A whole lot of isms, but mostly heterosexism.

[strangetomato]

Given that this Sunday, May 17, is the International Day Against Homophobia, it's interesting that I was recently called out for being heterosexist. To my face, by a lesbian. I was pretty embarrassed. (Not that it would be any better to have this pointed out in another way, but I felt pretty careless.)



I had designed a quick little poster for a community Seniors Appreciation Day event, and all of the clip art used on it (yeah, go ahead and laugh at the clip art, but my job isn't as a designer - there's no time or money to make it nicer) featured elderly male/female couples.

In my defense, I was lucky to find anything that showed seniors being happy and doing anything besides sitting on a couch at home (no joke - many of them actually featured graveyards). We wanted dancing and eating and having fun AND elderly people, and I barely found that. There's literally nothing that tackles ageism AND heterosexism. It seems like you can only tackle one of these issues at a time (though there was a little racial diversity in there, I'll give them that much).

It's amazing how easy it is to be heterosexist. Unlike homophobia, you do it by default, by doing nothing. I like to think I'm pretty good about this stuff, because I actually think about it most of the time and even point it out to other people when they say something that assumes the world to be straight (you get mixed results when you suggest that someone's baby might actually grow up to be gay, let me warn you, true though it may be). So if I can do it by accident, then you can too. If you're constantly vigilant about it, then I salute you, but it can be tough to get it right all the time.

To relate this back to sims, it's got me to thinking about portrayals of LGBT characters in sim stories, just like any other media. I've read some interesting articles and posts on this topic recently (relating to different fandoms, but same difference), and it really is worth considering. I try to write about characters first and foremost, and so they have flaws and make bad decisions and all that, but I do try to be conscious of the messages my stories are sending, whether intended or not.

As for homophobia, I did make a very conscious decision to include that in my sim world, as much as I love the idea of a world without it. My sim world simulates the world I live in, and that includes most of its problems too. Also, there's no way to examine something if you ignore its existence, and I'm very interested in exploring gender/sexuality in my characters. It's something of a theme in my story, I suppose, if you want to put that much weight on it (which is probably a bit of a stretch).

So how do you feel about this as a creator or reader of sim stories? Feel free to discuss it in the comments, if you like.

Also, go ahead and critique the way I do things in relation to this topic, if you want to, so I can further consider and examine them. I know I could always fall back on "it's just a sim story," but I don't actually believe that excuses me in any way. I'm putting content out into the world, so I'm engaging in the way things are portrayed, even though it's a small and very specialized audience.



 

Comments

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Your whole country is gay? I didn't know that. :P

The date is actually the date the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I know people like to complain about how things were better 'back in the day', but knowing that we're beyond things like that makes me believe that we are still moving forward. :3

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Seriously, right. Fuck that.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and declare that things were definitely NOT better back in the day.

For starters, I'm pretty fond of being considered a person. *arches brows*

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

Hee, yeah I think most of it is just nostalgia anyway. I do kind of think it's a bit sad that kids would rather play on the computer than go out and play (although that's not really true in my house - Em and Dan are almost always outside when the weather is nice), but for the most part I think we're moving on to a much better place.

Also, I just read this and it was awesome: http://www.shorpy.com/node/6128

[ikichi.livejournal.com]

Hah, yea, I'm thrilled with not being categorized as farm equipment. I had a (white) co-worker say something about how great everything used to be and the manager saw my expression and shut him up before I could rip his throat out.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Totally agreed on that. Minor annoyances like horrible mobile ringtones aside, nothing was better back in the day.

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I kind of hate cell phones. Like, I think they are useful and sensible, but I HAAAATE when you're talking to someone and they check their phone or they start texting. It's the worst.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed. Everyone is always talking loudly and obnoxiously into their phone on the train about unimportant personal stuff. I'm not a fan. I also hate all the useless crap you can buy and download for phones and how it's marketed. All of those things I can do on a computer where they are cheaper and better. Phones are for calling and sending texts - but be a little polite about it, dammit!

...I'm not 80 years old, honest.

[silentsteel.livejournal.com]

I definitely favor telephone devices for the deaf - or using modern cell phones like you are. My hubby and I rarely ever use the few minutes we have for our cell phones (We went for one of the deaf-specific plans that are available with TMobile, and get a small minimum of minutes with our unlimited data), and instead either txt or chat on AIM. It's less intrusive in general.

I definitely understand about the interrupting conversations to txt or check the phone though. I have a hard enough time hearing what someone's saying without them turning away. Bleah.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

It might as well be - I read today that Norway (along with Iceland and Sweden) are on the top of some list US "researchers" have made over countries with the most children born out of wedlock. No kidding. It's a whole 54%, zomg!!! (Never mind that a LOT of people choose to coinhabit instead of getting married, which in most cases is pretty much the same thing, even legally.) But yes, my country is a heathen godless state of fornication and bastard children and - as of last year - legal gay marriage, so it only makes sense that the national day is on the official Gay Day. ;)

[leskuh.livejournal.com]

For some reason this made me want to dance.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Let's all move to this heathen country.

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Haha. :D We still have many issues to work through, but the new marriage law made me very happy.

[muslemura.livejournal.com]

54 %?? Wow, I didn't know that! Although maybe I should, counting our friends three of the couples with children are married, and one of them had two children before they tied the knot :P The rest of them just live together.

Heathen godless state - heehee!

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it surprised me a bit too, but considering that so many coinhabit these days it makes sense. If I didn't have to marry my husband to get him to Norway (he's Australian) I'm not sure I would've gotten married either.

It's ironic, isn't it, considering we have a state church and all?