I'm really sorry to ask, but can you please elaborate on what you mean by "domestically adjusted"?
Don't be sorry, I'm glad you asked.
What I mean when I say "domestically adjusted" is twofold:
Comfortable in a civilian, domestic environment, as if his trauma never happened, and
Settled into a conventional, heteronormative home life.
In the first place, I have similar domestic trauma to Ghost's (not that it's anyone's business), and I am intensely averse to creating any similar kind of environment for myself. I have no plans to get married and procreate. I do not want to subject myself to circumstances that, in the past, have harmed me.
I realize that everyone's reaction and response to domestic trauma is different. Some people will recreate the circumstances of their abuse because it is familiar to them, and it's easier to remain in a discomfort that you know, and can predict, than it is to seek or create a safe environment when you might not even be able to recognize safety at all.
But Ghost wears a fucking skull mask. He covers his entire body in black (incidentally the color of mourning). Does that fucking smack as someone who'd be willing to get married and have kids? Someone who presents himself as literally being dead?
Ghost isn't Ghost because he likes the goth aesthetic. Ghost is Ghost because he underwent such an intensely traumatic experience that he had to create an alternate self in order to fucking function.
In the second place--I'm fucking tired of straight people. I'm tired of the immense amount of pressure there is from straight people to conform to the nuclear model of family. The nuclear family has caused me nothing but pain, both as a victim of abuse and as a queer person. And I am INCREDIBLY tired of the suggestion, in this fandom, and within the context of my own experience, that having a nuclear family is what's best for Ghost.
It may be obvious by now, to those of you reading, that I project heavily onto Ghost, which I will freely admit. This includes my own queerness. I interpret Ghost as a bisexual man, partly because I long to see my bisexuality reflected in my favorite characters and partly because I truly believe it makes his story far more poignant.
So within that context, observing the very straight domestication of Ghost in this fandom makes my teeth grind. There seems to be very little room (specifically within the x reader genre) for a queer model of love and intimacy with Ghost, a model that prioritizes something other than marriage and children.
This fandom is determined to shove Ghost into character archetypes--the boyfriend, the husband, the father--that are foundationally heterosexual. It really seems that most of this fandom cannot enjoy any other narrative of love for Ghost--or, in fact, any other character in this franchise. This treatment is not exclusive to Ghost, although my thoughts on that are another post entirely.
tl;dr, marriage, children, and a white picket fence are anathema to Ghost's character and lack any sort of value toward his narrative, whether you look at him through the lens of trauma, queerness, or both. And I'm tired of being nice about it.
Ok so I'm a shit posting blog but this post made me react in a certain way and I felt like I have to address this.
So as someone who interacted with Activision on a professional level for many months (what exactly I did is not your business and I won't elaborate on this) and someone who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, all I can say is that it's wishful thinking to believe that Ghost would be anything but straight.
At the end of the day Activision cares about one thing only - money. They don't care who is paying as long as they're paying them. Hence there's so much rainbow washing in MWII, flags, stickers, callsigns - it's easy to do and to attract queer people to the game to spend their money on it. Activision IS A CORPORATION! NOT Your Friend and NOT your ally.
At the end of the day, people who give Activision most money are typical gaming bros (hence so many sexist and transphobic dramas connected to CoD production, promotion and community) and to them Acti mostly panders.
We may not like it but it's the reality of the industry.
Now. The fanfic sphere.
I can't believe I have to say it but anyone is allowed to do anything as they please with any fictional character and it's ok (as long as it doesn't go into some minor-related illegal stuff)
If you want to write the character as queer, do so. If you see the character as a straight guy and a husband material, feel free to write him as such.
Not everyone will like it but bitching about someone else portraying the character in a way you don't like is just stupid.
If YOU are projecting YOURSELF on said character - it's your problem. Go see a specialist because it doesn't sound healthy.
Surely, it's normal to include your personal experiences, hopes and ideas in the way you're writing your characters, but this level of projection is just unhealthy. You're literally angry that some strangers on the internet write a character from a military propaganda game not in the same way as you would portray it. Grow a fucking pair for a lack of better words! It's not your OG character to begin with!
The moment a character is seen by the outside world it stops being yours because fandom can make it into whatever the fuck they want it to be and it's jus part of creating any content for an audience. Deal with it! Otherwise you end up like J.K Rowling, bitching on the internet.
Now, to address the trauma thing. The current version of Ghost IS NOT the same as the one known from the previous games or the comic. We don't know how much of the old backstory actually applies to the 2022 version of Ghost. It can be completely different for all we know.
Let's entertain for a second the thought that the current Ghost has the same, dramatic past.
Now.
I can say from a first hand experience that people deal with such kind of trauma differently. Some would keep themselves away from having any sort of family, some would end up recreating what they went through and some would want to give their children the life they wished to have. Yes, it happens.
Now, Ghost is just a dude in a mask who shoots bad guys and that's all Activision made him to be.
Your idea of Queer Ghost who wants to live alone is as canon and possible as those ideas of Ghost being just a character created by Simon Riley to detach himself from his true self who actually likes gardening and dreams of having five kids with his wife.
So complaining about it is just stupid. Now when it comes to complaining about the 90% of 'x reader' content being 'straight' - you do realise that 90% of people are straight, therefore no wonder the vast majority of content is made by straight people and/or for straight people. Again, it's just the way the world functions. So complaining that there's a lot of said content is just ridiculous. It's a FANTASY and Ghost is a FICTIONAL CHARACTER! Let people enjoy whatever the fuck they like and don't discourage writes just because they don't share the same vision as you. Again, it's your problem that you project on a character too much so stop making it about everyone else.
Long story short, let people enjoy harmless stuff, skip the fanfic you don't like and don't project on military propaganda game characters in an unhealthy way because you're only hurting yourself.
