Did you find Robron's jokes today homophobic at all? If so, are they mitigated by the fact it was a queer couple making the joke about who would be wearing the dress?
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to think about this, because I've been so hung up on the implications of the OnlyFans comment all day, honestly I haven't really thought about the allegedly homophobic jokes.
Truthfully, the jokes didn't leave a very strong impression on me at all. I didn't find them to be particularly funny. The humor in those scenes is really giving Disney Channel or Nick sitcom vibes - Ross teaching Sam how to dance, Ross noticing they're being watched and dropping Sam as a result, this joke happened beat for beat in the House of Anubis Season 1 finale back in 2011. And I love House of Anubis to this day, I'm currently doing a rewatch with my friend who also grew up watching the show, but it is a television series designed and written for children and teens, and meant to be enjoyed by children and teens. So I definitely think the jokes are juvenile. My main takeaway from those scenes are that Rob and Aaron are acting unnecessarily childish by mocking Ross and Sam for dancing.
I just rewatched the scene and I see where people are coming from when they say the scene is homophobic, but I don't really find it particularly offensive except for perhaps this part:
Until this point, you could argue that Rob and Aaron are mocking Ross and Sam for being bad dancers, for being two of the most ungraceful people in the entire village and therefore two people who definitely shouldn't be dancing. Which is rude and childish, but not necessarily homophobic. However, the "who gets to wear the dress?" comment is homophobic. When you remove the scene from all relevant context, this scene features two men mocking other men for dancing together, and asking them which one is going to wear the dress, which one of them is going to play the woman in the dynamic. Implying that pair dancing is a typically m/f activity, or should be a m/f activity. Rob and Aaron are certainly emasculating Ross and Sam here. Without any context, the only saving grace here is that Rob phrases it as "who gets to wear the dress" instead of "who has to wear the dress" - implying that the dress is a privilege and honor.
However! Let's add some context back in, because I think context is important in this case. Because while I don't think Robron being queer makes this comment 100% completely unproblematic, I do think it mitigates the harm a bit and takes the sting out of it. Rob and Aaron are both queer men, Ross and Sam are both straight men, and Ross is a known homophobe (despite having gay brothers that he cares about very much...his fascinating contradictions). Ross has made homophobic comments towards Rob and Aaron before. While this context doesn't completely exonerate Robron's homophobia here, it serves as mitigating circumstances that lessen the severity of the offense. Honestly, the joke kinda reminds me of those jokes that some gay people make about homophobes being secretly gay, which are problematic for a whole host of reasons, but not as problematic as the actions and words of genuine homophobes.
The offensive line is also immediately followed by this:
Which, given the context of Robron being queer men, could be interpreted as two queer men vaguely teasing or flirting with a straight man to make him feel uncomfortable - they both wanna see Ross in a dress! (This connects back to Rob's phrasing earlier, implying the dress is an honor! Ross should be happy that he gets to wear the dress and please Robron! This also connects to the Todd/Charity stuff in this episode re: flirting to make someone uncomfy) And I do think Robron's mocking was largely disingenuous, mostly played up to make Ross and Sam feel uncomfy and awkward, as opposed to reflecting Robron's true personal beliefs. Emasculating a homophobe for fun. Gay people do this all the time, and while I don't think it's the worst thing in the world, I understand why it makes some people uneasy or troubled. Emasculating and feminizing cishet men without their consent, even when done by gay people in retaliation for homophobia, can unwittingly perpetuate harmful stereotypes and bigotry against trans people, women (especially trans women), and also other queer men, by pushing the idea that femininity is wrong, bad, shameful.
This response ended up being wayyy longer than anticipated, lol. I hope this all makes sense, or at least seems somewhat coherent. I think I've said everything I wanna say on this topic.
TL;DR: Robron's jokes today were homophobic in the way that gay people emasculating and feminizing cishet men for fun in retaliation for genuine homophobia is homophobic. That is to say, sort of problematic but definitely not the worst thing in the world.
