I get all hot and flustered when a cute person flirts with me and I just wanna die inside. Why do I get so much anxiety out of this? They could be a 10 and I still feel nervous.
Like, there's this thing I be hearing that bi women like women the same way straight men do and that never jived with me. Sure, I like boobs, I know plenty who do, but it's not like so obsessed that everything else doesn't matter. I feel like my attraction to women is very holistic. I like the whole lady? I wanna hear her voice, her personality, her hobbies, interest, anything that makes her a person. That isn't to say men don't do this either, but from what I know, many of them never put this into consideration and just find the closest available girl that can tolerate them.
I can never fathom that? I wanna approach them for them, not because co-habitation than an eventual family is on the cards for us. If things don't work out, that's fine by me, she's her own person. So color me shocked when one of the common things chronically online types say is that bi women are perverted freaks with a "woman fetish" since god forbid when acknowledge she has a nice bod like once. It just makes lurking these communities annoying because I will always think "I don't relate to this at all" then move on.
What do you think?
A lil vent but also a discussion starter that still burns my brain to this day, I really really hate anti-furries a lot, especially the ones who are total weirdos who see "furries" in even the most innocuous of content. Notice how they don't call animal crossing or sonic furbait? Because they're designed to be chibis or mascots meant to not make you uncomfortable, while even a fucking werewolf would set off their alarm bells. This is especially notable in female spaces which are teeming with fun hating terfs and swerfs who think morning glory milking farm is legalized beastliaty. The fuck do you mean? He's humanoid, he doesn't look like a family friendly mascot? And he probably doesn't have a bull dick as far as I'm aware? It just gets to a point where no amount of counterarguments can pierce through them thick skulls of there's.
How do you cope especially as an artist who'd be happy to draw sexy anthros but doesn't wanna be called a zoophilie for drawing said content?
When we have female knights in bikini armor with huge boobs and no muscles that no man bats an eye on, but a woman with natural body fat is too much? Not to mention people assuming a weightlifter is weak for having a bit of chub when they're still buff?
EDIT: So hi, I'm an artist, didn't draw those two pics but I do draw as a hobby and I do draw what makes me happy. I'm trying and failing to draw more chubby figures because I don't see fat people portrayed as just people, just as jokes or something sidelined to the npc chair. You're free to draw whatever the hell you want, don't expect me to follow you or be free from criticism.
TL;DR: Demanding that plus-size characters justify their presence through "realism" or "lore" while letting absurdly unrealistic tropes (like 90 lb waifs with giant swords or hyper-dehydrated shredded leads) slide under the "rule of cool" is pure hypocrisy. "Realism" and "marketability" are just excuses people use to mask personal dislike for non-standard body types in art.
Finding good images to support my point and get more views sucks...anyway
Even in more liberal spaces, they pass off their own internalized dislike as "it's just marketing, how could you market a plus size girl in something mainstream?" without an ounce of irony. I'm sick of people asking if an artist can make their plus size oc skinnier with less boobs because they can't stand someone just existing. They have to be justifiable, the body type must suit the personality and/or lifestyle. You barely see this energy with dehydrated muscle mommies and blokes who are actually not as strong as those built like powerlifters.
So if we're really gonna play this game, then most other builds don't make sense either.
How does the 90-pound waif with zero muscle mass swing a 50-pound buster sword without snapping her spine? Where is the rigorous anatomical lecture demanding she hit the gym before being allowed in the cast?
Why does the brooding male lead look like he's on a 5% body fat peak-week cut, completely dehydrated, exhausted, and on the verge of fainting, yet somehow possesses the stamina to fight through three armies without a single cramp? Realistically, true strength builds look like powerlifters and strongmen: thick, padded, and carrying body fat for functional energy. But nobody complains about the "unrealistic realism" of the ultra-shredded action hero because people find that body type pleasant to look at.
The hypocrisy is glaring:
"Realism" and "marketability" are just convenient shields. Nobody actually cares about biological accuracy in stylized art. They just use it as a socially acceptable excuse to push out body types they personally find unappealing while pretending it is a purely objective critique. If someone ever ask me to change my art because me drawing fat people offends them, they can fuck right off.
Why is that sex is an off limits theme but violence is rendered as a simple game mechanic you never get to reflect on especially when the enemies are other humans? I don't hate combat mechanics mind you and gamifying romance and sex puts a bad taste in my mouth, but it often befuddles me that different themes have been explored yet sex is oftentimes off limits or you're given everything that's sex adjacent like oversexualized designs and framing. I generally do believe games can be used to normalized healthy forms of intimacy that's harder to do with less interactive mediums yet no one seems to bother with it or just banish it to the VN mines.
I'm west african, 2nd gen migrant living in the american south, which is teeming with black/african americans, and one thing I noticed is I'm very attracted to wide shapely women. What's wide is very different depending on who you ask and it made me wonder if one's cultural environment has a big impact on what you find attractive or don't?
I thought that coming out as bi would be so easy but given the overprevlance of sexualized women in media and how women rightfully call it out, it's hard to agree without feeling like a hypocrite because the female form is very sexy to me. I like clothes that show it off. I like the sensuality of a woman enjoying herself and other women but I don't wanna seem like a shallow pervert compared to other women.
