SEXUALITY
well, for one, how can he be all that promiscuous when no one will actually agree to do anything with him, come on.
Okay. I should not have begun this essay like that because I will now proceed to talk about things that are less salacious for a while.
perhaps this is another thing we should blame the family for
As there are a few things that are important to distinguish about his worldview.
One! Shuri is horrendously sheltered. Before coming to camp his world was very very small, safe, and childishly simplistic. Antwort was the breaking of the shell, but it's taken camp to actually remove most of it. In the context of this essay, of course, sex is included in this! If you're to take canon then he has an exaggerated blushy reaction to porn and that's all we really see from him on the subject. But to add headcanon to that! Shuri knew about 2% about sexuality before coming here. I'm sure his Papa gave him the Talk but that's more of a personal thing. Recognizing the general process of sexual intercourse is an accomplishment that was probably only brought about by living with a bunch of other teenage boys for school. But in all aspects of life he has historically been fairly ~innocent~
Two! The Oak family, I assume even on the military side, is a family deeply entrenched in social hierarchy. There are two types of people in the world: people who are ranked above Shuri Oak, and people who are beneath him. There is no middle ground. Even Hakuren who ought to be roughly on the same level is all "look at me I'm smarter than you" and if they were ever on the same level Shuri definitely doesn't think of him that way anymore. What this boils down to is that it is very, very rare that Shuri treats anyone as his equal. The mere concept of equality is almost alien to him. He thinks this is the way the world works and he assumes everyone has a view like his until proven otherwise.
Three! everyone should pay attention to me all the time forever which is self-explanatory I think
wait blame camp too probably
The thing is that in camp, #3 will never fully go away because beyond his upbringing, it is just part of Shuri's intrinsic personality to be an attention whore. #2 has barely changed and as it stands Shuri still views all his relationships as intrinsically imbalanced. But #1 has been completely ruined. It is this particular combination of elements that has become Shuri's current sexuality!!
Camp is a very INAPPROPRIATE place in comparison to Shuri's previous experience. His sexuality is supposed to be PRIVATE PRIVATE! IT'S NOT FOR YOU! But people discuss sex and relationships very casually in camp, and discuss his own sexuality WHETHER HE LIKES IT OR NOT, and homosexuality is just not even an issue most of the time, and what is this I don't even. (I'm still unsure how Barsburg treats homosexuality as it is a very gay canon, but not that explicitly, and all signs point to it being a heteronormative society, so!) Notably he has become gradually desensitized about the topic in spending too much time with Devit, as Devit has just become MORE AND MORE EXPLICIT OVER TIME. He still gets all blushy about things all the time but he has absorbed a whole lot of information.
So Shuri started going through something of a sexual awakening, a while ago! He wanted a relationship, and for someone to pay that kind of intimate attention to him! He wanted, he wanted!!
um shuri you were actually doing pretty okay with that relationship stuff for a while there
YEAH, SHUT UP! ;;
Sure Shuri had a boyfriend for some months. And he really genuinely cared about Aerrow and loved him and everything he stood for and he liked spending time with him kyaa etc. However, it was never really a sexual relationship. And it was not that Shuri did not want a sexual relationship! This was also when he was actively trying to get into Konatsu's pants! He could have tried to sleep with his own boyfriend BUT NO
The problem was--! I would like to redirect your attention to item #2 above. All relationships, platonic or otherwise, are created unequal. Since they are, socializing is a constant power play, manipulative at heart! And sex is another venue of social interaction--a very powerful one! Shuri knows how flustered he himself gets about sex and if he can induce that in someone else--! If he can use sex as a trump card to exploit people and possibly get the upper hand over someone else then yes! That must be what it's all about!! He does also recognize a more romanticized version of sex, and that sounds appealing to him too. But to him, romantic/consensual sex is more like a surrender--"I like you enough to give you this victory." Willingly letting the other person "win," because they deserve it and it's still enjoyable for him to bottom, etc.! And... if he does place the other person above him like that (figuratively and literally oh HO) it actually is in his best interests to please them! But yeah--to him, sex is... not supposed to be mutually enjoyable? LIFE is not supposed to be mutually enjoyable. Secretly he does think life would be great if it could be mutually enjoyable, but like I said, he doesn't think that is how relationships work. What do you mean, we are not always exploiting the people around us, or constantly serving their interests ?_?
...Anyway the problem was that he and Aerrow somehow managed to have a relationship as equals. Shuri did not want to exploit Aerrow for anything because he respected him completely, and Aerrow is certainly not the sort of person to be demanding of him. And there was no power structure and they were inexperienced and HOW DOES THIS WORK I'M CONFUSED?????? So in conclusion Shuri liked his boyfriend too much to touch him and now he left camp the end.
