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i mentioned this very briefly with my post about yuri's reception in fandom, but i really do think that there's some connection to misogyny with the treatment of yuri. aside from the regular backlash that basically any female character with depth gets, i think the general treatment of yuri with i guess himejoshis reveals a degree of internalized misogyny. of course, the way you treat fiction is not one to one with life, but again, some attitudes are telling. people asking for better representation isn't terrible, but the wording of "better representation" to somehow exclude more abusive and toxic dynamics is veeery questionable. it's very unfortunate to see (mostly) queer people perpetuating this idea that f/f relationships are always healthier than m/f ones. true better representation would acknowledge the ability of queer relationships to be toxic. a memoir i found very interesting that touches on this is In the Dream House. it discusses (among lots of other things; i do really recommend this book & would say it's one of my favorites. excellent style, too. i loved the second person.) the myth that lesbian relationships can't be abusive & that there's such a fear among queer people to acknowledge that their relationships may have been abusive in anticipation of harming the reputation of the entire community. i think that even something as innocuous as asking for "better representation" with "better" simply meaning fluffy and uncomplicated relationships does tie in (to what extent is really up to you) with the belief (& then perpetuation) that f/f relationships are somehow perpetually perfect and unblemished. i would have said queer relationships in general here, but i find that lots of this ties back into misogyny with the unique attitude of fandom treatment creating this image of f/f relationships being perfect. there's likely some treatment of gay relationships that mirrors this, but the treatment of yaoi isn't very comparable with what i'm talking about right now.
in any case, having established my qualms with that portion of treatment, the real meat of what i've been thinking about lately is that the treatment of yuri as pure (word you will be seeing a lot for fairly obvious reasons) mirrors purity culture and these sorts of societal expectations on women. you see a lot of yuri being praised for being unproblematic, for being very tame in their depictions of women. lots of the promoted yuris you'll see aren't nsfw (which could, of course, just be the result of an intended target audience being wider than just adults), but i think this also creates an image of yuri as particularly unblemished. as opposed to a lot of promoted yaoi you end up seeing, i think that the lack of 18+ (popular) yuri reflects the societal ideal of women being pure all the time and you know, essentially abstaining from sex and whatnot. i can really only think of one yuri that's generally well-received that i know of incorporating 18+ aspects, which is "how do we relationship?", but as for the rest, it's all sfw. i'm not advocating for every yuri ever to have gratuitous sex or anything, just making a comment. anyhow, beyond that, even dynamic-wise, there's this expectation of purity. something too dirty or too queer, too abnormal, doesn't get accepted. any dynamic that strays from the typical mutual adoration gets shunned & it's just veeeeery frustrating to see. again, you'll never catch me saying that fiction is 1:1 with reality or that it doesn't impact reality at all. the point is that fiction does impact reality to an extent, and i think that here, the persistent emphasis on women in yuri being pure and wholly good to each other is an idea that was fixed in society before all this discourse but that is also getting regurgitated by these people. pardon the rambling, but it's just painfully clear that misogyny has really permeated through society even when discussing traditionally women-centric things. terribly unfortunate for us all, but it is what it is
in any case, having established my qualms with that portion of treatment, the real meat of what i've been thinking about lately is that the treatment of yuri as pure (word you will be seeing a lot for fairly obvious reasons) mirrors purity culture and these sorts of societal expectations on women. you see a lot of yuri being praised for being unproblematic, for being very tame in their depictions of women. lots of the promoted yuris you'll see aren't nsfw (which could, of course, just be the result of an intended target audience being wider than just adults), but i think this also creates an image of yuri as particularly unblemished. as opposed to a lot of promoted yaoi you end up seeing, i think that the lack of 18+ (popular) yuri reflects the societal ideal of women being pure all the time and you know, essentially abstaining from sex and whatnot. i can really only think of one yuri that's generally well-received that i know of incorporating 18+ aspects, which is "how do we relationship?", but as for the rest, it's all sfw. i'm not advocating for every yuri ever to have gratuitous sex or anything, just making a comment. anyhow, beyond that, even dynamic-wise, there's this expectation of purity. something too dirty or too queer, too abnormal, doesn't get accepted. any dynamic that strays from the typical mutual adoration gets shunned & it's just veeeeery frustrating to see. again, you'll never catch me saying that fiction is 1:1 with reality or that it doesn't impact reality at all. the point is that fiction does impact reality to an extent, and i think that here, the persistent emphasis on women in yuri being pure and wholly good to each other is an idea that was fixed in society before all this discourse but that is also getting regurgitated by these people. pardon the rambling, but it's just painfully clear that misogyny has really permeated through society even when discussing traditionally women-centric things. terribly unfortunate for us all, but it is what it is