Visibility Is Not an Agenda

[strange_selkie]

This comes by way of Ellen Kushner's Twitter and Malinda Lo's tumblr and by winding roads to a comment chain in the Printz contender blog (for YA books).

Basically, a commenter said -- and it didn't start out inflammatory, but its casual, callous tone was worse to me -- that there were "too many" same sex relationships in a book, and that same-sex

Comments

[rose_lemberg]

For some people our open and unashamed existence and self-expression is an agenda. Yes, it is depressing.

[strange_selkie]

Oh, God, can you imagine if Anna Karenina had been queer? She wouldn't have made it to Part III.

It is depressing. And grim. And sad. But nonetheless, I am glad to see your icon around here.

[asakiyume]

Sounds like the commenter just can't accept the normativity of non-heterosexuality. It sounds as if she wants to have same-sex relationship stuff treated as a huge and significant plot thing rather than as a natural part of life. That's a shame!

[strange_selkie]

I think of you as someone not only with a Certain Locally-Based Bull Dung Detecting Sensibility but also with a strong partnership, and as a Person Who Reared Functional Children Who Seem Unlikely to Rejoice in the Misery of Others, so your comments on relationship-type normativity are particularly resonant.

Also hi!

[asakiyume]

Hi! I dunno, sometimes I am as clueless and insensitive as a brick (more so: there are some remarkably clued in, sensitive bricks out there), but people getting all worked up because non-heterosexuals are ordinary people who can have ordinary lives--or extraordinary ones! but not because of their sexuality--that just makes me shake my head.

I'm really lucky in my partner and my children!

[three_magpies]

They sound rather one-sided and *cough* brick-headed. I.e. numb-skulled. No nice commentary will be inserted here.

I rarely manage to write straight fic. Really, only once successfully so far - and a lovely interracial couple came out of it. Anyway, I prefer to write the world as I see. Rather queer and normal that way.