I thought this essay was about how totally easy Shuri is, you liar
NO IT IS THOUGH! I mean not really. But he is. And he has kind of reached a point where he's just like "fuck it, I will fool around with whoever." Because he DOES crave attention and he just wants someone to pay it to him intimately without all this baggage around relationships uggghhhhhhhhh who put this much baggage around feeeeeeeelings. And he thinks most people in camp are below him anyway, so who cares, they should be making out with me to get in my good graces! But he will not go around hitting on people because that is just. not. no! He doesn't do things that way! Why, he could even be rejected that way!! HOW IS THAT WINNING? I THOUGHT SEX WAS ABOUT WINNING. If people make a move on him, he will graciously accept! But if he's the one initiating things, it will be an utterly non-con power grab!
It really is unfortunate for him to be going through this in a place like camp, because even if he did find himself in the position of fooling around with someone, he would just end up as an animal and everyone would know AND STUFF. THIS RUINS AWKWARD ONE-NIGHT STANDS A LITTLE. SEXUAL EXPERIMENTATION IS DEAD. But he would like to try it anyway, and preferably with someone he doesn't actually care about, so he does not have to worry about pleasing someone when he doesn't know wtf he is doing.
Since Devit enabled me to write this essay anyway I am going to write a paragraph about Devit. Shuri would never, ever want to be in a relationship with Devit, ever. That is the worst idea. Probably Hakuren is on drugs. But hey, he and Devit are still frenemies and they talk a lot. The thing is they end up talking about sex ALL THE TIME! ALL THE TIME THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT SOMEHOW. And Shuri is left in the awkward position of being very comfortable with Devit these days, but also kind of hating him, and ALSO discussing sexual things half the time with him, and it is Terrible. Because this is the most tempting opportunity to just--attempt to pull sex-as-power and try to mouthrape his way to success, and perhaps get Devit to stop teasing him about everything sexual ever, and then never talk about it again, and yet ~SOMEHOW~ THAT MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST IDEA, I DON'T KNOW IT IS JUST A FEELING I GET.
I didn't want to end the essay on that paragraph so this is the paragraph it ends on! SO THERE!
Okay. I should not have begun this essay like that because I will now proceed to talk about things that are less salacious for a while.
perhaps this is another thing we should blame the family for
As there are a few things that are important to distinguish about his worldview.
One! Shuri is horrendously sheltered. Before coming to camp his world was very very small, safe, and childishly simplistic. Antwort was the breaking of the shell, but it's taken camp to actually remove most of it. In the context of this essay, of course, sex is included in this! If you're to take canon then he has an exaggerated blushy reaction to porn and that's all we really see from him on the subject. But to add headcanon to that! Shuri knew about 2% about sexuality before coming here. I'm sure his Papa gave him the Talk but that's more of a personal thing. Recognizing the general process of sexual intercourse is an accomplishment that was probably only brought about by living with a bunch of other teenage boys for school. But in all aspects of life he has historically been fairly ~innocent~
Two! The Oak family, I assume even on the military side, is a family deeply entrenched in social hierarchy. There are two types of people in the world: people who are ranked above Shuri Oak, and people who are beneath him. There is no middle ground. Even Hakuren who ought to be roughly on the same level is all "look at me I'm smarter than you" and if they were ever on the same level Shuri definitely doesn't think of him that way anymore. What this boils down to is that it is very, very rare that Shuri treats anyone as his equal. The mere concept of equality is almost alien to him. He thinks this is the way the world works and he assumes everyone has a view like his until proven otherwise.
Three! everyone should pay attention to me all the time forever which is self-explanatory I think
wait blame camp too probably
The thing is that in camp, #3 will never fully go away because beyond his upbringing, it is just part of Shuri's intrinsic personality to be an attention whore. #2 has barely changed and as it stands Shuri still views all his relationships as intrinsically imbalanced. But #1 has been completely ruined. It is this particular combination of elements that has become Shuri's current sexuality!!
Camp is a very INAPPROPRIATE place in comparison to Shuri's previous experience. His sexuality is supposed to be PRIVATE PRIVATE! IT'S NOT FOR YOU! But people discuss sex and relationships very casually in camp, and discuss his own sexuality WHETHER HE LIKES IT OR NOT, and homosexuality is just not even an issue most of the time, and what is this I don't even. (I'm still unsure how Barsburg treats homosexuality as it is a very gay canon, but not that explicitly, and all signs point to it being a heteronormative society, so!) Notably he has become gradually desensitized about the topic in spending too much time with Devit, as Devit has just become MORE AND MORE EXPLICIT OVER TIME. He still gets all blushy about things all the time but he has absorbed a whole lot of information.
