I saw a post on Facebook that was titled, "10 Modern Kids Shows with Awesome Queer Characters." On the front was Ruby and Sapphire, from Steven Universe. I was curious about the comments, so I took a look, and I ended up typing a rather long response to one of them.
The comment:
Ruby and Sapphire weren't actually a good example. The concept of their relationship (Garnet) was much more dimensional than their actual relationship. Whenever they are apart, all they want is to be back together to the point that they can't function on their own.
The only thing that kept them apart of their own free will was essentially blind rage, but once they got shocked out of it immediately jumped back together. Heck, even their first fusion was an accident but only stood together because they liked the way it felt, rather than out of any actual love.
Even if fusion is a metaphor for a relationship, each time it occurs its more akin to addiction. Lapis is the only one who acknowledges how unhealthy it is having experienced it herself.
My reply:
Fusion is not a metaphor for relationships, it is a metaphor for sex. Combining the light projections of two gems together into one, literally being one with your partner. The closest we have, as humans, to that experience is during sexual intercourse. We literally say to our partners, "I want you inside me."
It's not necessary for one to feel love in order to have sex. Jasper forced fusion on other gems, effectively raping them. Pearl used Garnet for fusion because of the rush it gave her, thereby losing Garnet's trust, just as anyone who's been unknowingly used for sex would feel. But Ruby and Sapphire love each other so much that they have a stable and constant, harmonious fusion. Unlike Lapis and Jasper, which was basically hate sex. The only time Garnet breaks apart, without being poofed, is when they strongly disagree with each other, thereby causing discord in their harmony as one.
When Garnet was first (deliberately) formed, she was hued in the colors of the transgender flag. Rose told Garnet to never question why she felt being together in that way was so right, even when society viewed fusion of two different gems to be very wrong. She went on living her life in the form she knew she was supposed to be.
If a trans person ran out of hormone medication, the time in between getting their refill would probably feel similar to what Garnet feels when she's split up. Sure, you could call it a fear, but it's more than that. It's a deep sense that something is wrong, and that you're not who you should be.
Ruby and Sapphire are two halves of a whole, and it's blatantly demonstrated in the show (particularly during the baseball episode) that it's not fear of being apart that brings them together, it's the love they feel for each other. And it's that same love that caused them to fuse in the first place.
Ruby, Sapphire, and Garnet are a conversation about a sex positive relationship powered by love and communication. It is also about being yourself, regardless of outside opinions, just as most trans people have to face.
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