hi I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a while and now seems like a good time with pridemonth just around the corner
I absolutely ADORE aira and her character, and I also love yukitori. They’re so special to me, especially as an omniromantic woman who has such a small amount of representation, (omniromantic is under the bi umbrella.)
But I’m really disappointed with the current state of fandoms on both sides, and how rampant biphobia is.
On one side, you have dudebros who will just absolutely deny the possiblity of yukitori and queer Aira because she’s “straight”, as she has attraction for a man. When presented with the idea of her being bisexual, they laugh it off and call me crazy, because this is a shonen manga. There’s no space for queer people here!! (which is BLATANTLY homophobic.). But she’s attracted to a man, so she HAS to be straight.
While on the other side, there are people who like yukitori, but completely deny Aira’s feelings for Okarun. She has to be lesbian!! Because it’s the only way they can get her out of the way of mokarun, and disregard her love as just compulsory heterosexuality. While I agree that comphet Aira is very plausible and makes a lot of sense, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel things. They want to disregard her actual love for okarun so they can sort of justify mokarun?? Albeit their numbers are small, these people still exist and mirror a larger problem in fandoms currently.
it’s just this common idea in fandoms that bisexual people don’t really exist. They’re either straight or gay, and there’s no discussion for any in between. It’s not just Aira who faces this problem, but I also find Himiko Toga (MHA) faces this A LOT.
I’ll try explain Toga’s story without spoilers to the best of my ability, but you have been warned !!
Toga’s story is so incredibly symbolic of the treatment that queer neurodivergent girls face in today’s society. She has a quirk where if she drinks someone’s blood, she can turn into them if she loves them enough. This also affects her mental state, making her attack and harm people because she wants to feel love.
Instead of helping her, she’s forced into a life of masking, a common autistic trait found commonly in girls where they will copy the behaviour of neurotypicals around them and act “normal”, but it’s incredibly draining. There’s literally a scene in her backstory where we see her with metaphorical masks on so no you’re not convincing me she’s neurotypical. One day she breaks, and harms the person she loves because she wants to feel his love. Because of this, society sees her as a monster and she’s pushed into a life of villainy and crime, as there’s no where else for her to go. An actual very common problem in today’s society.
Toga is undoubtedly pansexual. She loves people regardless of gender, and more about who they are as a person. She falls in love with both Izuku (male) and Ochaco ( female), as well as many others, but these are the two main characters I’d like to discuss.
The fandom of mha is still a fucking mess, and it’s def gained a reputation for being shitty. But BOTH sides are horrible. You basically can either be with the misogynistic dudebros or the misogynistic fujoshi’s.
And seeing the treatment of toga pisses me off to no end. The misogynistic dudebros will either label Toga’s love for Ochaco as “sisterly” (no??), insist she only loved Izuku, or acknowledge her love and yet INSIST she’s a psychopath who can’t be redeemed because she’s a murderer (despite her still being a CHILD.)
they have NO room for empathy for her, but when it comes to a straight GROWN ASS man who abused his whole family and implied to have assaulted his wife, he’s allowed redemption. Dudebros when it’s a misunderstood teenage girl who’s been pushing into a society that refuses to accept her vs an ACTUAL abuser
And the misogynistic fujoshi’s label her as a lesbian. And how she ONLY loves Ochaco, pushing this watered down version of “ahaaa doomed yuri look so silly!” But ultimately always ignoring the depth and real weight Toga’s story holds of being pushed into labels and shapes that don’t fit her comfortably. I find a lot (not all!!) of togachako shippers only ship togachako to sideline two female characters who are both in love with Izuku, to just further push forward their very popular MLM ship. They’ll say that Toga’s (and Ochaco’s!!) love for Izuku wasn’t real, and how they both just HAVE to love girls.
Fuck, their treatment of Ochaco’s love for Izuku pisses me off as well. When it’s a woman it’s “just a school crush!” But when it’s a man it’s “yearning!” Fuck OFF.
Also the dudebros insisting that Ochaco is straight because she loves Izuku, despite her very obvious complicated feelings for Toga as well. Look even if you think she was in love or not, there were HEAVY romantic implications between toga and Ochaco.
Also what’s with people acting like polyamorous people don’t exist either?? I’m just gonna touch on this a little. But I’m a big fan of izuhimiocha (Izuku x Ochaco x toga.) I feel that they’d have a lot of potential, but people act like Ochaco HAS to choose one or the other. This constant idea that you HAVE to be in a relationship with only one other person is pushed so much, it’s really annoying actually.
I’ve only listed three characters for this post, but I could go on and on of how bisexual characters are constantly mistreated by fandoms. (And asexual characters, but that’s for another time.)
look Im all for lesbian headcanoning, I LOVE IT! But there comes to a point where it IS biphobia, and people just keep disregarding that.
The idea that a woman can’t be in love with both a man and a woman is insulting, the constant need to sideline one of their loves, because it’s just not “acceptable” to them.
