i will absolutely not be the one to make a comprehensive or academic post about the detoothification & infantilization of hans capon by fandom or all the reasons why it is a misguided effort to seemingly legitimize a canon m/m romance. but in the interest of providing context to enrich the audience's appreciation of hansry beyond the imposition of heterosexist gender roles: it is useful to understand that hans capon is very much representative of medieval masculinity far more than henry is, from the symbols he is associated with to his dress and general demeanor. medieval masculinity prided athletic pursuit (for knights, aggressive competition between male peers), the sun, summer, heat, strong/bold colors (especially gold, blondness, yellow - all the domain of the sun), bodily health (often sought through and evidenced by appetite and a resistance to illness), a rejection of high medieval asceticism (at least for knights), mastery over wilderness (epitomized by male animals like the stag), literary scholarship (especially as a means of winning/persuading lovers; admittedly hans does not succeed at the latter as a matter of wordplay, not until it comes from a place of sincerity), strong/long legs and hands, a straight nose, shoulders broader than the waist and a defined silhouette / disciplined posture. by general late medieval standards, the least masculine thing about him is, perhaps surprisingly to folks unfamiliar with norms of the period, the amount of sexual socialization he has with women, which was sometimes characterized as feminizing through a sort of sexual osmosis. it is worth noting that historically speaking and among his contemporaries hans capon does not cut an effeminate medieval figure for whatever use that may be to fan artists and writers
