RE: aphobia in the quadrants

i think it’s a bit disingenuous to assert that homestuck is uncritically implying all “human relationships“ are inherently sexual in nature, considering the quadrants and the general idea of “reproduction” in homestuck is a criticism of heteronormativity and by extension allonormativity, since those are interconnected.

i don’t remember who exactly pointed it out (it might’ve been victoria of burning down the house fame but don’t quote me on that) in a tumblr post that the two characters used as an example of a red quadrant are faceless guardians who at that point are literally only known as “mom“ and “dad”. it’s kind of reflective on the childish nature of the characters, like they’re a young enough age where the one example of a “typical human romance” is your mom and dad, but also it’s about how the views of a “normal human relationship” are usually first communicated to someone in the roles of “mom and dad”. it’s also notable that the description doesn’t just mention ”sex”, it mentions reproductive sex. homestuck is pretty obviously not of the opinion that all sex should be reproductive, so i think the more accurate way to view this description of a red quadrant and by extent “the human conception of romance” is to recognize the social critique homestuck is making of the larger social push for reproduction, and how romance is the social construct this is enforced through.

i do however agree on the general criminal unde-representation of aromanticism in homestuck. i feel it could be a very interesting theme to explore in the larger themes of homestuck, and yet it never comes up properly. part of this i guess is that homestuck is very invested in relationship drama, it’s more interested in exploring unhealthy relationships than healthy ones, and more interested in having all its characters entangle in strange and awkward romance dynamics. but again i think someone being aromantic could definitely fit into that drama, especially with the consistent theme of trying to fit yourself into cultural ideas of relationships vs embracing building unconventional bonds if they come up and untangling personal desire from cultural baggage.