Heartstopper - When Sexuality is Set in Stone
I admit I like Heartstopper, although I guess it’s not for my age group. It’s a bit too ideal a world, with everybody being good friends, problems being solved easily, no financial distress, and young people living in a strong support system. All in all, it’s a smooth ride.
But something struck me as odd, while I was watching Season 3.
Remember the scene when Imogen tells Nick that she never liked a boy “that way” and that she only had boyfriends because she wanted to look like a cool girl?
Now of course everybody is assuming she’s a lesbian, or at least that she’s finally questioning her “heteronormative” behaviour.
On the other side we have Isaac, who has come out as asexual and aromantic. Nick, who realizes he’s bisexual. Charlie, who came out as gay before he met him. There’s non-binary Darcy. Lesbian Tara. Elle, who transitioned years earlier. Tao is heterosexual (I guess), in any case his love interest is trans.
Average heterosexual characters hardly appear, and when they do they are usually shown off as narrow-minded and difficult to deal with like Charlie’s parents. I get it that queer young people want to feel represented on screen; but to ignore them the way it was until a few years ago was as unrealistic as it is now, IMHO, to portray societies where no one falls in love with the opposite sex any more.
The absurdity is that while “heteronormative” is frowned upon, the characters are just as certain that their choice is set in stone.
It’s repeatedly said and shown that one must find out about one’s sexual orientation and desires instead of submitting to what society expects. So, heterosexuality is out, because it - allegedly - presupposes that everybody is either male or female, everybody wants love and sex, and everybody must only feel attracted to members of the opposite sex, which is seen as restrictive and biased.
Really.
The show’s characters are all around 16 years old and by now the protagonists have all come out and “found themselves”. Some of them already did before the show even started, which means at age 14 or 15. They are firmly convinced of what their respective attitude towards gender and sexuality is, and having come out, this basically means they’re convinced that this is what they are and will be for the rest of their lives.
Same for their relationships. At 16, who is in love in this show is shown as being so happy that you can’t imagine them being with anyone else for the rest of their lives.
If Nick and Charlie will always be together, Nick will never have sex with a female, but apparently, he will be "bisexual" all his life. Isaac has never been in love at age 16 and so he takes it for granted that he is not capable of romantic or erotic feelings. Elle transitioned years earlier, before her body was even fully developed. But everybody is already convinced that this is who they are and always will be.
Excuse me, it doesn't make sense. I know from experience that at 16 your love life and your identity are still pretty much a mess. I realize that this is a piece of media, but it is beloved by a large fanbase who now will naively believe that this portrayal of young people nowadays is realistic.
In former times, there seemed to be only one way to be. Now you’re expected to come out as some thing or another by the time you’re 16. A boy or a girl can’t simply not have met the right person yet or have other priorities in life: they’re either asexual or struggling with heteronormativity. Or who knows what else.
And this is not restrictive? Come on. 😊 Apparently, being queer is just as normative as being straight.
Except everybody chooses the corset they want to be in by themselves.
