#like i dont care whether people themselves interpret any given close relationship as romantic

[spidermanifested]

i cant even say i completely disagree with the sentiment behind this post since theres plenty of fandom popular gay ships where i too just simply Do Not See where theyre getting any romantic tension from. i am like "you guys just wanted some men to ship and you picked the first 2 conventionally attractive ones you saw". and sometimes sure whatever they have going on in the source is way more interesting than what fandom does with them. that happens

but also. im looking at it wearily because (regarding the op) the personality-flattening aspects of shipping culture are a connected-but-Separate thing from the concept of imagining 2 characters as gay, and you absolutely do still find wild mischaracterizations when a relationship is interpreted by fans as platonic. you dont solve this by focusing on the gay aspect. and regarding the addition i feel like its been gone over a hundred times but What society are you growing up in where people are more conditioned to accept intimacy between gay lovers vs Just Two Bros Who Got Each Others Backs. multiple people in the comments are mentioning sam and frodo. do they know how mainstream "ew no theyre not gay theyre just really good friends!!! dont you have any respect for MALE FRIENDSHIP" that take is. here is My hot take if you refuse to understand why a lot of people see sam and frodo as being in love you probably are at least a little bit homophobic actually

#like i dont care whether people themselves interpret any given close relationship as romantic #but if you start generalizing that 'too many people are interpreting characters as gay' #The Homophobia Gets In. Whether You Want It There Or Not