I feel you anon, but like........... it's not as if there's any lack of straight hero pairings in media, or any excess of fandoms who predominantly read the main female as uninterested in men, so I don't really see any reason to crusade for Rey/Finn. If people can interpret Finn & Poe hugging and sharing a jacket as queer, then they can interpret Rey's disinterest in physical intimacy with men & constantly calling Finn "my friend" as queer too. I feel like you're saying you're wary of interpreting Rey as a lesbian because it's misogynistic? Which really doesn't make too much sense, beyond the knee-jerk reaction of seeing a woman left out of the "main ship" again.
No, it's more that past fandom experience has taught me people will put a "look how progressive I'm being" label on a female character by making her asexual or lesbian so they don't have to write about her in fic.
I wouldn't be so wary of it if there were actually a lot of fics about Rey being asexual or being in a lesbian relationship and not just...a line of interaction with another female character or a line about her asexuality just for the author to prove that they're not ignoring her in favor of two dudes (who, let's be real, when it comes to representation, gay men have the most representation in media out of the entire LGBTQA spectrum).
DA. I don't think interpreting Rey as queer or asexual is misogynist in the slightest, and I'd be very happy if canon went in that direction. And I definitely don't think people have a responsibility to crusade for the most progressive pairing out there. But if you're going to talk about representation, it's worth noting that while straight pairings predominate in media, positively portrayed interracial relationships are still relatively rare and a positive thing in their own right, even if they're straight.
(But of course it doesn't have to be a contest. People can ship and headcanons what they like, provided they don't try to force others to do the same, and Finn, Poe, and Rey are all great, so any combination of them in canon would make me happy.)
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Re: Rey's characterization in fic
(Anonymous) 2016-01-08 12:20 am (UTC)(link)Re: Rey's characterization in fic
(Anonymous) 2016-01-08 12:36 am (UTC)(link)I wouldn't be so wary of it if there were actually a lot of fics about Rey being asexual or being in a lesbian relationship and not just...a line of interaction with another female character or a line about her asexuality just for the author to prove that they're not ignoring her in favor of two dudes (who, let's be real, when it comes to representation, gay men have the most representation in media out of the entire LGBTQA spectrum).
Re: Rey's characterization in fic
(Anonymous) 2016-01-08 12:49 am (UTC)(link)(But of course it doesn't have to be a contest. People can ship and headcanons what they like, provided they don't try to force others to do the same, and Finn, Poe, and Rey are all great, so any combination of them in canon would make me happy.)