An informal survey

[seriousfic]

I’m taking a bit of an opinion poll, since I know there’s a sturdy amount of nerdsbian among my followers. Say we have a Cara/Kahlan fic gone horribly wrong, with Richard as Kahlan’s husband, Kahlan as a housewife, and Cara as basically Jane Bond (but still blonde—let’s not get crazy here). Obviously, Cara still carries a torch for Kahlan, wants her to leave her husband even though she’s friends with Richard, blah blah drama. So, how would you like Cara characterized, in this informal exercise where she hasn’t already been characterized by the show?

I was thinking of Cara (or whatever the character ends up being called) as bisexual. She’s willing to use sex to accomplish her goals and it doesn’t matter whether it’s with men or women. But that makes the queer lady quotient of the story entirely bisexual, since Kahlan is necessarily bi—that smells just a bit fishy to me, I don’t know. Like it could be read more as a male fantasy than anything that’d happen in the real world.

This is me we’re talking about—obviously Cara isn’t going to end up with some dude, so her bisexuality isn’t that big a deal. So what would your preference as a reader be? Would you want to read about Cara as exclusively lesbian or as a bisexual who ends up in a lesbian relationship?

Comments

[azarias.livejournal.com]

I'm bisexual, not lesbian, so I'm very happy to see bisexual ladies hooking up with each other. There's a lot of "not really queer" side-eyeing IRL when a bisexual woman's in a relationship with a man.

Ultimately, it's your story

[lejo.livejournal.com]

Concern for representation is important, but in the end you shouldn't have to put plot or character choices to committee. You have a story to tell, it's the one you should express as formed. I don't think it's simply straight male fantasy to see a sexy, bisexual spy sexing a conflicted house wife. Especially if Cara is professionally bi but personally lesbian. Plenty of lesbians have sex with men, for both personal and professional reasons. It might even be a source of fem-pain for her. Or she's cavalier about it. The only one who can tell us is you. Or literally anyone else who wants to write their own fic. Or, and fingers crossed on this one, a very special Kickstarter launched by Tabrett and Bridget.

[bitta2sweet.livejournal.com]

At this point, it might actually feel fresher to me seeing a bisexual woman pursue the housewife character, instead of the homewreckin' manhatin' lezzer.

[jlbarnett.livejournal.com]

is someone actively trying to seduce another person away from a marriage something that happens all that often in the real world?