So Shuri started going through something of a sexual awakening, a while ago! He wanted a relationship, and for someone to pay that kind of intimate attention to him! He wanted, he wanted!!
um shuri you were actually doing pretty okay with that relationship stuff for a while there
YEAH, SHUT UP! ;;
Sure Shuri had a boyfriend for some months. And he really genuinely cared about Aerrow and loved him and everything he stood for and he liked spending time with him kyaa etc. However, it was never really a sexual relationship. And it was not that Shuri did not want a sexual relationship! This was also when he was actively trying to get into Konatsu's pants! He could have tried to sleep with his own boyfriend BUT NO
The problem was--! I would like to redirect your attention to item #2 above. All relationships, platonic or otherwise, are created unequal. Since they are, socializing is a constant power play, manipulative at heart! And sex is another venue of social interaction--a very powerful one! Shuri knows how flustered he himself gets about sex and if he can induce that in someone else--! If he can use sex as a trump card to exploit people and possibly get the upper hand over someone else then yes! That must be what it's all about!! He does also recognize a more romanticized version of sex, and that sounds appealing to him too. But to him, romantic/consensual sex is more like a surrender--"I like you enough to give you this victory." Willingly letting the other person "win," because they deserve it and it's still enjoyable for him to bottom, etc.! And... if he does place the other person above him like that (figuratively and literally oh HO) it actually is in his best interests to please them! But yeah--to him, sex is... not supposed to be mutually enjoyable? LIFE is not supposed to be mutually enjoyable. Secretly he does think life would be great if it could be mutually enjoyable, but like I said, he doesn't think that is how relationships work. What do you mean, we are not always exploiting the people around us, or constantly serving their interests ?_?
...Anyway the problem was that he and Aerrow somehow managed to have a relationship as equals. Shuri did not want to exploit Aerrow for anything because he respected him completely, and Aerrow is certainly not the sort of person to be demanding of him. And there was no power structure and they were inexperienced and HOW DOES THIS WORK I'M CONFUSED?????? So in conclusion Shuri liked his boyfriend too much to touch him and now he left camp the end.
I thought this essay was about how totally easy Shuri is, you liar
NO IT IS THOUGH! I mean not really. But he is. And he has kind of reached a point where he's just like "fuck it, I will fool around with whoever." Because he DOES crave attention and he just wants someone to pay it to him intimately without all this baggage around relationships uggghhhhhhhhh who put this much baggage around feeeeeeeelings. And he thinks most people in camp are below him anyway, so who cares, they should be making out with me to get in my good graces! But he will not go around hitting on people because that is just. not. no! He doesn't do things that way! Why, he could even be rejected that way!! HOW IS THAT WINNING? I THOUGHT SEX WAS ABOUT WINNING. If people make a move on him, he will graciously accept! But if he's the one initiating things, it will be an utterly non-con power grab!
It really is unfortunate for him to be going through this in a place like camp, because even if he did find himself in the position of fooling around with someone, he would just end up as an animal and everyone would know AND STUFF. THIS RUINS AWKWARD ONE-NIGHT STANDS A LITTLE. SEXUAL EXPERIMENTATION IS DEAD. But he would like to try it anyway, and preferably with someone he doesn't actually care about, so he does not have to worry about pleasing someone when he doesn't know wtf he is doing.
Since Devit enabled me to write this essay anyway I am going to write a paragraph about Devit. Shuri would never, ever want to be in a relationship with Devit, ever. That is the worst idea. Probably Hakuren is on drugs. But hey, he and Devit are still frenemies and they talk a lot. The thing is they end up talking about sex ALL THE TIME! ALL THE TIME THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT SOMEHOW. And Shuri is left in the awkward position of being very comfortable with Devit these days, but also kind of hating him, and ALSO discussing sexual things half the time with him, and it is Terrible. Because this is the most tempting opportunity to just--attempt to pull sex-as-power and try to mouthrape his way to success, and perhaps get Devit to stop teasing him about everything sexual ever, and then never talk about it again, and yet ~SOMEHOW~ THAT MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST IDEA, I DON'T KNOW IT IS JUST A FEELING I GET.
I didn't want to end the essay on that paragraph so this is the paragraph it ends on! SO THERE!