I did come from a religious upbringing so that wasn't any help and reddit makes that worse given the sheer amount of sex negative subs on there and how easy it is to encounter said people online. I wish I could be happy but as long as these people exist, I'll never feel normal.
I'm someone who struggles with internalized biphobia/homophobia, mainly around how I feel about female bodies in mild to notable undress. I guess it's a combination of my upbringing but unfortunately I'm super chronically online, and I've encountered my fair share of misfortunate people with very weird views on female sexuality that I generally started to internalize over time.
I'm looking for books where it's okay to find women beautiful and sexy in a way that intices devouring each nook and cranny of their body. Oh, and I'm mostly in fem4fem or fem4masc especially the fem or masc is hella curvy.
I pretty much don't feel like making public content anymore due to a depression stint and ocd themes centered on cancellation. She's an Oc of mine made because I'm bi even though I wish I was asexual if I'm being honest.
edit: I don't like spoiling stuff but in terms of personality and backstory, she's an alter ego to a hispanic american girl named amanda diaz called amelia dream. She's gun crazy, confident, flirty, and very gay (bi). That's as much as you need to know. I do hope you can tell because I can't draw people without feeling like a pervert.
It's fucking cringe safe horny nonsense cooked up to make gooner redditors feel better for lewding women without all the "objectification" accusations. And can we talk about how weirdly hypocritical this feels too? And they think this will make women like them more? Fuck no. All that does is reduce women to their bodies? You're not making her feel empowered by calling too much attention to her muscles? Why not ask her how's her day or something? And not "please step on me mommy"
I even wonder if all this muscle mommy shit is even legit too? I like fit and muscular, but not that big boobs yet still has a six pack shit you see in horny fetish art. I like women to look believable with some leeway if they're not human. So when I see someone glaze a design because they have muscles while ignoring some glaring flaws, it just pisses me off. Again, not to yuck some yums, but I'm sick of it.
I love to write but one of my biggest fears is feeling like being bi taints how I write queer love stories. I'm an on and off writer who mainly does private short stories and bursting with ideas. But since I do gravitate towards more sapphic stories, I just relate to femineity and women more, I often insert my own preferences whether consciously or unconsciously. I'm actually concerned about what that would mean when people learn I'm bi yet make stories centered on f/f relationships?
I'm hoping this post doesn't come off as weird (and most of what I make is private, sorry guys).
All it does it shut down nuanced discussions around the objectification of women as it pertains to the oversaturated narratives around female character design. Someone like zangief shows skin to instill intimidation in his opponents. Cammy shows skin for no other reason than for fanservice? Notice how her design became better when she wear a sports bra and proper pants in SF6? Because now that skin being exposed has less of a titillating element while also still keeping her appealing to would-be folks interested in characters like her.
What some folks tend to forget (especially on both sides let's be real) is the showcasing of skin is not always analogous with maximizing sex appeal. So when someone brings up how oversexualized the female characters are, They assume the issue must be the skin showing and not just how things like posing, framing, and sometimes non-diegetic character design gets in the way of making a interesting female character work.
Skin exposure is merely a surface-level symptom; the real core of the issue lies in intentionality, context, and power dynamics.
When a character's design is driven entirely by the male gaze, manifested through exaggerated proportions, unnatural arching poses, and lingering camera angles that prioritize titillation over narrative agency, it flattens complex figures into mere spectacle. True character design uses every element, including exposed skin or form-fitting attire, to communicate personality, history, and status within the world.
Until the discourse moves past the lazy false equivalency of "skin equals sex appeal" on both sides, we will remain trapped in cyclical arguments that miss the forest for the trees.
I hope I didn't repeat myself too much, I suck at english despite being a english speaker by default. I also want to know that I don't wanna hear from people who try this shit on me especially as I often just turn off notifications to not deal with this shit. Anyway that's all for this dumb rant.
And when I mean modest I mean a woman with a reserved personality and way of dress.
Edit: I am a bisexual woman, not a man.
After some deep reflection, I think I under why plenty of women regardless of who they are take issue with the oversexualization of women in games. It was so normalized for me that I just never thought to consider if it made sense or not. I actually mean it. Now that I grew fresher eyes, the strings controlling this kind of media has revealed themselves that I can no longer unsee them.
For anything that isn't an indie, marketing is one of the most pivotal things in game development and one of those things is using designs to hook players into buying their game, their skins, anything they can sell. Female characters are expected to be hot chiefly because that's what sells even when nowadays the west has moved away from sexualized characters but they're still appealing, non-monoracial black and not even plus size or overly muscular. That's because the doylist perspective demands that these characters fit a narrow mold of acceptable averageness as to not upset the status quo.
Learning this really pissed me off. And now I know that this sense of anger isn't out of prudishness but out of concern for a industry falling back on lazy advertising tactics to make money, pander to men, and do everything to keep that quo maintained. It's even worse in the East where so many companies would rather release their games that pander to lonely men than ever invest in different markets or maintain a sense of artistry that informs the work than shoving non-diegetic content for the sake of marketability.
Sorry for the meandering rant. A kerfuffle that ended badly made me reconsider my perspective given my own blindspots as someone raised to see this as normal until I got older and changed. Once you see it, it can't be undone but that means I'm better equipped to understand the cynical and lazy ways these people employ this type of content just to make money and reducing women into objects. I love beautiful women and I do love interesting attire but I want them to feel holistic in how they're implemented.
