Random early ramble the Falsettos fandom always likes grouping whizzvin into boxes where Whizzer is feminine and Marvin is masculine, even though Whizzer is incredibly masculine, honestly moreso than Marvin. Whizzer has a sense of style and he's flamboyant, but also he dresses masculine (slacks, button ups, leather jackets, all things traditionally "masculine" especially by 1970s standards), he's very into sports (he talks about his love of baseball, he also gets Marvin into playing racquetball), etc etc. he displays more masculine traits than Marvin really seems to, because the most masculine thing Marvin's done is misogyny.
I think it's interesting how butch4butch and femme4femme relationships seem to be growing in normality in fiction over the years (which is AMAZING!), but with the recent renaissance of fujoshis and cishet women invading queer spaces, mlm relationships in media seem to have taken a step back in their representation. Heated Rivalry is a big contributor, and while it displays a very masculine couple all around, I've still seen acts of feminization and even infantilization performed on the main (heavily masculine) characters.
It seems every popular piece of queer media that portrays a gay couple (Brokeback Mountain, Falsettos, Heated Rivalry) ends up somehow taking a step back once the public get their hands on the media because they cannot grasp the concept of masculinity being able to coexist in a relationship. This can also be tied back to the ongoing rise of misandry, honestly, but I'm not gonna get too woke here.
And back to the topic of Falsettos, you might say "but CPU, that's just normal mischaracterization, why does it matter?" And it's because Whizzer's masculinity is integral to the plot. All of act 1 is Marvin wanting a traditionally (for the '70s) feminine partner. He wants to have his cake and eat it too; he wants a man who acts "like a man", but he also wants someone who will stay at home, who will cook, who will clean. The entire reason Whizzer and Marvin break up is because Whizzer is incredibly masculine. Whizzer won't bend down to a submissive, feminine role. In act 2, they work so well because Marvin has finally accepted Whizzer for who he is. Marvin finally realizes what he truly wants, and that means having to accept that Whizzer is a masculine man.
(there's a lot of importance on sports being a trait of masculinity because the show itself stresses Marvin's indifference to sports: "I hate baseball, I really do, unlike the rest of you, I hate baseball," and "we go to ball games / the ball is tossed / the pitcher's handsome ..." And probably a few more instances I didn't catch. Whereas Whizzer has quite the like for sports: "I love baseball. (Then he is the only one to give real, honest advice to Jason in regards to the game)" And Whizzer introducing Marvin to racquetball (which Whizzer is incredibly good at, and Marvin is not). There is also a lot of discussion to be had about how chess and "The Chess Game" fit into this broader metaphor of sports for masculinity. But that's a ramble for another day.)
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