's except in my head. Y'know? I mean, nothing I feel about Draco has any objective relevance, but I -am- capable of speaking objectively about it. I never intended this post to be really taken seriously, so I didn't actually try that hard to separate objective from subjective statements.

Basically, the statement you quoted should be seen in context of me having a personal relationship to my Draco muse. Does that make sense? I like to torture him. I like knowing that he'd -hate- being with Potter (or he thinks he would), and I sort of write it anyway. I'm a bit (faux) sadistic in that regard. Er. I'm just weird. But I didn't mean that seriously, is what I mean.

Also... um... as I tried to say, I'm only 'very slasher' about Harry & Draco, my OTP. I'm pretty laid-back about nearly every other character, even ones who read as 'gay' (like... well, there's no one as gay as Malfoy, but maybe Remus) or 'straight' (like Ron or Hermione). I mean, I'm pretty fanon too-- and mostly concentrate on Harry & Draco, and yeah, clearly I'm a slasher (among other things) but usually that doesn't define how my mind works, really. I ship het too-- well, Ron/Hermione in HP, but Buffy/Spike and a whole bunch in anime fandoms. So I mean... sexual orientation of fictional characters isn't something that really concerns me very often :>

Hahah glad to entertain you~:)

[ladysorka]

(here via daily_snitch)

Hmm. I'd agree, but at the same time I'd disagree. There are some characters that I just, plain and simple read as gay.

Take, for instance, Tonks. I do not 'ship her in any way, shape, or form, but in my head she is forever a lesbian. I tend to... decide on orientations for characters while I'm reading, regardless of 'ship.

My Ron is straight, my Hermione is straight, my Ginny is bi but mostly straight, my Harry is asexual but gay if he has too, my Draco is flaming but will marry a girl for convention, my Remus is gay, my Sirius is bi, my Snape is bi because he takes sex where he can get it, my James is straight (except for a little fumbling around with Sirius as a teen), my Lucius thinks gender is trivial, my Tonks is a lesbian...

I mean, Sirius/Remus is my OTP - but the characters, while I enjoy certain 'ships (Harry/Draco, Harry/Snape, etc.), I don't tend to think of those 'ships as defining their characters. Hmm.

I tend to sort of... decide on orientations for these people not only for 'ships, but for backstory. Are they more likely to have an ex-boyfriend, an ex-girlfriend, or none at all? Would they be more likely to find Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie to be fantasy-fodder (should either enter the Wizarding World), etc. In terms of the MWPP generation, I have to sort of define it for myself because of the culture of the times.

It has very little to do with 'ship for me. Of course, I appear to be the exception here, so....

[blacksatinrose.livejournal.com]

It has very little to do with 'ship for me. Of course, I appear to be the exception here, so....

Eh, I'm like that too actually, I just didn't talk about it. I tend to choose my shipping and my perception of sexuality based on what I think is in the text, rather than the other way around.

Like Sirius, to me, read as straight, but he also read as involved with Remus, so I think of/write him as straight-but-in-love-with-Remus, rather than going for gay or even bisexual, really. Originally, when my feelings about the Remus/Sirius pairing started shifting from a neutral notation that I thought they were a couple into actually liking that idea/becoming a shipper, I thought, well... okay Sirius must be bisexual if he's in love with Remus, but ultimately that kind of fell through because that was pairing based logic and didn't actually fit with the way I read him.

Remus was easier since he always pinged me as gay.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Y'know, that's really interesting 'cause I actually agree/see where you're coming from with all these accessments. My Ron & Hermione have always read as 'straight', but then, I ship them together. Obviously, I agree about Harry & Draco, but then um, Draco Is So Gay (flaming, yes), and Harry, as pov character, has most obviously been asexual up till now, yes. I dunno if I read Remus as 'gay', but then I never read him as 'straight', either, and gay makes more sense but it's just that I'm not -militant-, that is, -sure- about it unless I ship them, possibly because I just don't care as much~:)

I don't think of the ship defining the character other than as far as my sexual-orientation preferences... which otherwise would be dormant. This is probably related to the fact that I rarely write multi-character stories where some third person's sexuality ever comes into play or is even remotely significant. If I'm writing a romance, I'll just have the two-person romance (or third wheel if such applies), and the rest of the characters will just be there to interact with them on whatever non-sexual level. Since generally I don't think orientation has to influence everyday behavior, it never occurs to me to consider my stance for 'backstory' purposes, I guess...?

Your accessments seem to work on a sort of personality-defines-preference scale, which makes sense but isn't necessarily always... uh... true, I guess...? It's a good default, though. I mean, I agree that it's a safe bet to say Lucius would think gender is trivial just 'cause he's so interested in power, for instance, or that Ginny would be bi-curious at the very least 'cause she's adventurous and precocious to some extent, but people's sexual adventurousness often seems separate (if sometimes coincidental?) with overall adventurousness. I dunno. Temperament could define whether one acts on one's subliminal bisexual urges, though....?

I know what you mean, though. Ron is just... straight. He just. Is. But after slashing Harry/Ron one too many times, that hunch is just not as strong as it used to be, I suppose :> Fandom has corrupted me, I think :>

[biichan.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's the shipping because I don't ship Draco with anyone and he still screams "QUEEN" at me. Like Percy screams "SMITHERS!" Or Moody screams "BIG OLD LEATHER DADDY"... err. Then again, that one might have to do with OTPS *blush*

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Draco rather is a Queen, yes, obviously, ahahahah. Omg, leather-playboy-and-the-girls-love-me!Draco cracks me up. HE WISHES, ahahahahah. Sorry, must not cackle, credibility at stake. Um. Yeah. Personality does have something to do with it, but I do see sexuality as context-oriented as much as inborn preference/leaning does exist. Being bisexual and slashing everyone at least for one mad moment at some point has probably warped my brain, though :>

[siwabo.livejournal.com]

I so agree, I'd consider H/D to be my OTP but I have absolutely zero respect for Draco (I mean honestly, he's a snotty drama queen who has never managed to pull off any revenge on Harry and co.) I think this makes me see their power dynamic as skewed pretty dramatically towards Harry so therefore poor old Draco is a flaming queen and Harry's bitch. I know it doesn't make much sense but I can't help it.

I also can't really imagine him with anyone other than Harry even though intellectually I can see that there could be something happening between him and Pansy. I ship harry with Remus, Snape, Ron, Neville and pretty much any other guy in canon but he is the bi one and Dracos the one who I physically can't read in a het sex scene.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I think it's kind of interesting how 'gay' is an equivalent to 'not masculine enough' or 'not butch enough', and like, subconsciously(?) one associates higher power to greater capacity for using one's bits. It's almost animalistic-- like, alpha wolf can have any of the pack & beta wolf can only have their due, like... a very male/female way of looking at it, where the husband can sleep around but the wife is villified if she strays. :/ hmmm.

That's kind of disturbing, actually :>