Three days ago, before I got sick, I had a choice: I could either purchase The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst or some expensive lavender shampoo. At first glance the two seem to be disparate from one another; of course, they are. However, they shared two attributes: first, they were both involved with lavender (The Folding Star had a lavender cover); and second, both were expensive enough that I could only purchase one of them.

See, the cover’s somewhat lavender.

It is obvious that I judged the book by its cover: everyone does this at times, but I personally prefer novels with more aesthetically pleasing covers. Since my favorite color is lavender, I wanted to purchase the novel among the choices in the second-hand bookstore. But I have never purely relied on my instincts.

I searched for the novel in our library and read about both the author and the novel. To my shock, it was about a libidinal homosexual. I bought the shampoo immediately afterward. But since I did not want to discount the novel simply because it had homosexuality among men in it, I decided to read the first chapter and would continue reading if I liked it. If I didn’t like it, I decided to stop and return it to the library.

I am a bibliophile, and I have read about homosexual behavior in a lot of novels in the past yet I was still blindsided by the amount of wanton (and graphic) homosexual intercourse in the very first chapter. While I am not a homophobe, I did not want to go on reading the escapades of lustful homosexual men. Those actions honestly disgust me.

I am by no means a fundamentalist Catholic, but even science dictates that it is generally abnormal for men to engage in sexual relations with other men: a round peg fits a round hole. Two round pegs do not fit one another, however. (Perhaps they can be used for ‘fencing,’ but that isn’t normal as well.) [wat]

Having said this, I always wondered why it was very arousing for me when I observed amorous homosexual relations of two attractive examples of the opposite sex. As I have mentioned in my confession post, I have tried to become a more holistic anime watcher: I wanted to try the other normally unexplored genres in anime (and yes, it includes yaoi and yuri, although I definitely and conclusively prefer the latter). While professionals have written at length regarding the permutations of homosexuality in both sexes, I shall try to offer a pertinent explanation for the phenomenon of appreciating homosexuality in the opposite sex.

Yes, as I was saying

From a personal point of view, I simply believe that we delight in the homosexuality of two wonderful specimens of the opposite sex because we tend to place ourselves in the situation. Freud, mistaken or perverse he may be (as current studies in psychology have revealed), believed that man (and woman) is driven by his (or her) desires and by his (or her) libido: (s)he is a sexual being. Let’s face it, as virginal as we may be in real life and in our physical actions observed by society, each and everyone has their own perversions. What perceptive and normal woman wouldn’t want to be smothered in bed by her Brad Pitts and George Clooneys? Likewise, what man wouldn’t like to conflagrate with their Angelina Jolies and Halle Berrys? In media as diverse as anime and literature, there must exist an association of the observer (reader or viewer) with the medium involved. How else can the message be delivered if the observer hasn’t attached to or understood the signals of transmission? I think this is why I’m enjoying Strawberry Panic; perhaps this is also the reason why fujoshi love their male shippings as well. (And seriously, do these girls like the Kusomiso Technique? [wat])

What do you think?

Tags: Anime, Books, folding star, gay, homosexuality, lesbian

This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 9:10 pm and is filed under Anime, Books, Light, Serious. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.