I really really want to say something about that comment but I am absolutely certain it would devolve into an argument.
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It’s not heterophobia. It’s wanting to see yourself represented in games.
Homosexual/Bisexual representation is important. You can’t really say a game’s inclusive if it allows heterosexual playthroughs to skip any and all queer content, never so much as glimpsing a gay character least their delicate sensibilities be offended. Yet this is what is constantly offered.
If the only gay characters in a game are gender-flippable romantic interests then it’s fully possible to play a game with absolutely no gay content. (The same’s almost never true, that games exist with absolutely no heterosexual characters). This isn’t inclusive. Sure it’s catering to gay players, but it’s missing a lot in terms of representation.
In Dragon Age 2, straight players were in huge uproar that Anders hits on male characters, regardless of whether or not they’re attracted to men. They found it extremely uncomfortable. It’s just that general attitude of it’s okay to have same-sex attracted characters, as long as it’s possible to ignore them, which is only just slightly more tolerant than games shouldn’t have GBLTQ characters at all.
It’s so frustrating to be shoved in a box, told you shouldn’t exist, that you shouldn’t matter, that children and heterosexual gamers should be protected from your very existence and able to opt out.
It’s also frequently the case that same-sex attraction will be allowed, but only if it’s women. Straight men find lesbian relationships, far more acceptable than that of gay men.
You’ll find stuff like in Heroes Rise, all Black Magic’s past relationships are with women.
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I think Heterophobia exists If You say ALL HETEROSEXUAL WILL SKIP OTHER OPTIONS CONTENT. It is offensive, I am heterosexual and always choose I don’t mind gender or mixture it. I believe in all genre spectrum representation and praise Prince only nb romance in the beta. If you assume all hetero are vigotry racist well heterophobia exist.
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Well, no. Let’s say there are three ROs, all of whom change to fit the orientation of the player. If I play, they’re all gay guys; if a straight man plays, they’re all straight women. True, they could be bi, but unless previous romances are mentioned, it’s generally not brought up. Consequently, the gay representation comes entirely from minor characters, when it does come.
I do try to be as unbiased as possible, although I know I do have trouble in this particular area. But I really don’t think I said anything derogatory of straight people, and I didn’t mean to imply that you were all a homogeneous mass or anything like that. I also feel that the majority of straight people wouldn’t be willing to try gay romance, as you and @Gower are, Mara (although, true, that’s just my assumption).
If we don’t exist in games (or films, or books), that’s not good. Representation normalises us. It shows bigoted straights that we’re really just like them; it shows closeted teens that there are people like them in the world. It’s not just for self-glorification.
You see, that’s something I don’t like doing. Because then I wouldn’t really be playing as a woman, I’d be playing as a transgender man (I hope that’s not offensive, but that’s how I’ve always viewed it).
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im just finding this so funny right now
guess in how many games you’re given the option to be gay, let alone get the same bonuses that straights have! hoo! no, we have to edit the game code if we want that, kids! it’s so slim. you want a purely het game? go outside, pick up one from the store
that’s offensive, sorry
too bad my d00d, whatever. thanks for the comment that didn’t actually do anything or contribute except vaguely accuse me but -shruggo-
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No it doesn’t. The “heterophobia” you’re describing results in hurt feelings, wounded pride. And you know it sucks to have your feelings hurt but guess what? You do not get murdered for being Straight. You do not get tortured in prison for being Straight. You do not bashed on a train for being Straight. You do not get forced into psychological torture regimes (aka “conversion therapy”) for being Straight. I’m sorry that your feelings are hurt, I am, but heterophobia is about as real reverse-misogyny.
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I suffered a rape attempt with twelve years I suffer and still suffering insults because I have big breasts. And I am a woman who had to suffering the bullshit a woman cannot do that.
Noone should be offended because her his they sexual reality NO ONE.
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fun fact: gay folks and trans folks are WAY more likely to experience rape - “corrective rape”
fake ass “heterophobia” isnt the reason you were raped. being straight wasn’t the reason you were raped. being a woman might have played a part in it, misogyny being what it is, but primarily rape is a power thing.
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I’m sorry you went through that, truly as a survivor of CSA and adult rape I am incredibly sorry. I hope that you’re on your way to healing. But I don’t see what that has to do with the ridiculous notion of “heterophobia”.
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No it was a pedophile in my case he would rape probably a boy or a trans for all that bastard care.
the notion could be ridiculous, but Dismiss all heterosexual as same is not good either.
