Maybe you're right and this is why I've never quite felt the same way as the rest of TW fandom, despite being deeply upset about Ianto's death and wanting him back.
I'm bisexual, and I was angered by first Ianto's comment about "it's not men, it's just Jack", then by his blatant fridging to move Jack's storyline on. While I agree RTD wasn't homophobic (characters displaying homophobia does not equal the author being homophobic) I do feel that these aspects of Ianto's storyline in COE were biphobic specifically.
First of all, Ianto was defined not as an individual with a sexuality of his own, but as someone who only existed in relation to the people he loved. The only time there's the slightest hint of an exception to this in the entirety of Torchwood is when he briefly seems to consider sleeping with Hart. Otherwise it's Lisa (not very sexual toward her, either) or Jack.
For this reason, Ianto's storyline is not under his own agency, but under Jack's, in a way it wouldn't have been had they not been involved. He becomes, in COE, nothing more than a plot device to Make Jack Feel. And those of us who identified with him naturally resented this.
Then of course, there was his death and Jack's resolution, which felt like a smack in the face to me. Bisexuals don't get happy endings on TV, not ever, and I'd hoped beyond hope that Jack and Ianto could get theirs, even if it was temporary. But instead they got "I hate the word couple" and a total lack of development - COE is supposed to take place a year after Exit Wounds and they're still at undefined 'dabbling' for all we could see.
I don't think I'm ready to forgive RTD for saying I was a 'hysterical woman' or for pretty much stating outright that all I wanted to see was pretty boys having sex on TV or that I couldn't handle 'realness' as if Torchwood was ever a show that was meant to have any level of realness in it. I'm not sure I ever will be.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 09:23 pm (UTC)I'm bisexual, and I was angered by first Ianto's comment about "it's not men, it's just Jack", then by his blatant fridging to move Jack's storyline on. While I agree RTD wasn't homophobic (characters displaying homophobia does not equal the author being homophobic) I do feel that these aspects of Ianto's storyline in COE were biphobic specifically.
First of all, Ianto was defined not as an individual with a sexuality of his own, but as someone who only existed in relation to the people he loved. The only time there's the slightest hint of an exception to this in the entirety of Torchwood is when he briefly seems to consider sleeping with Hart. Otherwise it's Lisa (not very sexual toward her, either) or Jack.
For this reason, Ianto's storyline is not under his own agency, but under Jack's, in a way it wouldn't have been had they not been involved. He becomes, in COE, nothing more than a plot device to Make Jack Feel. And those of us who identified with him naturally resented this.
Then of course, there was his death and Jack's resolution, which felt like a smack in the face to me. Bisexuals don't get happy endings on TV, not ever, and I'd hoped beyond hope that Jack and Ianto could get theirs, even if it was temporary. But instead they got "I hate the word couple" and a total lack of development - COE is supposed to take place a year after Exit Wounds and they're still at undefined 'dabbling' for all we could see.
I don't think I'm ready to forgive RTD for saying I was a 'hysterical woman' or for pretty much stating outright that all I wanted to see was pretty boys having sex on TV or that I couldn't handle 'realness' as if Torchwood was ever a show that was meant to have any level of realness in it. I'm not sure I ever will be.