have u given any thoughts to what queerness would be like in iron lungs universe, if it’s treated any differently from ours ? if so i’m super interested to hear ur thoughts ( ◠‿◠ )
Being Queer, Genetic Diversity, and Gender Study in Iron Lung (ft. Simon and Eden's Sex Culture)
NOTE: I am an amateur culture studies geek, and these are all just theories to help fanfic writers characterize our boy Simon a little better. I hope to give some context to Iron Lung that was just not touched on via the implications of the setting. This is opinionated writing and only meant to build off of canon for funsies.
Far-Future Gender Concepts
With that out of the way, let's talk about the main overarching factors of Iron Lung's setting:
It is the year 2370 at the time of Iron Lung, so, we're looking at a far-future scenario.
It is the apocalypse, where every last bit of humanity has been piled on top of each other in cramped space stations and possibly some large public shuttles (as we see with the Tow Ship).
There's not many human beings left.
Let's compare to what would logically happen in our own society in the future by looking at our current trends:
Looking ahead to the 2300s, the concept of queerness will likely evolve beyond the gender and orientation binaries of today.
The very concept of "queerness" relies on a baseline norm, and that baseline moves dramatically every year these days. Imagine this baseline moving every year for 300 years more than what it has today. Gender and sexuality would become universally viewed as spectrums rather than fixed points, and rigid labels like "gay" or "trans" may feel archaic to a future-dweller. Identity could become an entirely "out the window" ordeal.
Now, that's our baseline. That's where society was at before the Quiet Rapture, in theory. I think we'd be well past the point of labels meaning anything. People are people. We're in space and colonizing planets in a golden age of technology and prospects. We have much bigger things on our minds at this time.
TL;DR: Being queer doesn't mean shit to anybody anymore. Sex is sex. Body parts are body parts and eventually humanity is going to let go of old stigmas, just like it is rapidly doing right now! It's not a second thought to anyone in a far-future setting.
Genetic Diversity on Space Stations
The C.O.I.'s Big Unspoken Problem
After the Quiet Rapture occurred, all of humanity bottle-necked to the lowest numbers we've ever seen since ~900,000 years ago (where the population had hit 1,280 breeding individuals, roughly around what Iron Lung's population is facing at the moment in total between all stations). To maximize genetic diversity during a severe bottleneck of breeding individuals, humanity must focus entirely on slowing the rate of genetic drift (the random loss of genes) and preventing inbreeding.
If you were to get clinical with it, there's a few ways to go about this:
Preventing a few dominant males from fathering most of the children.
Making sure every single individual contributes an equal number of offspring to the next generation.
This maximizes the "effective population size", ensuring that unique genes from less dominant individuals are not permanently lost. If someone smart and desperate were suddenly put in charge of all of humanity (e.g. by being a part of the Council), they'd be doing something like this:
Avoiding accidental inbreeding while maintaining separate gene pools by dividing people based on genetic traits
Enforcing a strict, calculated rotation system where individuals only mate with members of distant gene pools.
Of course, this isn't taking account the absolutely hellish and diabolical prospect of balancing limited supplies while maintaining any amount of ethical integrity. The COI's prospects on the human race must be kept on a tight leash, or they are fucked. If things get overcrowded, everyone dies. If people start inbreeding, everyone dies. If people don't breed enough, everyone dies.
It's a delicate balance of making sure there is an equal amount of breeding pairs at any given point. I cannot fathom being put in a scenario where I would have to make those calls within a populace.
That being said, I think the COI has very rigid "M" and "F" and "THIS TRAIT" and "THAT TRAIT" stamps on all of its people. It's not even about gender, it's about survival. I don't think they're monitoring self-expression but they're sure as shit going to be running a tight ship on sex. They're working like one big bee hive to balance on a metaphorical tightrope right now.
The COI do not strike me as the romantic type.
My Theories on Eden's Culture
Eden does not believe humanity has a future in a dead universe. They do not want to "survive" in the traditional sense. Instead, they seek a spiritual rebirth by turning their bodies into compost for the Last Tree.
That being said, my initial impression is that I don't think they're doing shit to preserve shit. Not in a sense of "oh man they're all inbreds" but rather they're population rates are very low. They're about abstinence, in my mind. The Father is weaponizing it against his people.
But, they're not stupid. They're Martian colonists and clearly smart; at the very least resourceful. If they had absolutely no will to live, why the hell were they raiding Filament Station? Was it truly only a terroristic act, pushing humanity closer to extinction? Or were they looking for supply?
Regardless, there's two ways the Father could be maintaining control on the populace:
Sanctifying unions for the hell of it. The Father wants to keep up appearances and encourage "love in the face of imminent death" among its argrarian-warrior-death-culture they have going on in there. An Absurdist "nothing matters anymore" mindset. Queer unions wouldn't be something that mattered at all. It's not a thought in anyone's head. This is the Good Option.
Not allowing reproduction or unions at all, because there is no hope, and the Father is wanting to reinforce that in his people as much as possible. Eden Station is already a slaughterhouse. This is just the cherry on top regarding depression rates. This is the Bad Option.
Knowing Iron Lung's general tone, I'm going with the Bad Option as the most likely case.
On average there would probably be more queer relations happening on Eden simply because nobody gives a shit, but I don't think sex is really something allowed. It happens "under-the-table" so to speak. Hush-hush.
I'm actually wondering if M/M and F/F relations would have been considered "safer" regarding accidental reproduction. Can they synthesize condoms? Probably not. They surely don't have the resources to sterilize people.
Regarding the abstinence thing, though, it's not even about the Christian overtones of Eden, but about keeping a populace mentally desperate enough to kamikaze on-command.
How this Affects Simon's Characterization
Simon would be a puritan, full stop, with little knowledge on bodies or sex aside from overhearing people talking about it crudely. He was a strong-arm, raised from a young age and heavily steeped in this culture. He was his god's greatest soldier. He was too busy with keeping up with the expectations of being the Butcher to worry about relations.
See this scene from the Fallout 4 TV show as an example, where Maximus comes from a warrior culture (The Brotherhood of Steel!) set in an apocalypse scenario. It's nearly identical to how I think Canon Movie Simon would behave! I strongly urge you to watch it; it's hilarious and brings up a lot of awkward dialogue situations in my mind. I am particularly fond of the line where he says, "I'm a Knight of the Brotherhood" with such pride, followed by the very awkward tone of, "we're not supposed to."
Even though you can very clearly see the dude is pent the hell up. Very silly.
It's a leap to say Simon's a virgin but he's definitely on the spectrum of "fucking around blindly and figuring it out". I think he'd have some backwards notion of sex being gross (ace spectrum my beloved) just from how other Edenites would have talked about it like it's sin.
Well, that and the inability to watch for STIs (?). Or shower much. It would get gross real fast.
The apocalypse doesn't stop to give you sex ed nor does it give you lots of opportunity for sex in a safe manner. Unfortunately, when humans become isolated and are under extreme pressure, they get predatory right quick, so Simon's Jumpy About Touch (tm).
Humanity's biggest threat when there's nothing else to lose... is humanity. A sad truth.
Addendum, Further Reading
I have a post talking about Simon and gender.
Also, a NSFW headcanons post (18+ please!) that talks about a young Simon who was ragefully trying to navigate his sexuality in a culture who fought him every step of the way. It's a little OOC, but it's supposed to reflect a "pre-character arc" Simon.
I spent about an hour writing this. I hope it is comprehensive enough!