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Well I can’t actually say anything or you would go ballistic. Plus as has been explained many times throughout the history of this forum, unpopular opinions are not accepted here. So I think I’ll excuse myself from this discussion.
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@Razgriz Hmm I suppose we could spin off a thread about the importance of representation and how gender flips can lead to erasure. We’re getting slightly off topic here.
People claim that heterophobia doesn’t really exist, in that you won’t be actively discriminated against simply for being straight. They don’t think it exists in that there’s no systematic oppression of heterosexual people. Everything caters to heterosexual people.
I take a slightly more nuanced look. I can think of instances that might be considered heterophobic, but none of those instances are what you’ve described.
Saying that a game should have queer characters is not heterophobia. Allowing a gender-flip to remove all gay characters is not representation, and wanting something more, to see ourselves in games is not heterophobic. We’re not removing anything from you by wanting inclusivity.
And yeah, personally, I’d totally write a game where it’s utterly impossible to play as a straight character. Or if you are heterosexual, there’s no romantic options available for you. That’s not heterophobic either.
@Poison_Mara I am sorry what you’ve been through.
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No that’s not heterophobic. Not in my book. What is insulting is generalized ALL HETEROSEXUAL PEOPLE ARE VIGOTRY AND PLAY ONLY HETEROSEXUAL.
When here is not the case. Even if I have to admit most of them are quite entitled to only see hetero or lesbian content. And that is stupid
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It might not be heterophobia, but that talking smack about hetero-attraction (Which some of you gets dangerously close to) is bi-phobic. Words such as these are the reason I left our LGBT-community in town (Well, that an ace-hostility). It made it feel like my attraction to men was something dirty. I couldn’t be honest about it. I had to be a lesbian. (Which is funny because I am not even always a woman.) I have never felt as unsafe as I were amongst LGBT-people. At least my straight friends consider themselves artistic and thus only fetishe bi-people. It is a way a step up from not even daring to speak up amongst what should be your peers.
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Maybe I shouldn’t have said ridiculous, I’m sorry if it sounded like I was calling you that instead of your idea. Of course its not good to dismiss all straight people as the same but that’s the thing - if you dismiss all straight people as the same, you do not increase their chances of experiencing a hate crime, much less dying due to one. That’s why heterophobia is not a thing.
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I think you’ve misread @Poison_Mara. No one’s actually saying that.
No one’s said that all heterosexual people are bigots.
No one’s said that heterosexual people only play heterosexual characters either.
The only thing we’re saying is that a heterosexual playthrough of a game shouldn’t erase all gay content. Gay characters shouldn’t be kept in a box only to exist if the protagonist is gay. Heterosexual protagonists should not automatically be able to completely miss any and all gay content.
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all hets are bigots, tho. not personally not individual people, but as a culture. let me tell u smth: all majorities help to oppress the minorities without even noticing it. microagressions are ingrained into us from a young age
i spent years after i came out trying to get rid of this sexist, transphobic way of thinking and speaking that i had learned, and i’m not even done with it yet. if i, a trans person, take years to unlearn something i’m always consciously thinking about and experiencing, hets are, as a mass, not going to notice what they do
and yes, that counts for you too. i let it slide because it isn’t really my job to teach everyone and i’m bloody tired, but it doesn’t mean you don’t do it
please learn this word: metonymy. when a person expresses hate for a simplified version of what they actually hate, which is a complex system. i don’t hate every het. i don’t spit on every het i come across. but! as a whole, i say “i hate hets, hets are bigots” when what i really mean is “i hate the culture, system, history, prevalence, state, pandering, focus, etc”
Bi people suffer from a lot of “be gay or straight” or “you’re not bi if you’re dating someone of the same gender or sex” and it is sad. personally, i’m all for FG’s idea of a LGBTQA+ only game. please. oh my god
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Sorry, no offence was intended. 
I’ve actually considered writing one myself…
Which is not what I said. It’s true that I generalised slightly, but I didn’t mean to imply that there were no straight people who played gay or bi characters, and I certainly don’t think all straight people are bigoted.
As I said in my previous post, I have no intention of erasing the bi-representation here. I just want more gay representation, too.
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You know you are right. Culture indotrinate so much that involuntary we commit ourselves and others microagresions most are even involuntary made by our infra ego . That’s what of stuff therapy was trying to erase the shame of being raped and with that consider yourself worse or dirty. It is something that has been in my culture centuries Never have relationships with a raped person. They are worse dirty and not able to have a relationship
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