Overwatch Comic #10 - Tracer Breaks The Internet (and Russia)

[freezer]

As many of you already know, Blizzard Entertainment has been posting online comics involving the characters of their smash hit game, Overwatch. The tenth such comic, "Tracer: Reflections" is a Christmas-themed comic involving Tracer's attempt at getting a last-minute gift for her best bud, Winston (The armor-clad, hyper-intelligent gorilla).




The big to-do about this comic is a reveal about Tracer's personal life. One that's drawn strong reaction positive and negative: The two relevant pages (out of 12)





The scarf was actually for Winston, BTW.



Yep: Tracer, the game's defacto mascot, is a lesbian. Naturally, the internet reacted in equal parts "SQUEE" and "WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN".

Equally naturally, it's already banned in Russia. They're not saying it's because of their laws banning anything that could be considered "gay propaganda," just that the comic is not "in accordance with Russian law." Their loss.

I admit the only other Overwatch comic I've read is one with McCree foiling a train heist in the most assholish way possible. I plan to dig into the rest, post haste.

Comments

[janegray]

Yep. It's awesome that Tracer is a girlfriend. It's considerably less awesome that people see a f/f pairing and immediately automatically assume she must absolutely 100% for sure be a lesbian. There is a B in GLBT.

[informationgeek]

Speaking of which, is there some stigma about being Bi or something? I've seen that attitude before about you can only be completely straight or completely gay, like with Bendis' X-Men and Law & Order: SVU that really struck me the wrong way.

[janegray]

DEFINITELY.

I'm straight, but three of my close friends are bi. The stories they tell me are infuriating. They get constantly shamed and harassed and isolated. There is this huge stigma in the gay community that bi people are just pretending to like same-sex people for attention, are "greedy sluts" who will always cheat on their partners and can't be trusted to keep it in their pants, have "straight-passing privilege" therefore should be banned from pride parades and safe spaces, and are immoral and untrustworthy.

My friends are constantly pressured to "just pick one" and accused of lying when they say they are attracted to both. Adding insult to injury, most of that abuse comes from gay people. It's common for somebody to start flirting with them, only to leave in disgust when my friends admit they are bi instead of gay.

[dragontail]

My wife, who is bi, has lived through a lot of this. She considered herself gay, and dated only women, prior to meeting me and the reactions to our relationship ranged from the unwelcome positive (her traditionalist parents thanked me for "turning her back", which made both of us angry) to the smug (some of her friends claimed they "knew it was just a phase") to the outright hostile (some of her LGBT+ community friends reacted in the ways you've described above). We've been happily together for coming up on a decade now, and married since '09, and there's still stigma at times. Very sad.

Bi-erasure is a massive problem, and just as harmful as any other form of prejudice. It's why, no matter what else the CW shows do and don't do right, we'll always be thankful for Sarah Lance.

[thenicochan]

My friends are constantly pressured to "just pick one"

I remember my mother-in-law bringing up bisexuality one time (when no one asked, nor wanted her opinion) and went on a tirade about how "they" should "should being so greedy". I tried to engage her in a polite, but educated, discussion about why she felt that way by stressing that being bi doesn't mean someone has to date (or sleep with) someone of both genders at the same time (though if they want to and everyone is consenting that's totally their prerogative, but we were definitely not going to go into that) and that bi people are just as capable as anyone else at partaking in healthy monogamous relationships.

She sat there for a second and considered what I said, then shook her head and said "But it's just so greedy!"

So, yeah, I ended that conversation about then. People get so hung up on the idea of sex as it is, it drives me crazy that people are so quick to rail against whatever they feel doesn't fit their mold of what "acceptable" is.

[baroncognito]

On OKcupid, I see a surprising number of women who don't believe homosexuality is a sin, don't think a guy who has had sex with one hundred women is automatically a bad person, but also would not date a man who is bisexual or a man who has had sex with another man.

I think CollegeHumor did a rather funny video on the subject

[deh_tommy]

I think there's a stigma about Bisexual people being promiscuous, unfaithful in monogamous relationships, faking and pretending who they're attracted to for attention or being indecisive (I.E., you're either heterosexual or homosexual, so choose one and stick with that).