Homophobia in Haixing

[extrapenguin]

If I were to write a Guardian fic the point of which was something completely unrelated to homophobia, but which ended with Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan getting a happily ever after, what level of societal homophobia would not throw you out of the story? Would you find it jarring if they dared hold hands in public? If they dared kiss? If they introduced each other as romantic partners in casual-ish conversation without too much euphemism? Their nearest and dearest would know, and marriage wouldn't be on the table anyway, but ... what is the range of attitudes that wouldn't have the readership's suspension of disbelief come crashing down?

On the one hand, I want this to be happily-ever-after dancing on roses without a cloud in sight; on the other, a lot of the relationship developments of canon make more sense if Haixing is at least somewhat homophobic. So: advice?

Comments

[rheasilvia]

the censorship-mandated lack of explicit confirmation that the relationship is romantic comes across as the characters self-censoring due to societal homophobia, since everyone accepts them as a couple

This is very interesting! As I said, I think the series does allow you to read this in it, because of its built-in contradictory messages. But personally, it honestly would never have occurred to me to read homophobia here - it isn't as though there is any overt discussion of heterosexual relationships, either, or any het PDA that goes above loving touches and looks - which the main m/m couple also do. To me it seems as though all relationships - homo- and heterosexual - are treated the same, with any differences in demonstrativeness down to the stage of the relationship and the personality of the people involved.