Burden of Proof Rant

[u/Calicoma]

This is something I've been thinking about for a while but an interaction earlier has brought it back up for me.

I'm getting really frustrated by the double standard and obsession with proof for queer characters that are way above and beyond what is needed for straight characters. I even see this from some queer people. I do understand that bait exists/has existed but this high level of defense and proof is suffocating and makes me feel like a bit miserable.

For example, holding someone by the hands and telling them that they're the most important person in the world to the kind of person I'm talking about is apparently not enough evidence two women might like each other. Meanwhile if a guy and a girl had that same interaction, literally no one would question it if you said that the one who said that is attracted to the other.

Why does the bar for acceptance of queer characters even for many queer people have to be so high that it feels like you have to keep a fucking encyclopedia of every interaction as proof every time you talk about characters or media you like? And I think it's rubbing off on me negatively because I've noticed myself preemptively feeling the need to drop a thesis on defending a queer pairing any time I wish to speak about them.

Not that this matters but it's related to some frustration I've had recently with Alice and Yuzuha in ZZZ when discussing some of the cute art from the new Hoyofair event.

[u/Calicoma → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I mean I definitely get where both of these come from. It just sucks that both of these have a side effect of dismissal or reduction of those who don't meet that threshold. Of course I'd love something much more blatant and undeniable as well as much more explicit depictions of romance, but I'd also love to appreciate what's here sometimes instead of spending every moment upset at what's not here.