Steelsings Tamora Pierce Forum

For all those who want student/student and teacher/student pairings.......

This is taken from a post Tammy made on Sheroes Central in reply to a spoiler that Daja is a lesbian, and the subsequent snarking about this being a stereotype..

Tammy:
I am trapped no matter how I went with the Circle girls: Sandry the femme, Tris the hostile, and Daja the smith. For that matter, God help me if I claimed Briar was gay--stereotyped because he has no long-term relationships with women he's bedded, and he's sensitive and works in a "feminine" area.

What I'm bending over backward to do, and what I've gotten dinged for here, is let the sexual affiliation grow out of the situation, and not belabor it by saying things like "`OMG, Lalasa, you love other women!' gasped Kel. `Well, that makes perfect sense, since your brother abused you and you hate men! I just want you to know I support you in your quest for tenderness!'"

Is that what you want? I'm trying to treat gays and lesbians and those who are bisexual as part of everyday life. To do that, I can't spell it straight out when I'm writing a book about another plot entirely. For one thing, by dealing with it even in a sentence or two, when the book is about another event stream altogether, I might as well post a Sensitivity Sign with a big neon arrow pointing to the moment, so everyone knows I'm making A Correctness Statement. For another, the book isn't about that. There are so many writers, far better at this than I am (Brent Hartinger, Nancy Garden, Francesca Lia Block)--they are writing books in which the sexual orientation of the characters is the issue. I am more than happy to let them do it, and for me to go on telling my own stories.

Lark and Rosethorn's sexual orientation wasn't a vital part of their part of the Circle books, which was managing four very powerful, very damaged, very intelligent pre-pubescents. By Circle Opens we only see them separately. In CIRCLE REFORGED we don't see them at all. I had to cut Thom and Roger because LIONESS RAMPANT was only 200 pages long, which meant I had to cut wads and wads of material and use only the main plot: Alanna undergoes trials and comes home to build a stronger realm. I didn't make a big thing about Lalasa and Tianne because in FIRST TEST and PAGE I was still being held to 200 pages a book, and the only person's story I had room for was Kel's. And Kel, though she shelters Lalasa, helps her, protects her, and gives her a start, deals more in the lives of her male friends than that of her maid. She's with the guys 16 hours a day, Lalasa 8. And servants didn't confide in their masters easily in that world.

Sorry about the long post, but this series of objections really cut me to the quick. I cannot possible address all of the Big Issues in my books; I'm resigned to that, and just as determined to address the issues that are important to me (female empowerment in the face of the odds, shaping your own life). If you think I step wrongly here, I beg you, start writing. That's how I dealt with the powerless women and girls in the fiction of my teenaged years. If I am stereotypical, correct it in your own work.
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Also, apparently Lark and Rosethorn aren't exclusive, as Rosethorn and Crane occasionally have a thing going.

 
Did Tammy say that part or you? Sorry if this makes me sound dim, I'm just easily confused

I would adore you to no end if you provided a direct link.

whoa.....heavy. i kinda knew bout thom and roger, and i was helpfully clued in to lalassa and tian, but had no idea about lark and rosethorn. cool. thanks Blade.

http://www.sheroescentral.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=41538&mesg_id=41538&page=

Enjoy....

I didn't know about Lalassa and Tiane (I don't even remember Tiane), and I didn't know about Lark and Rosethorn; I thought they were just really close friends, I mean, they had separate beds and there was Crane.  I figured Roger might be gay.
 I don't think it should be a big deal in the books because they are based off of a midevil time period where homosexuality wasn't tolerated outside of some oriental countries.

Here is a link to this subject on OOC.   http://www.steelsings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3261

Tianne was Lalassa's friend. The one that they went to while...

SPOILER






...while they were desperately trying to find Lalassa when those men kidnapped her. She was supposed to be hemming (or sewing) the Queen's dress with Tianne, who was also one of the maids for one of Kel's sisters (I think a sister-in-law, actually).




END OF SPOILER





I think that it is right that Tammy tried having characters that were gay or lesbian. It's just too bad that she couldn't really elaborate on it in the books because of the page number amount.

Thank you for this!

*bows*

I agree with what Tammy said. Its like, if you do anything nowadays, its a stereotype. A wise teacher I had said "You will never have an original thought in your life."

If you think about it, its true.

There's no escape from society. If you believe yourself to be a non-conformists, aren't you just conforming with the other non-conformists?

It just makes me think, is all...

I knew about rosethorn and Lark. I've also been finding recently that most of the books i'm reading are about girls who do like guys and stuff. I hardley never come across someone in a book who is attracted to the opposite sex. Maybe this is why Tammy is writing about gay people now. It's different to what every one else is writing about.......

Thom and Roger!? I completely missed that, stupid me! I don't think this is stereotyping. We have plenty of homosexuals in modern society so it wouldn't be right to leave them out of books and they're all different. and there are plenty of strong etc girls like Daja who aren't homosexual. I think it's good that Tammy puts homosexuals in her books, but also good that she doesn't make a big deal of it-we don't make a big deal of man-woman relationships, so why should we make a big deal about homosexual ones?

Personally I like the way Tammy deals with homosexuality, rather than making it a big issue she makes it just an everyday thing that happens. I think that's a great way to handle it in a book and I wish it were mirrored by society.

wow... i had no idea about all this homosexual stuff!

I have no problem with it- i read sooooo many fanfics about rosethorn and lark i kinda just accepted them as unstraight people. Ficcies make my head spin.

Roger and Thom- I soooo did not see that one coming. Like, never. Ever. Ever.

Lalasa and Tian- I'm still trying to figure this one out. It just seems so out of character, y'know? But I guess.... maybe...

Daja and Riku also gave me a shock. I read the bit about when all the 'young people' are sitting in the garden, and I was like- "OMFG! DAJA'S GAY! OMFG THAT'S SO TRUE!!!" cos I could actually see it happening. It fitted really, really well, which was good, because it's the only time homosexuality has ever really been out in the open in Tammy's books.

I'm happy. Yay!

Rosethorn and Lark:  I kinda figured
Rosethorn and Crain: really? I compleatly missed that
Roger and Thom:  no way, I missed that one too...
Lalasa and Tain: again?
Dija and Riku: Yay I knew it!

If you don't mind my asking, What's your opinion on homosexuality in the books? Fairly obviously it hasn't put you off them but do you like the way it's dealt with, etc?