What I learned in this year's Pride Month · 12:36pm Jul 9th, 2022
There's definitely a double standard when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation in animation. Most of the time, we see WLW relationships which is a great step forward. On the other hand, MLM relationships are censored, pushed to the side, and mostly portrayed as dads instead of young adults. In other words, WLW gets praised while MLM is seen as "less masculine", considering the existence of toxic masculinity to this day. It's quite frustrating and discouraging, to say the least. Come to think of it, this is similar to the double standards of fanfictions here when it comes to same-sex relationships.
All I'm saying is that there needs to be more variety in this kind of representation. Content that puts MLM relationships as the main focus, including other people with different gender identities and sexual orientations, would help make the viewers feel validated, seen, and realize that there's nothing wrong with being themselves.
Now that you mention it, I can name a lot of canon GxG couples from popular cartoons, but I can’t recall any canon BxB couples from any mainstream cartoons unless it was on Netflix or something.
Interesting I never thought about that I’m very surprised